Skip to footer

Android KitKat named as latest Google 'flavor'

Google says it will name its next mobile OS after the KitKat bar, which is owned by Hershey's. 

|
Google
Say hello to Kit Kat, the latest version of Google's Android OS.
  • By Matthew Shaer

Cue the "gimme a break" jokes. 

After debuting mobile operating systems named after jelly beans, cupcakes, donuts, and ice cream sandwiches – not to mention frozen yogurt – Google has finally unveiled the moniker for its newest Android OS: Kit Kat. The news was revealed on the Android landing page and at the Internet home of Kit Kat, which is owned by the Hershey Company. 

"Since these devices make our lives so sweet, each Android version is named after a dessert," reads copy posted to the Android page. "As everybody finds it difficult to stay away from chocolate we decided to name the next version of Android after one of our favorite chocolate treats." 

This is the first Android OS to be named after an actual trademarked product, as opposed to a generic candy/baked treat. Here's hoping that Google will soon be expanding into Android Lemonheads and Android M&M. 

In related news, according to analytics firm IDC, in the most recent fiscal quarter, 187.4 million Android-powered phones were shipped globally. That's good enough for almost 80 percent of the worldwide market – it also marks a whopping 73.5 percent year-over-year growth for Android. (To put things in perspective, during the same quarter, Apple's iOS accounted for 13.2 percent of all shipments, with 31.2 million Apple devices shipped.) 

As Android opens more and more distance between itself and its rivals, it's becoming increasingly hard to imagine a scenario where Apple – let alone distant competitors such as BlackBerry – will be able to catch up anytime soon. 

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Android KitKat named as latest Google 'flavor'
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Technology/2013/0904/Android-KitKat-named-as-latest-Google-flavor
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe