The Motorola XOOM may be the first tablet to run the next version of Google’s Android OS – Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0) according to a number of sources according to Fuad Anazovic at Fudzilla.
Google recently acquired Motorola Mobility – the Motorola arm that produces their phones and tablets – so it is certainly possible that they will be first out of the gate with an 4.0 upgrade. They were also the first manufacturer to release an Android tablet (however unfinished a product it was) with the original XOOM running Android Honeycomb back in January.
Samsung is producing the “Nexus Prime” – the first smartphone to run Android Ice Cream Sandwich due to be announced tonight – so it seems highly possible that the honour of being the first ICS tablet manufacturer would fall to either HTC or Motorola in an attempt to keep the field level. As it is owned by Google, a XOOM tablet could possibly forgo the addition of a MotoBlur skin that would otherwise have taken time to develop and test – again pointing to them taking pole position.
The benefits Ice-Cream Sandwich for tablets is not yet fully known – but it is sounding like a huge update. More details as we hear them.