Handsets

[Update] Ice Cream Sandwich and Nexus Prime Announcement Reportedly Delayed

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Boooo this maaaan! We were all getting excited for CTIA on October 11th where Google and Samsung were expected to announce Nexus Prime and the new version of Android, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0. According to a statement received by Engadget, that announcement might end up being delayed. Here’s the statement they received:

Samsung and Google decide to postpone the new product announcement at CTIA Fall. We agree that it is just not the right time to announce a new product. New date and venue will be shortly announced.

So we no longer have a date or a venue. No longer have a timeline as to when we’ll see these things officially unveiled. We expected the stuff to be out in October, and while there’s room yet for that to happen we’re not sure if they’ll reschedule in the same month.

All we know is that this is extremely disappointing. We were looking forward to bringing you guys great coverage on the new stuff from CTIA and it looks like we’ll have to stick with stuff on the show floor. I hope all these recent leaks aren’t to blame for Samsung and Google’s decision. We’ll be trying to find out more in the meantime.

[Update]: Looks like the delay could be out of respect to Steve Jobs’ passing. Understandable in that regard and makes a lot of sense as to why they felt this wasn’t the right time. We’re still waiting to hear more from Samsung or Google.

[Update 2]: I should note that this does not necessarily mean the actual launch of Ice Cream Sandwich and the Nexus Prime are delayed, just the announcement.

Quentyn Kennemer
The "Google Phone" sounded too awesome to pass up, so I bought a G1. The rest is history. And yes, I know my name isn't Wilson.

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117 Comments

  1. This is a ridiculously amateur thing to do.

    1. Highly possible that it’s got to do with Steve Jobs passing, so… quite professional in fact.

      1. What would Steve Jobs’ passing have to do with their event? Yes, I understand he was a genius and innovator, but there’s no reason to postpone an event that’s almost a week after he died.

        Edit: The only thing I can think of is if Jobs’ funeral is supposed to be on Tuesday, and that would be understandable. I haven’t seen if that’s the case though.

        1. If that were they case they should postpone the entire event because if they dont we’re just waiting months for the next big event. I don’t mean any disrespect to Steve Jobs but people die everyday and life doesn’t stop for them, why should it for him?

          1. thats why you dont get invited to the funeral.

            you are so smart, you need a smartphone badly.

            even obama will attend the funeral. fanboy like you better line up in the store waiting to buy the phone using your credit card ( debtss)

          2. Probably because some Google employees will be attending the funeral.

        2. every important ppl will attend the funeral, including the CEOsss.

          fanboy here not affected, they are glad they have a job.

          and we lost our Jobs…. T_T

        3. Man get real. It would look mighty sad of them to do the presentation I know they were probably going to do. They were probably going to pull out all kinds of numbers that they’ve been quiet on lately showing that they’ve ripped Apple a new one.

          It just doesn’t look good to crush on Apple when everyone for the next week or so will be talking about how great Jobs was and what he did with Apple. It makes you look reeeeal small. Folk up at these levels understand this stuff. Even if the announcement comes soon after they still will have to watch how they take it to Apple. In fact hell they may have to rewrite the thing and pay homage to Jobs and his success and show how they’re carrying the torch and extending on it rather than the normal bashing.

          1. Well said. If it has to do with Jobs passing away, this should be something fanboys on both sides can learn from.

          2. Agreed. As much as it might kill Samsung to do so, they should appear squeaky clean and well mannered in this unfortunate situation. Smart move.

    2. I personally think the announcement during CTIA would have been a little amateur. It surprised me that they would announce during a bigger event anyway. I think Steve Jobs’ death gave them a logical out. I believe they will be planning a much larger, independent event in the very near future. As in end of next week or early the following week.

      1. Thought it was just me thinking that way. Seems to make it small. This should be its own event altogether.

  2. NOOOOOOOO!!

    Well why is the clock still ticking on my Unpacked App?? Stop the clock then LOL

    Oh and now I’m definitely just going to buy the GSII.

    1. Relax.

      Firstly, this was a product *announcement* not a launch date. It’s unlikely that if they delayed the announcement to stop a clash with Steve Jobs funeral that the actual launch date will be affected.

      1. Greatest thing ever.

  3. Most likely due to the sad news about Steve Jobs. Understandable.
    I doubt this will affect the release date of the phone itself, so nothing to lose sleep over.

