UPDATED 09:40 EDT / MAY 10 2011

Will Google Wow Developers with an Ice Cream Release at I/O?

Knowing Google, its annual developer conference dubbed as Google I/O is certainly to go beyond expectations in some regard. It’s going to commence in a couple of hours in San Francisco, so check out their official site to know their itinerary.

But getting a break-down of what people are generally interested in when in talks of Google products, services, and enhancements, I’d say Android Ice Cream Sandwich tops the list. No, Google’s not going to serve desserts; it’s the name for Honeycomb’s successor, which we can fairly expect to become the converging point of smartphones and tablets, as Honeycomb is a tablet-only operating system while the older versions of Android were not as suitable, some even entirely non-functional on tablets.

Ice cream is trailed by Chrome OS, Google’s first ever browser-based operating system. If we’re lucky, Google might actually showcase a hardware prototype running the latest version of the platform, and there could be a tablet version of it. I’m being creative. Next on the list is a synopsis of its internet-enabled Google TV platform strategy, and a view of version 2.0 of Google TV’s software and hardware.

And it seems like Amazon’s cloud music service and iTunes will have to deal with another entrant in the competition with the ingress of Google Android Music. The new service was reported to give users the ability to listen to their home music collection without the hassle of sync-ups and license exchanges, a strategy enticing enough to make it a tough opponent even to the well-established Apple.

This next one might sound unlikely but a next-gen Google’s Nexus might show up at the conference, running on Honeycomb or Ice Cream Sandwich (maybe). That would be interesting. Or it could actually become as thought-provoking as seeing Google having a new device we’ve never seen before. Equally tentative is a peek on the next generation Android Market, which will boast smooth movies and music integration, as well as an improved billing system and security. Should Apple be scared? Perhaps. Google has been working really hard to end its regime for some time now, and it might actually release a bomb. The Android market is the fastest-growing service in Google’s portfolio, and if you’re a competitor, it’s disturbing.

Lastly, we can expect announcements pertaining to NFC technology at the conference. It’s not an entirely new concept, as Google has been pushing it since last year, but the supported integration of Foursquare and Hashable might open something big for the technology.

What other bombs Google’s going to drop at the conference is something that we’ll just have to see as the conference opens.


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