No wonder it takes so long to get Android released

Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) is ready! No, not really.

Google is done with Ice Cream Sandwich, but the process of getting it to customers is far from over. Having Google release the source code is just the first step in the process — now the real work for handset makers begins.

Motorola and Sony have outlined the process still left before it hits customer’s phones. As Motorola says, “Once source code is released from Google, it doesn’t automatically update to your device.”

So what are these steps?

  1. Merge and adapt the new release for different device hardware architecture(s) and carrier customizations.
  2. Stabilize and ‘bake’ the result to drive out bugs.
  3. Submit the upgrade to the carriers for certification.
  4. Perform a Customer pre-release.
  5. Release the upgrade

Interesting, I don’t see anything about protecting phones from the massive amount of malware on the Android Market. Maybe that comes later.

Can you imagine if Apple did something like this? People would lose their minds.