  4. MOTHER (*@#(*&@#ER !

  5. Only way I’m happy about this is if the delay has to do with getting the Exynos 1.5ghz cpu into the Verizon Nexus…

    1. Seconded.
      I want my Exynos dual 1.5.
      I also agree with tjpeco. This is most likely nothing to so with jobsy.

  6. This just ruined my day, hopefully it’s not true?

  7. The announcement was expected for the Xmas holidays, then anticipated to compete with the new iPhone. Now that the Apple-phone disappointed even the fanboys there’s no more need to rush!

  8. I would disagree with that completely

  9. Are you kidding – this has nothing to do with Steve Jobs. Of course it provides a useful excuse to delay the announcement.

    Likely some gigantic software bug or security flaw was noticed or the demo units are crashing or something.

    But who knows.

    Steve Jobs’ passing doesn’t have anything to do with this.

    1. They could have had some jokes about Apple or Steve Jobs in their speech so out of respect they decided to change it, who knows.

  10. I do believe this is a small delay, I think it was planned the week after the Iphone 4S announcement to outshine Apple. However, with the passing of Jobs, I believe Samsung is taking the high road and will probably put it off a week or two. Probably doesn’t feel so good smashing Apple at the moment.

    1. Who cares about apple. life goes on.

      1. Yeah. this is about Steve Jobs, not Apple. Business is business. Personal is personal.

        1. you dont care, but samsung and google think otherwise, i’m sure they are smarter than you do. thats why you need this smartphone badly.

          trust me, smartphone wont make you smarter.

          1. “trust me, smartphone wont make you smarter.”
            –So I guess you must own one?

            If samsung and google are smart for delaying their announcement. Then I guess Apple was pretty dumb for not delaying their iphone launch. Right?

            If Samsung and google are stand up guys in delaying their announcement for Jobs’ passing, then Apple must be real creeps for not delaying their iphone launch. Right?

            This is your logic. Stop trying to score cheap points and understand my point.

            Again. Business is business. Personal is personal.

            Apple continued doing its business despite Jobs’ passing. (And likely benefited from all the publicity in a twisted sort of way. But I can’t blame ’em.) So, Samsung and google should continue their business.

            If you want to honor the man. Do it in a personal way. This delay won’t matter in the end.

            But my larger point is that the delay has NOTHING to do with Jobs. NOTHING!!!! And they know it.

      2. good comment, i’m sure u’re at the bottom of the food chain.

  11. Who is/was this Steve Jobs person? Seriously, why would his death postpone a “major” Android announcement that’s to take place over a week after his passing? I call BS!

    1. According to how people are hashing things out, he’s the only designer and engineer that has ever existed in the tech field ever.

      1. He and the Woz made the first PC and invented the GUI. If it weren’t for them you wouldn’t have pointers and everything might still be text based.

        1. Both not true. PC’s existed and Xerox already invented the GUI with the Xerox Alto and Star computers. Their first GUI was called WIMP. Apple improved on it.

          1. Or you can say apple copied the gui concept from xerox.

          2. I see what you did there

          3. xerox asked steve jobs how can they market it, steve jobs helped them.

            xerox still have the patent. go read more, read wiki, not fanboy forum.

          4. Euhm, I’m actually well-informed on the matter. I’m an interaction designer and front-end developer.

            I’m not posting the whole story here. I was just pointing out to the guy that Apple didn’t invent the PC and the GUI.

            Also, I’m no fanboy of either brand or platform. I use both for work, like a serious professional should.

        2. BS

      2. according to google ceo, he was important.

        and no one cares about how 1 or 2 fanboy thinks.

        1. And your point is?

      3. lol…

        I havent commented on it over the past few days…but this is so true. Yea Jobs, Apple’s influence is seen and felt in the smart phone, mobile, tech world but some folks are putting him on a gigantic pedestal right now.

        Yea, give him credit where its due….but dont give him credit for EVERYTHING.

        Just like ppl say without the iPhone there would be no Android…
        Without the old Win Mo, Blackberry and Palm there would be no iPhone. The iPhone was a radically different approach compared to the 3 I mentioned.. So I give Jobs and Apple credit for taking a chance, risk vs. what was already out.

        And here’s a lil food for thought: Some may say without the Apple Newton there would be no PDA’s, smart phones, tablets…and I believe Jobs didnt have a hand in creating the Newton. And the Newton was a huge flop.

        1. Ya, the Newton was entirely John Sculley’s creation which Jobs killed later because it “sucked”.

  12. As much as it sucks if its true that it is delayed I completely understand especially if it’s the same day as Steve Jobs funeral. Remember as much as most of dislike iPhone’s where would our delicious Nexus Prime and Ice Cream Sandwich be without him? I think and hope we can all agree on that.

    1. He did make an awesome product and by locking it down so much he invited competition.

  13. That’s too bad, I want some ICS.

  14. Hopefully it is so they can release on multiple carriers

  15. If this is true I won’t wait any longer for my new device. I’ll go with the Epic Touch. If they really postpone this, to me that says there are bugs or something that made them second guess showing it at this time. Hopefuly, it’s to allow for a cross carrier release or something even better.

  16. Are they kidding me? I 100% agree Steve left a Giant Void in the world. But postponing an announcement is just plain dumb IMO….

    First the Yanks get shut down, now Samsung drops a bomb…jeez, what’s next!

  17. so wait are the Nexus Prime and Galaxy Nexus two different devices ?

    1. I’m pretty sure the names that will be used are the Nexus Prime for T-mo, AT&T, and Sprint. Then Droid Prime for Verizon.

      1. i thought they made it official it was Nexus Galaxy??

        they better not pull some bs and make like two different versions

        1. No there hasn’t been an official name yet but it seems that Verizon wants theirs to have a different name.

  18. Do you think that Steve Jobs would have delayed an announcement out of respect?

    1. Great question and we all know the answer. No.

    2. He would not

    3. Good point, however just because Jobs could be a total dick does not mean everyone else has to be.

      1. at least samsung & google CEO are better than those fans.

        a fanboy is always a fanboy, CEO is a man.

    4. Probably not, but would that even be an issue? Samsung is just another generic tech company with generic products, interchangeable with a half-dozen other Android producers, and no one even knows or cares who the CEO is.

  19. Steve Jobs fucking stuff up from the after life too?
    What a dick

    1. attitude like yours shows you will have a difficulty in having frens and climbing corporate ladder. good

      1. Cal down, buddy. It’s a joke…

      2. You’re really on this fanboy kick…and I have to say, I think you’re one, too.

        Ultimately, we just don’t know why Samsung/Google decided to delay the announcement. Speculation is all we have.

        As far as Steve Jobs goes…well, he was a great salesman. He could probably convince people to buy square tires. He was the last icon in the tech field (Bill Gates is, of course, still alive, but no longer active in the tech world). His passing signifies an end to an era, and also an end to a fierce competitor. His life was too short, and even if I strongly disagree with his stances about OS liberties, I can respect the pushes he made to bring about quality user experiences. Those are reflected in Android’s beginnings, even though I feel that, on the whole, most Androids being created today have surpassed Apple’s user experience benchmarks.

        But to each his own.

        1. By the way, what have you done that’s so great? Do you…just criticize others work and belittle their motivations?”

          -Steve Jobs-

          1. I am the Finance Director of a multi-million dollar corporation, and I’m a private music tutor. I’m trying to improve a real business, and also individually shaping the lives of tomorrow’s musical stars.

            And you?

          2. I’m the emperor of Japan (in disguise)

        2. Well said :)

    2. I LOLed!

    3. Oh shut up. Don’t mock a dead man.

  20. i hope the actual phone is not delayed like update 2 just said. my contract is going to be up soon and id really like to keep my unlimited/ maybe not unlimited data plan

  21. hopefully theyre delaying it because of the phones design… what happened to an edge to edge screen… it looks like there’s an inch above and below the screen that needs to be removed and or stretched

  22. Maybe they’d planned to poke some fun at Apple, Steve Jobs, and the iPhone, and now they have to revise the script out of sensitivity ;)

    1. There’s plenty of time for that without postponing it. The only possibility is that the funeral is actually during CTIA. However, that seems like an unusually long delay to me. I would assume it would be this weekend.

