Dec 7, 2010 08:43 GMT  ·  By

Google's Andy Rubin came on stage at D: Dive Into Mobile with some nice details on the company's plans for the future, including info on the forth coming Android 3.0 Honeycomb operating system, due sometime in mid-2011, or later.

The next operating system version should arrive on shelves with a great deal of optimizations for use on the fast emerging segment of tablet PC devices.

Since the operating system itself would be optimized for use on these devices, which sport larger touchscreen displays, there will also be a new SDK made available for download for those developers interested in targeting tablets with their applications.

While today's software solutions available for download from the Android Market do not offer support for displays of 7- or 10-inches, the landing of Honeycomb should change that.

Another change with the operating system, also tablet optimized, would be the inclusion of a new set of APIs into the mix. Through them, an application would receive the capability to split its view into multiple views.

“We added new APIs to Honeycomb that allow an application to split its views to multiple views. On a a tablet they can be side by side, while on a phone they might be one after the other,” Andy Rubin stated, a recent article on All Things Digital reads.

While Android 3.0 Honeycomb will come with the familiar icons in the operating system, though there might be a different grid layout.

A series of other changes would also be included in the new Android version, though it seems that Google still has a lot of work to do on it, especially on the graphical area.

What still was not unveiled for the time being was the actual release window for the upcoming platform version.

According to Rubin, the new OS flavor is set to arrive on devices during the next year, but it still remains to be seen whether it would indeed land in mid-2011, as previously rumored, or at a later date. Check on this space again for more info on this.