Google Mulls Launching Android 5.0 (Jelly Bean) in Second Quarter of 2012

With a few exceptions, most Android users are still patiently waiting for their device manufacturer and/or wireless carrier to unwrap Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0). Be that as it may, technology marches on and the sweet toothed engineers at Google are hard at work cooking up code for Android 5.0, which will be known as Jelly Bean. According to reports, Jelly Bean could launch as early as the second quarter of 2012.

Word on the Web is that Google has taken a fancy to the idea of dual-booting tablets shipping with both Windows 8 and Android 5.0. With Microsoft prepping its Metro-friendly Windows 8 OS for a third quarter release, Google wants to be sure its next major build of Android is already out there and ready to go.


According to DigiTimes, brand vendors will have the option of choosing just Android 5.0 or adding Android 5.0 to Windows 8 devices. What's more, users will be able to switch between the two operating systems without having to reboot their device via a special dual-boot function in Android.

If there's a downside to all this, it's that Google's downstream partners are already weary of Android 5.0 since Android 4.0 isn't performing as well in the market place as expected, DigiTimes reports. Part of the problem is that vendors have been slow to roll out ICS, which only enjoys a mere 1 percent penetration rate. Shipping Android 5.0 before 4.0 has a chance to gain some traction could exacerbate the ongoing issue of fragmentation that runs rampant on the Android side of the tracks.