  23. If this is true, which it may not be considering the source, there could be a number of reasons why “its not the right time”

    A. Steve Job’s passing, which means it should announced shortly.
    B. Google and Samsung realize that iphone 4s is no threat, which in truth it isn’t so they can spend more time tweaking everything.
    C. The recently released spec that stated Verizon had their on version was true, and they are working on bringing them more in line, Yay, CPU upgrade!
    D. Bug fixes. New software, new hardware, new bugs, its a truth of the matter. Better they caught it before release.
    E. All of the above.
    F. and well None of the above, they are just doing it to piss us all off!!!
    G. and of course no multiple choice answer wouldn’t be complete without G! What if they were also going to debut an actual tablet dock for the nexus and that isn’t ready…

    Of course G is a stretch, and F isn’t reasonable. At least they aren’t as tight lipped as apple and we have some warning ahead of time, softening the potential Iphone 5 type fiasco that occurred this week…

    1. You forgot H. They were attacked by a mob of circus clowns riding atop a pack of robotic elephants powered by flux capacitors capable of traveling through time and wreaking havok both in the past and future.

  24. CTIA is still happening (its not like they cancelled or postponed CTIA) so the only reason I can see delaying the announcement is that the Google brass who will be making the announcement of ICS and the Prime will be at the funeral on that day. What a bummer.

  25. #3 because iPhone 4s didn’t even catch up

  26. Man, what is with all the wasted space at the top of the screen in that picture?

  27. Man guys have a little humanity, I’m proud of Samsung and Google. Would Steve have done the same thing? Probably not. It just shows the world what class acts we buy from. Real gentlemen not just money mongers. You all complain about being in the 99% well this big corporation is saying hey we’re going to step down out of the 1% and be human beings. Get angry if you want. But these guys are doing a great thing. This should build your respect for them knowing that it’s not just money they actually care!

    1. u’re asking, is there anyone more important than steve?

      maybe bad news of bill gates will stop steve from launching his iphone, just maybe.

  28. If this was Steve Jobs’ product announcement, he would not reschedule it; Jobs wouldn’t want the news of his own death to interfere with the first 24 hours of news cycle buzz about Apple’s new product… Ironically the announcement of his passing came circa 29 hours after the iPhone 4S (4 Steve) announcement.

    1. he is one of the most important man of 21st century.

      xxxxx the funny samsung phone.

  29. Oh, something big IS coming. My foot up your ass, Samsung!

    1. boy oh boy….

  30. Considering Apple are moving full speed ahead, in spite of the loss, this would new a good intention that will bit them.

    I think our its more to duo with the OS and the device.

    1. I thought maybe it was either ICS not being ready or else Samsung not being ready because of the chipset supply issue. However I doubt they would have announced the announcement if they had any doubts about being ready.

      1. chiset supply could delay the launch but I can’t see why it would delay the announcement. Especially at this late hour. Same with ICS issues.

  31. The only way this makes any sense to me is if Jobs’ funeral is scheduled for the same day. Then I could understand moving it out of respect for someone as influential as Jobs. (Competitors can still be friends, who knows how friendly Android guys were with him?) However, if they just moved it because they don’t want to offend Apple fans a week after their savior died, that would be pathetic and ridiculous. This is still business after all. Either ICS isn’t ready or the funeral is the same day.

  32. This is all speculation and it is all rumor. We will know when we know. It could be because someone at Google or Verizon or Samsung will be at a funeral instead of being able to make the announcement. Google looks good by announcing the delay is due to respect for a competitor.

    Of course, it could be due to the fact that Steve Jobs is expected to return from the dead and announce – oh – and one more thing – the i*hone 5!

  33. Well, I’m changing carriers and I was waiting a few more weeks to check out the new system. You’ve just made my mind up for me. Hello AT&T & Motorola.

    1. You’re going to commit to 2 years (or spend money on a phone) because you dont want to wait another week or two? put your head on straight fool and be patient! its gonna be worth it!

  34. Not sure if its just a matter of time before the change, but the unpacked 2011 ‘Google episode’ still has the timer going…just an observation

  35. I think that they are just saying this so the rumors stop that is how it was last time. I think they are going to try to make everyone think otherwise that way they have the element of surprise…

  36. It’s pretty clear why Steve Jobs’ death would delay the launch. Right now his death has the media spotlight and his funeral will grab it as well. If his funeral is around the time of the originally scheduled Nexus/ICS launch, then a) the funeral will completely overshadow the Nexus/ICS launch in the media, and b) people will perceive it as done in poor taste to launch them at the time of his funeral, even though the launch was planned and scheduled some time ago.

