The fall CTIA show is one of the slower conferences we go to and the introduction of the Google Nexus Prime(Galaxy Nexus) would have made the entire show worth while for us here at IntoMobile. As you may know, Samsung and Google pulled out at the last minute and the reasoning was apparently due to the death of Steve Jobs. As unfortunate as that is, we definitely had our doubts about Samsung and Google’s reasoning but it may have to do more with patent issues than anything else.
A simple tweet gave a more revealing explanation, which is was much more believable that Samsung’s official comment. Murtazin (@eldarmurtazin) sent out a tweet saying,
Nexus Prime and Android 4.0 are under question. Google removing some features which are subject of patent war. No timeline for this job
That sounds a bit more like Google, doesn’t it? We have a hard time believing the Nexus Prime announcement was delayed because of Steve Jobs’ death, as sad as it may be. Keep in mind that Apple was likely fully aware of Jobs’ condition during the time and still went forward with the iPhone 4S, which makes it easy to want to call bullshit on Google and Samsung.
Obviously nothing is confirmed until proven otherwise and we’re not surprised to hear that there are patent issues afoot. That said, we’re definitely wondering what features may have to be removed if this indeed is the case and whether or not these features will hinder the Ice Cream Sandwich experience.
Removing these features from Ice Cream Sandwich likely won’t take too long for Google and we’re just glad to hear there’s not a hardware issue. That would mean we wouldn’t see the Nexus Prime until about 6 or so months from now. Luckily that doesn’t seem to be the case but hopefully Ice Cream Sandwich will still be sweet as can be.
Also keep in mind that Murtazin also said that Gingerbread would have hardware restrictions. So, there’s that. Personally, I don’t care why the handset was delayed. I just want it in my hands right now.
[Via: BGR]