Aalthough gingerbread (Google’s code name for the next iteration of its popular Android platform) has yet to be officially announced, its mascot, a giant gingerbread man, has just arrived on the Google campus. Android 3.0 aka Gingerbread has been a topic of conversation among gadget geeks for the past few months. Since June, we’ve been hearing that the OS is scheduled to debut this fall. At the time, we said that Gingerbread represented a fork in the Android mobile operating system; Froyo and OS 2.X will be aimed at mobile phones, while Gingerbread (and the rumored 3.X Honeycomb successor) will start appearing on high-powered mobile devices such as tablets.
A Google executive pretty much confirmed these suspicions last month when he told reporters that Froyo was never meant to be a tablet OS and that Google had other directions for the iPad-competition device. And although several hardware companies have released Android 1.X- and 2.X-powered tablets (such as the Dell Streak and Samsung Tab), it’s no coincidence that some tablet manufacturers are holding off on releasing Android-powered devices until Gingerbread is ready. and available.
We’re anxiously awaiting more details about Gingerbread and confirmation of its tablet-specific properties, but for now, the only official word from Google is, “We’re baking something up, and it’s pretty sweet.” Stay tuned for updates on Google’s plans for a new crop of Android-powered tablets to compete with the iPad that dominates the market. But in the meantime, in this video, you can see the statue unfolded and installed at Google’s Mountain View headquarters, where it stands next to a large frozen yogurt parfait that symbolically represents Android 2.2 aka Froyo.
