Samsung, Google delay Galaxy Nexus launch out of respect for Steve Jobs

Sad news from the Android camp as both Google and Samsung announce (via Pocket-lint) that the Galaxy Nexus, also known as the Nexus Prime, will not launch at the Mobile Unpacked conference October 12 next Wednesday, as originally expected. The two companies provided no explanation for the delay apart from this official statement:

Samsung and Google decide to postpone the new product announcement at CTIA Fall. We agree that it is just not the right time to announce a new product. New date and venue will be shortly announced.

The CTIA conference runs October 11-13, 2011 at San Diego’s Convention Center. The publication speculates that the delay could be related to avoiding a likely media conflict if Steve Jobs’ funeral were to happen that day. The wording of the official statement, that “it is just not the right time to announce a new product”, supports the thesis.

UPDATE: Ina Fried over at the AllThingsD blog quotes unnamed sources who said Google and Samsung “just felt it was the wrong time to hold a launch event, as the world continues mourning Jobs”. Furthermore:

The decision to postpone things was made late last night at the top levels of both companies, sources said, with Jobs’ death being the reason. There are no delays with the product itself, sources insisted.

Samsung and Google later updated their original press statement, which now reads:

We believe this is not the right time to announce a new product as the world expresses tribute to Steve Jobs’s passing.

Another possibility, albeit much less likely, is an unknown patent issue that might need sorting out. 

The Galaxy Nexus, or the Nexus Prime, has been widely expected as the first high-profile device to run Android 4.0, also known as Ice Cream Sandwich, a major operating system updated that should combine tablet and smartphone features. The Galaxy Nexus is rumored to pack in Samsung’s 1.5GHz dual-core Exynos chip, a 720p native display, an eight-megapixel camera with an all-new, improved sensor, full HD video recording and other goodies. Google’s chairman Eric Schmidt promised this summer that first Ice Cream Sandwich devices would arrive by November.