Everyone is gushing about the updated Android 4.0, dubbed Ice Cream Sandwich.  The best thing about it is that it’s for both smartphones and tablets, unifying efforts for Google and developers alike.  But the bad thing about the new Android OS is that it’s available on a limited number of devices, at least initially.  It’s a tricky balance for developers looking to the Android platform for distribution and monetization, waiting for devices to integrate ICS in order to extend access to end users.

Siamak Ashrafi, a developer at mobile application builder YLabz.com, Siamak Ashrafi stated that, “Google has really done an amazing job giving us a way to build on the phone and on the tablet,” but “the emulator that’s currently with the SDK is gruesomely, painfully difficult to work with.”

Further, Meridian CTO Nick Farina questions the hardware acceleration capability of the new OS as no hardware is available to test it.  “Presumably, Google’s own apps are written properly and take advantage of this new hardware-rendering pipeline, but there’s no way to know how well it all works until I get a chance to play with some new [Android 4] devices like the Galaxy Nexus.” The feature “still requires the typically lazy developer to understand how the rendering system works and the consequences of layout and invalidating/drawing too much.”

Battling iOS

Software engineers as well as analysts are seeing the resemblance between the Android 4.0 and Apple’s iOS, as ICS acts as a unifying software for smartphones and tablets, just like iOS unifies iPhones and iPads.  They appreciate Google’s effort in making things simple yet functional.

Developers’ woes were quickly addressed by Google stating that the ICS is still open sourced and that it will be available in the coming weeks.

Google representative Randall Sarafa answered developers’ questions to address queries if ICS is an open source platform and other issues.

“It will be open sourced in the coming weeks, yes.  Correct. No, Honeycomb was not [open sourced].”

“ICS will be open sourced, and yes, ICS is meant to reunify and provide *one* release for both tablets and smartphones.”

“Ice Cream Sandwich is Android 4.0, and it is one release for tablets, smartphones and everything in between. That means that tablets going forward can run on Ice Cream Sandwich as can phones, so it is an update for both tablets and smartphones.”

Right now, apps are like the life source of mobile devices.  If a certain device doesn’t support apps, it’s unlikely to attract consumer uptake.  Apps make life easy and more enjoyable.  A recent study from Nielsen shows that people aged 18-44 years old, 54% of them own smartphones.  This age bracket is where the current workforce falls into, simply put – this is the age bracket capable of purchasing paid apps.  The Android OS is still the most popular platform in the US at 43% in Q3, up from 39% three months ago.  It confirms the promise of Android for the developer community, which is really driving the app marketplace in today’s mobile realm.