Last week witnessed the death of tech pioneer Steve Jobs. While everyone, including his competitors, expressed their grief over his
demise, Google and Samsung stood out by making a grand gesture. The companies announced delaying the launch of their Galaxy Nexus smartphone and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich OS. The statement issued by the companies clearly stated, "Under the current circumstances, both parties have agreed that this is not the appropriate time for the announcement of a new product." Samsung is currently embroiled in a bitter legal fight with Apple, and Google also has pretty strained relationship with the Cupertino company.
So while we were still going 'Aww' over this benevolent gesture, our party was quite ruined by a revelation made by prolific blogger Eldar Murtazin, who claims that Google did not delay the launch out of respect for Steve Jobs, but they had to do it because of some patent related technicalities. Murtazin reportedly tweeted, "Nexus Prime and Android 4.0 are under question. Google removing some features which are subject of patent war. No timeline for this job." Well, nobody can actually go and sue Google for this, but it certainly is one despicable piece of action.
In the meantime, Google may already have decided on a new date for the event. According to the rumors, Google may be launching Nexus and Ice Cream Sandwich on 19th of October in Hong Kong. However, like Murtazin's accusation, the new date is also unconfirmed and unverified.