    1. True about media attention- that makes sense. But if the attention will overshadow the launch why would anyone care about poor taste? They won’t even know much about the product launch because they’ll be focused on the funeral.

    2. steve is one of the most important man of this 21st century,

      what phone is this? the number N phone launched by samsung?

      1. This century huh… then that would be the “i” toys that Fisher Price would have died to make…

  37. First the iPhone4S, then Steve Jobs Death, Now Google’s Nexus Prime delayed!! This month is full of dissapointments!!

  38. This is BS. If you want to commemorate the man, go to his funeral and give a glowing speech about him. Delay the announcement??? I agree with many people here, Jobs would not have done the same thing. Will the announcement interfere with his funeral? No. Would it interfere with Apple mourning? No, I doubt they even give a crap about google at this point. This is some stupid overture that people will not take notice of because there are other more important things.

    1. all important ppl will be at the funeral.

      only not important fanboy will be free.

      who will deliver the speech at the announcement? a HR executive? or fanboy from here?

      1. What are you responding to?

        Delivering a speech about Jobs at his funeral is better than delaying and announcement. I would think most people would agree.

        Ugh!

    2. Oh god forbid you try and show some respect for someone. I think you got the golden rule thing wrong. It’s NOT ‘don’t do on to others, after all they wouldn’t have done on to you’. It is completely acceptable to show some respect and honor to a great man who DIED of CANCER. Oh no, but you want your phone. Well at least you’ll have something since you lost your perspective, psychological maturity, and morals.

      1. LOL. Ok. Breath. Calm down.

        Not that I give damn about your feelings or opinion, but I do have morals. Which is why I said:

        “This is some stupid overture that people will not take notice of because there are other more important things.”

        Important things like: a man’s death. No one will care about this because they will be worried about a funeral. I just think that people need to separate business from the personal. No doubt people from google, microsoft and others will some some respect for the man’s passing. I just happen to think it’s better to do something more personal for another person and not some BS move like this. There’s no way this was for Jobs, this was about something else. They just needed to be honest about it.

        And since your on your soap box about priorities:

        If it was so stand up for Samsung to delay their announcement, why didn’t Apple delay the sales of the iPhone when Steve died? It almost is like, Apple is capitalizing off of his death. And yet you’re not complaining about those people standing in line “only caring about a phone.” You’re not chastising Apple for continuing its business as usual while praising Samsung for delaying theirs.

        Funny.

  39. I understand having respect for the guy, but this is business. Not everybody knows what the nexus prime is and you don’t want to delay the announcement too long. People have grown impatient and want to upgrade. Holding this off may cause them to get a different phone. Plus, if things were the other way around, do you think he would show the same respect? He had great achievements but showed little to no respect for the competitors. it’s a cut throat business, take advantage of the disappointing iphone announcement and keep the plan as scheduled, if not, bump it up a few days!

  40. Never heard that excuse for a slip in schedule. “Our nemesis died and out of respect we are delaying the launch.”

    I guess “The dog ate my homework” was taken.

  41. You all complain too much. Have some patience and respect for steve jobs. If it wasnt for him android wouldnt be what it is today.

    1. Simply stating this is business, you think jobs would show the same respect? I guarantee he wouldn’t. Respect his achievements, not his antics. Take advantage of the disappointing announcement about the iphone4s. It’s not disrespect, it’s business

      1. He would show the same respect. I guarantee he would.

  42. idk how i feel about the search key not being there, i use that all the time :(

  43. Wow man…didn’t realize so many people lacked understanding of public perception. Doing any competing with Apple right now when Jobs is being heralded as THE tech man of the century is going to make you and your product look small.

    How does it look for the media to be focused on the turn around story of Apple in the wake of its founders death and you’re over in a corner screaming “Hey look at me….I’m beating the breaks off Apple…look at me”. Right…..small.

  44. Did we forget that Steve jobs read a lot of technology news just so he knew what was coming out so he could try and keep a step ahead of Droid with apple

  45. Google: don’t be evil guys

  46. has it ever occured to you people that maybe some of the people working at google (Andy Rubin, etc) could be attending the funeral?

  47. Well maybe it melted?? lol

  48. I blame the guy that put out that leaked video for the delay

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