Google finally made Ice Cream Sandwich official earlier today during its I/O keynote, and the announcement of a major revision of Android got some folks wondering if we'll see a new Nexus device accompany the new OS to market. Wonder no more, friends, as Andy Rubin, known by many as the father of Android, all but confirmed that we'll see a new product in the Nexus line, possibly before the year is up. When asked about the devices in a Q&A after today's I/O keynote, Rubin said that "the Nexus has been the thing we use to set the bar" and that there'll "always be new ones coming out for the market." So when will the next Nexus drop? Rubin wouldn't give anything close to a concrete date, but he did explain that the release cycles "are holidays and the summer time."

Obviously Rubin's statements don't reveal much about the new Nexus, but as TechCrunch points out, since summer is nearly here and the Nexus S 4G just arrived, it's possible that that device is the summer Nexus product. That means we may see another Nexus in time for the holiday season, which just so happens to be around the same time as Ice Cream Sandwich is scheduled to arrive. Does that mean that we'll be playing with an ICS-powered Nexus device before the end of 2011? Tough to say for sure, but with the way that everything's lining up, it's certainly possible.

Via TechCrunch