The Jelly Bean statue as unveiled early on in the day. Photo courtesy of Google
MANILA, Philippines — Several hours before Google is expected to make the announcement about its next-generation mobile operating system at its annual developer conference, a familiar statue sprang up at the lawn of its Mountain View headquarters.
The statue, which was originally positioned as a spilled can of jelly beans, is the latest addition to the Googleplex lawn that also features statues for an Ice Cream Sandwich, a Gingerbread Man, and a cup of Frozen Yogurt, among others, also the official names of past Android releases.
The appearance of the statue on Wednesday (Tuesday in the US) has led many to speculate that Jelly Bean will be the official name of the next Android OS slated to be revealed early Thursday morning (Wednesday in the US) during the Google I/O Conference.
A later shot of the new statue shows the jelly beans inside an Android container, which some have pointed out could be a symbolism to what Google might announce during the conference.
Later on, the Jelly Bean container was positioned upright and encased in an Android-shaped stand. Photo courtesy of Google
The search giant has let slip very scant details about its new mobile OS, although speculations are ripe about a $199 7-inch tablet co-branded with Taiwan’s Asustek Computer Inc. as the likely vehicle for the new Android version.
It was only nine months ago when Google unveiled Android 4.0, also known as Ice Cream Sandwich, a major redesign of its mobile OS that brought features such as near-field communication, a better camera app, and a redesigned user interface.
The Google I/O conference is expected to begin at around 12:30 am, Manila Time, and can be viewed live viahttps://developers.google.com/events/io/.
