Google’s popular mobile operating system Android has hit 1 billion activations, according to tweet from Android head Sundar Pichai. In addition to that announcement, Google also said that it was naming the next version of the Android operating system KitKat.
Wait, what?
OK, let’s go a bit slow here. First of all, Android head Sundar Pichai tweeted that Google’s Android operating system had hit 1 billion activations. That means that devices containing the Android operating system have been purchased and activated over one billion times. That’s a pretty remarkable achievement, given that Android was only really launched in 2007-2008, and that there is one Android device activated for every seven people in the world. (Google had announced at its I/O developer conference in June that it had hit 900 million activations then.)
But the more interesting part of the tweet was a photo of a new Android mascot positioned at Google HQ: a ... KitKat? Or more specifically, an Android made up of KitKats. Wait, is that edible? (Reports are coming in that the statue is not, indeed, edible, though it does look like its made up of KitKats.)
The Android team has a history of naming versions of their operating system after sweet edibles. On the Android KitKat page, there are photos and descriptions of the history of the codenames for the Android operating system. But the team had kept the new name secret even internally till today.
KitKat Copyrights and Cross-Promotion
One thing though: compared to earlier versions of the codenames, KitKat is actually a commercial product trademarked by Nestle internationally and distributed by Hershey’s in the United States. How did Google pull that one off?
Never fear, KitKat and Android fans. Google and Nestle (along with Hershey) are apparently working together to make this a cross-branding and promotion campaign. Google’s Android webpage has a link to Nestle’s KitKat page, and the mascot will have very visible KitKat demarcations. And Nestle updated their KitKat homepage describing its popular chocolate wafer in a tongue-in-cheek rendering of tech terms.
Oh my, there’s also an official Youtube video from Nestle about the launch ... complete with a Chief Breaks Officer.
According to BBC, Google came up with the idea, and neither company is paying the other for the cross-promotion. “This is not a money-changing-hands kind of deal,” John Lagerling, director of Android global partnerships, told the BBC. According to the BBC, Lagerling made a “cold call” to Nestle’s UK advertising agency to propose the tie-up. And then: “The next day, the Swiss firm invited him to take part in a conference call. Nestle confirmed the deal just 24 hours later.”
According to The Verge, “KitKats have long been Android engineering head Hiroshi Lockheimer’s favorite candy bar.”
Looks like the Android team is all about having their KitKat and eating it too.
