Google, Samsung, Put the Breaks on Ice Cream Sandwich Introduction

Google's introduction of the next version of Android, Ice Cream Sandwich, on its next self-branded handset — the Nexus Prime or Galaxy Nexus, depending who you ask — will be arriving later than planned. Samsung and Google have announced that they're pushing the date.

They said in a statement, according to This Is My Next:

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.

The pair had earlier released a teaser video announcing that "something BIG is coming" and showing off slivers and bits of the curving Samsung handset, rumored to feature a 4.65-inch display with curved glass. (A graphic artist undoing some PhotoShop work told SlashGear that he believes the "screen's curve is much less extreme than Samsung's teaser video might lead us to believe.")

Boy Genius Report has also shared some "leaked" deets on the device, which is said to be headed exclusively for Verizon Wireless and to feature NFC technology, a 5-megapixel back camera and a 1.3-megapixel front camera, a 1.2GHz Cortex A9 processor, a girth of just 9mm and WiFi and LTE/HSPA connectivity.

Still, the hardware is likely far from the pair's reason for the delay. The phrasing of "just not the right time" perhaps suggests a sensitivity to the death of Steve Jobs, coming just a day after the iPhone 4S's introduction. It would be difficult to talk about iPhone killing with public affection for Apple at such a high point.

It's possible, too, that Ice Cream Sandwich could still use a bit more tweaking. Google has also been criticized for the pace at which "Gingerbread" has been downloaded (MDP: Android 'Gingerbread' Uptake Now at 39%).

Google CEO Eric Schmidt said in a recent interview that Ice Cream Sandwich will be released "in October/November," so with CTIA out of the picture, the AsiaD conference, Oct. 19 through 21, is an option. Either way, it shouldn't arrive too late. Forrester Analyst Sarah Rotman Epps, discussing Amazon's Kindle Fire (CP: Amazon Kindle Fire sales could smoke Apple's iPad debut), said in a recent blog post that Forrester now expects Amazon to sell at the low end of its original sales estimate, simply because the device isn't arriving until "fairly late in the holiday season," Nov. 15.

Samsung and Google won't want to hold off too long.