Ice Cream Sandwich Statue Joins Android Pals on Google Campus

Google may have postponed the debut of Ice Cream Sandwich, the next version of its Android mobile operating system optimized for smartphones, in deference to the passing of Apple’s Steve Jobs. But as the I, Programmer blog discovered this weekend, it looks like somebody forgot to tell the delivery guys not to drop off the latest Android-themed statuary at the search giant’s Mountain View, Calif. campus.

Check out the video below of Googlers installing the Ice Cream Sandwich statue in an area outside of Google’s Building 44 that is rapidly turning into a kind of Candyland. Ice Cream Sandwich last week joined such Android-version commemorating statues as a ginormous doughnut (Android 1.6 Donut), a giant éclair (Android 2.0 Éclair), and a big old cup of frozen yogurt (Android 2.2 Froyo).

Interestingly, the Ice Cream Sandwich statue is the only version statue in the shape of the Android icon itself, although the iconic green robot does have its own statue in the garden as well.

Google and Samsung had been expected to unveil Ice Cream Sandwich on Samsung Nexus Prime smartphone at the Samsung Mobile Unpacked event during CTIA in San Diego last week. But that Oct. 11 event was cancelled, according to Google, because “we believe this is not the right time to announce a new product as the world expresses tribute to Steve Jobs’s passing.”

It has been reported that the operating system, which may be dubbed Android 4.0, though that is not entirely clear, will make its debut at an Oct. 27 event in London. Samsung however, has called those rumors “not true whatsoever.”

Google previewed Ice Cream Sandwich at the Google I/O conference in May to the delight of Android developers. Earlier this month, Google chairman Eric Schmidt let it slip at Salesforce.com’s Dreamforce conference that Android 4.0, the next major overhaul to Google’s mobile OS, will be released in “October or November.”

Google CEO Larry Page also made it clear that Ice Cream Sandwich is on its way soon during the company’s third-quarter earnings call with analysts last week.

Google+ loses 60 per cent of active users

INTERNET SEARCH GIANT Google has lost over 60 per cent of its active users on its social network Google+, according to a report by Chitika Insights, raising questions about how well it is doing against its rival, Facebook.

Google+ was originally invite only, generating significant interest as all and sundry attempted to join what many believed would be the next social networking craze. This frenzy continued when Google opened the doors to its social network to everyone on 20 September. This resulted in a massive influx of new members, with traffic growing by a whopping 1,200 per cent.

However, despite the clear interest in an alternative to Facebook, it does not appear that the people joining are staying around and actively using the web site. On 22 and 23 of September traffic appeared to peak on Google+, but it began to drop soon after, back to pretty much the same level it was before it opened to the public.

Google’s problem is not getting users in the first place, it seems, but rather keeping them after they have arrived. For now it appears that a lot of users are merely curious about Google+, but return to the tried and tested format of Facebook when the lustre fades.

Chitika Insights argues that, despite this lack of staying power, Google+ could still become a competitive alternative to Facebook, providing it continues with its fast pace of adding new features. The problem is that Facebook is not going to rest on its laurels while Google attempts to get the advantage. Already it has added features inspired by Google+, particularly in terms of improving the transparency of its privacy options.

While the jury is still out on which firm will win this battle, there’s no denying that the intense competition could make both social networks considerably better than they were before.

Google’s new mobile ambitions

A slew of new product announcements will put Apple under more pressure than ever.

Mobile phone manufacturers claim their handsets are designed to last four years – but consumers will be asked to change their phones faster than ever over the next few months as a host of new devices is released onto the market.

Last week, just days before the announcement of Steve Jobs’ death, Apple announced the iPhone 4S, an upgrade rather than a revolution for its world-leading model; two days later HTC announced its new device, focusing on audio performance. Google is soon to unveil its new flagship model, likely to be called the Nexus Prime, and major announcements are expected from the newly resurgent Motorola. The pace of change is dizzying.

One theme, however, emerges clearly: both Google and Microsoft want to respectively maintain and establish their positions alongside Apple as major smartphone powers. Google has numbers on its side, with more than half of all new phones sold now running the company’s Android operating system. But its problem now is to establish the operating system as a real rival to the ease of use the Apple iOS has pioneered.

Google’s next major mobile announcement will see it launch a new version of the Android operating system, codenamed “Ice Cream Sandwich”. This will be the first that, like Apple’s iOS, provides a unified experience across both tablet devices and mobile phones. The effect, the company hopes, will be to galvanise the app developers who make an OS feel vibrant. Thus far, it’s been Apple that has hogged their attention because iPhone and iPad users remain much more likely to download paid-for apps rather than free ones.