Rumor: Google's Android 'Key Lime Pie' Delayed

News
By Kevin Parrish
published

Gadgetronica reports that Google may delay the launch of Android "Key Lime Pie" (v5.0) by as much as two to four months after Google I/O takes place in San Francisco next month (May 15-17). The reason for the delay is supposedly due to the company wanting to give OEM's some breathing room, as they are currently still trying to update their phone portfolio to the latest Android 4.2.2 "Jelly Bean" platform.

This time last year, many OEMs were still trying to update compatible phones to Android 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich" which was first introduced in late 2011. Android 4.1 "Jelly Bean" didn't arrive until the Google I/O conference in June 2012, and was first released on the Nexus 7 tablet. Android 4.2 "Jelly Bean" arrived in October 2012 followed by Android 4.2.1 in January and Android 4.2.2 just last month.

The next release of Android is expected to be v5.0 "Key Lime Pie". Back in February, a leaked Qualcomm document revealed that the next Android release was scheduled to launch in 2Q13. Sony reportedly already has the Android 5.0 PDK, as the company actively contributes to the official Android code, including the Key Lime Pie release. So far there doesn't seem to be any indication of a Sony Nexus.

Despite not launching Android 5.0 during Google I/O (although we'll likely see it in action nonetheless), Google reportedly has other surprises planned for the event including a reworked Qualcomm-powered Nexus 7 tablet, and an updated Nexus 4 smartphone with 32 GB of storage and LTE support. So far there's no sign that the Nexus 5 (LG) or the Nexus X (Motorola) will make an appearance.

GottaBeMobile refutes the claims made by Gadgetronica, indicating that Google delaying the Android launch over OEMs needing to update to Jelly Bean first is inaccurate. The site points out that more than 50-percent of the active Android devices run v4.0 and below, and new devices like the HTC One aren't even updated to v4.2.2. That's definitely a good point.

"Every new version of Android arrives with millions of Android devices already a major version of Android behind and millions more a small version of Android behind," the report states. That kind of gap has never stopped Google from launching a new version of Android in the past, and likely won't stall the launch of Key Lime Pie next month.

Of course, we'll find out next month what the real Key Lime Pie story is all about. If there is a delay in the updated OS, it could be for other reasons other than giving OEM's room to get caught up... like OEMs tweaking the OS for notebooks...

Kevin Parrish
5 Comments Comment from the forums
  • jessterman21
    Great - so those of us with Nexus devices are forced to wait for OEMs too lazy to update theirs...
    Reply
  • cknobman
    OEMs "Its a hard long and arduous process to roll out android updates to our phones. It requires many hours of in house and real world testing".

    Reality "We want to keep the money train rolling and you suckers are stupid enough to keep buying so why should we update existing phones when we know youll go out and buy a new one!!!" (evil laugh as they sift their hands through piles of money).
    Reply
  • InvalidError
    Not much point in waiting for OEMs to update to 4.2.2 before launching 5.x since the whole process will repeat with 5.x and subsequent releases... unless Google wants to make a statement that it wants to force OEMs to update most of their devices to the highest eligible version available before giving them access to new versions for future devices, which makes sense since it would reduce the number of different base build versions in the wild Google and app writers need to deal with.
    Reply
  • jhansonxi
    10711426 said:
    ...unless Google wants to make a statement that it wants to force OEMs to update most of their devices to the highest eligible version available before giving them access to new versions for future devices...
    Not easy to do since Android is mostly a free OS but Google could add license restrictions to their search service, Gmail, Youtube, and Maps. But being too strict could cause OEMs to switch to competing services like M$.

    Reply
  • g00fysmiley
    This is why i will only buy nexus lines of phones or android devices. get updates when they are out or in the case of my sprint galaxy nexus within a month or so of a new update. I agree google needs to add a requirment that they update to latest android versions within a few months if the devices hardware can handle it.
    Reply