First there was Cupcake, then Donut, Éclair, Froyo, Gingerbread, Honeycomb, Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean. Continuing the tradition, Google Inc. has signed a sweet deal with Nestle to call its latest operating system after the food manufacturer’s famous chocolate bar.
“Everybody finds it difficult to stay away from chocolate we decided to name the next version of Android after one of our favourite chocolate treats. KitKat,” an announcement on the Android.com site said today.
There are no details yet on what the features the latest iteration of the operating system, Android 4.4, will come with. However, Google said it is the company’s “goal with Android KitKat to make an amazing Android experience available to everybody.”
The Android operating system now powers more than one billion smart phones and tablets, according to Google (NASDAQ: GOOG). The search engine company has always stuck with dessert names for its mobile OS’s.
The branding deal with Nestle appears to be purely cross-promotional.
An early report from technology news site Mashable.com quoted a Google spokesperson as saying “no money was exchange.” Android version 4.4 would be named KitKat and Nestle would feature the Android green robot mascot on the wrapper its chocolate bar.
The Android mobile OS has been enjoying rapid growth in recent months. The Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker report from analyst firm International Data Corp. (IDC) in August, said that in terms of shipment volumes, Apple’s iOS finished the quarter as a “clear number two” OS to Android capturing only 13.2 per cent of the smart phone market compared the Google’s mobile OS which grabbed a whopping 79.3 per cent.
Android KiKat is expected to be released next month.