It’s not surprising that we’re hearing a lot of Google rumours this week, with Google I/O around the corner again. This time, we have Mingchi Kuo, an analyst with KGI Securities with a bit of gossip. Kuo, who has had accurate information regarding Apple product launches in the past, has given 9 to 5 Google some insight on what we might see coming out of Google I/O this year.
First off the rank is a new Nexus 7, but there’s no detail about what this might include. Speculation has been rife that this will be an LTE-enabled model, but we don’t know just yet — we’ll have to wait a couple of days. Beyond the Nexus 7 though is where the more interesting news lies — Kuo believes that we’ll also see an Android powered notebook, a new TV product and even a Google smart watch in coming months.
We’ve heard Android-powered laptop rumours in the past, and last month, Intel executives themselves started advising that a number of lower-end notebooks running Atom CPUs will be powered by Android. I don’t think we should expect to see these at Google I/O — it’s too soon — but Kuo says that Samsung will probably have the first Android 4.2 based laptops within a few months:
Android Book – Android Book won’t be introduced at the upcoming Google I/O as development of Android 5.0, which is targeted at NB, is incomplete. We think Android Book featuring Android.4x will be rolled out in the coming 3-4 months because some brand vendors, like Samsung (Korea), want to move first. But shipments will be limited as the current Android OS isn’t well supported for laptops.
We’ve already talked about the Nexus Q this morning, and the likelihood it might be shelved, but Kuo has a rumour on set-top boxes as well — an Apple TV-like competitor is on the way, apparently, but due to a change in internals we won’t see it released this week.
Last, but not least, are rumours of a Google developed smart-watch device which may partner with Google Glass, but we’re not looking at seeing this until 2014 apparently:
In addition to Google Glass, we expect Google Watch will be launched as Google’s venture into the wearable device market. Given the myriad design challenges for wearable devices, however, we don’t expect mass production to begin this year.
So basically we shouldn’t expect any announcement regarding an upgraded Nexus 4? Anyway exciting times ahead – what time does it start on Wednesday EST?