Forget Key Lime Pie, Android 4.4 to be called KitKat

While we’re still awaiting word on Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie, Google has made an important announcement of yet another OS version in the Android 4 family. This time, however, there is no Jelly Bean goodness. Android version 4.4 is going to be called KitKat.

In what could be the biggest marketing strategy of the year, Nestle and Google have agreed on letting the newest Android version be named after the chocolate bar sold around the world. The deal sounds like there’s a lot of money involved in it, but Google has told the BBC that there is no money attached to naming Android’s latest iteration KitKat. “This is not a money-changing-hands kind of deal,” John Lagerling, Director of Android Global Partnerships said.

The splash-screen caught the world unawares

The idea was apparently bounced around in the Google office in late November last year, but was finalised only during the Mobile World Congress held in Barcelona in February. “We decided within the hour to say let’s do it,” said Executive Vice President of Marketing for Nestle, Patrice Bula.

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It’s no secret that Google has a sweet tooth when it comes to Android. Named after desserts, candies and all things sweet, the company named the previous versions of OS with mouthwatering delicacies. From FroYo to Ice Cream Sandwich, Jelly Bean and even Donut and Éclair, Android versions have been referred to these names rather than their version number forever.

However, this is the first time a marketing deal has been struck with a chocolate company in a sort of a cross-branding move. KitKat is one of the most widely sold chocolate bars in the world, including India. Keeping this in mind, Google and Nestle are thinking up campaigns to promote the version. 50 million KitKat bars in 19 countries are all set to have Android wrapping and a chance to score some Android goodies like Nexus 7 tablets and Google Play gift cards.

A new KitKat Android statue has come up on the Google campus

Interestingly, even Google employees, who kept referring to the next iteration of Android as Key Lime Pie, were kept in the dark about the deal. “We kept calling the name Key Lime Pie internally and even when we referred to it with partners,” said Lagerling. The version was also referred with its first letter “K” which was not to be Key Lime Pie but KitKat.

Lagerling also has another explanation for not sticking to Key Lime Pie as the name. “We realised that very few people actually know the taste of a key lime pie,” he explained. KitKat, however, is a taste well known around the world. “One of the snacks that we keep in our kitchen for late-night coding are KitKats. And someone said: ‘Hey, why don’t we call the release KitKat?’”

There are some major issues with this strategy, though. Nestle owns the KitKat brand all around the world but Hershey’s licenses the brand in the US. Google and Nestle struck a deal amongst themselves but have had to rope in Hershey’s too in order to keep the distribution of these Android packaged candy bars uniform around the world.

The packaging that will be seen in countries around the world

There’s yet another tit-bit about why KitKat, of all chocolates, was chosen to be the face of Android. Legend has it that Android’s Engineering Head Hiroshi Lockheimer is crazy about KitKats. His Gmail avatar was a KitKat bar for the longest time and the team once even decorated his office with bars of KitKat.

So, while it may come as a shock to most people around the world, followed by a little dejection as to why Android 4.4 was not named after their favourite chocolates instead, Android KitKat is here to stay.