SG Comics Presents: Apple Eats Android Ice Cream Sandwich
Last week's Google I/O kicked off the first keynote with an image on the big screen of an adorable Android robot ready to swallow an apple, bringing laughter to the crowd of 5000 attendees. This certainly isn't the first time we've seen shots taken at the bitten apple logo, which being an inanimate and already injured fruit has very little means to defend itself. Apple probably won't be fighting back with its own cartoon, but they could bring some major announcements at next month's WWDC to take a bite out of Google's recent developments.
According to recent reports, Apple's iPhone 5 may make a November appearance, while an iPhone 4S for carriers Sprint and T-Mobile may arrive in September. This leaves next month's WWDC without a phone to announce, bringing many to believe that the focus will be on the rumored Apple iCloud, which may completely replace MobileMe, bring iTunes to the cloud, embarrass Google's recently launched Music Beta, and attempt to "magically" revolutionize the industry in some way or other. Additionally, iOS 5 and the new Mac OS X Lion will most likely be unveiled as well.
Google announced Android Ice Cream Sandwich to come in Q4 2011 that will unify the platform and eliminate the need for the separate smartphone and tablet versions we currently see with Gingerbread and Honeycomb, respectively. Ice Cream Sandwich, besides sounding delectable, could alleviate a lot of the fragmentation issues that have been hindering app development for the platform that has often involved apps working for some devices and not others. This, plus a revamped Android Market along with the addition of Google TV into the Android ecosystem, will surely boost the quantity and scope of apps to come.