Google confirms annual Android update cycle

The update cycle for major releases of Android is definitely a murky business, swinging from ''no time at all'' to ''forever'' within an entirely unpredictable way. If you cast your brain back, for instance, there were barely five months between Android 1.5 Cupcake and Android 1.6 Donut. That miniscule update window shrunk much more with the jump to Android 2.0 Eclair merely a month after Donut. More recently, however, a loose schedule of few months to a year is more common. But Google has now essentially confirmed a Android update cycle.

In a current interview, Google VP of Engineering, Hiroshi Lockheimer, told Fast Company that Google is going to be releasing a serious Android version on a once a year basis from this level on in. This is what Lockheimer were forced to say:

"As we've grown like a platform, we realize that somewhat predictability is very important for the whole industry: developers, manufacturers, operators, and consumers.... So we've landed with form of a yearly cadence of big releases, so, by way of example, 1 year we release J, another year we release K, therefore the year from then on L, after which this year we'll launch M, which means you can predict after that happen buy."

This structure had previously been loosely followed following the launch of Android 4.4 KitKat alongside the Nexus 5 on October 31, 2013. That launch was followed almost exactly 12 months later by Android 5.0 Lollipop within the Nexus 6 on November 12, 2014. This the past has had us expecting your next major version of Android to get publicly released around October - November this coming year.

Recent rumors, however, have indicated that the ultimate version in the Android M release could possibly be ready who are only August. What we can say for certain is that Google now seems focused on releasing a developer preview at Google I/O - its annual developer conference - to present developers time for it to start adapting their apps on the new software.

We expect Google I/O 2015 for being no different, where we're expecting the Android M preview for being made available. The next step is getting OEMs to offer more timely updates to consumers.

Google confirms annual Android update cycle 2015-05-28T22:30:00-07:00 Rating: 4.5 Diposkan Oleh: Unknown