Jean-Baptiste Queru, a software engineer working on the Android Open Source Project (AOSP), just confirmed that Android 4.0.1 source is now available. This is the version of Android that will ship on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, due out sometime before the end of the year. As we mentioned in an earlier story, once Google decides to begin work on a new version of Android, the source for that version is only shared with Google's launch partners. The rest of Google's partners have to wait until the code is submitted to the AOSP, at which point they all begin the rush to optimize the code for their various hardware platforms. 

That's exactly what we expect to happen over the coming weeks. I've heard estimates of as little as 30 days once Android 4.0.1 hits AOSP for tier 1 Honeycomb partners to get the OS running, optimized and validated for their hardware. Obviously we have to take priorities into account as it may make more sense for a smartphone/tablet vendor to focus on getting ICS running on new products rather than older ones. 

The race is on, the question is: who will be first to release ICS outside of Samsung?