Jobs’ Death Halts Android Rollout

Google and Samsung have pulled the unveiling this week of the Ice Cream Sandwich version of Android and Samsung’s new Ice Cream Sandwich-based Nexus Prime phone lest they seem insensitive to Steve Jobs’ widely mourned death last Wednesday from a rare form of pancreatic cancer. On its blog Samsung said, “Samsung and Google have decided to postpone the Samsung Mobile Unpacked event during the CTIA in San Diego, previously scheduled for Oct. 11. Under the current circumstances, both parties have agreed that this is not the appropriate time for the announcement of a new product. We ask for your understanding regarding any inconvenience caused. We will announce a new date and venue in due course.” A Samsung spokesman later told CNN, “We just felt that it wasn’t the right time to make a major product announcement while the world is still paying tribute to Steve Jobs. There’s never been such an iconic figure in our industry pass away before.” Google pretty much said the same thing. Reports suggest the event has been postponed till October 27 in London. However, the worldwide litigation between Samsung and Apple is not expected to be affected. They’ll be in court this week. Ice Cream Sandwich, which will probably be styled Android 4.0, is supposed to merge elements of Honeycomb and Gingerbread, Google’s smartphone and tablet widgetry, into one OS.

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