Have you noticed how confectionary and branded candy names appear when you read up the details of the operating system that your phone runs on or if you are searching f or what mobile phone to buy on the net? For a layperson, those are the only names that make sense instead of nickel metal hydride, quarter common intermediate format, rich site summary and so on.

Well, with all the sweet treats involved, it seems like someone somewhere is on a sugar high.

T e new version of Android is called KitKat, and there are other operating systems which were alphabetically named after sweet treats such as Gingerbread, Honeycomb, Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean. Why sweets? Does the head honcho of these tech companies have a sweet tooth? Is it to do with marketing alliances? Not really.

Once upon a time in July 2005, Google bought a company called Android which was headed by several telecom and mobile phone company big shots, including the former head of a big carrier, the ex-owner of a phone maker and so on. After their buyout, Android became mum, opting for stealth mode, while rumours spread that Google was working on a mobile phone.

In November 2007, Google announced that they are not only working on a ‘Google Phone’ but also on a brand-new mobile operating system called Android, based on the Linux kernel, to be used by the Open Handset Alliance, a group of 65 different hardware makers, carriers and other mobile-related companies.

We all know that Nestle makes Kit Kat and in the US, Kit Kat is licensed and sold by Hershey; and that Google is a huge company and doesn’t really need commercial tie-ins, nor does Android with more than a billion Android phones activated. Are we talking sweet benefits or are the companies just being sweet to each other? Yes, something like that, read on.

Since HTC was the first phone maker to get a real consumer phone out using Android technology, the T-Mobile G1 (also known as the HTC Dream outside of US), on October 2008. In February 2009, an updated version 1.1 of Android was released with the code name ‘Cupcake’.

To celebrate the new version release of Android, a giant mock-up of the dessert that matches the code name was delivered to the Google Campus and put on display.

Why are Android updates named after sweets, and that too alphabetically?

The idea behind using a name that makes anyone think of a moist cupcake with pink frosting being washed down with a cup of hot coffee was warm and human and nothing as cold and calculated (literally) as IT software and hardware. Which is probably why the head honchos at Android claimed that they just wanted to do something “fun and unexpected”.

The ‘cupcake’ heralded a whole series of Android versions alphabetically named after dessert treats. To follow was Android 1.6, i.e. Donut, Android 2.0 / 2.1, i.e. Éclair, Android 2.2, i.e. Froyo, Android 2.3, i.e. Gingerbread, Android 3.0 / 3.1 / 3.2 i.e. Honeycomb, Android 4.0 and later: The real “Ice Cream Sandwich”, Android 4.1: Jelly Bean, Android 4.4: Kitkat.

For each of these, attractive larger than life mascots adorned the lawns of the Google Campus.

When KitKat came up, it was simply meant to be a tribute to the fact that Android developers consume a lot of Kit Kats at work, said the management at Google. Sweet nothings really, because there was no money exchanged between the global partnerships, no commercial deals, nor promotions were done. But later in the US, they decided to dabble at a bit of marketing.

Nestle could have ventured into a naming rights deal. But they used a bit of vision. It is probably not wrong to think that if the names were some technical gobbledygook, one would hardly have a recall for them so in this way both companies must benefit from increased sales at some level. If your phone has the jellybean system or the KitKat, or gingerbread, it might make you crave for some right away.

It was fascinating to see how this stunt affected sales of Kit Kat bars. Millions of techies pounding on their keyboards and staring into their monitors like zombies wanted to have a Kit Kat bar right away when they come across the name of the operating system so sales went up.

In the US, Nestle decided to go onboard and venture into a bit of marketing. They produced 50 million Android-shaped Kit Kat bars, plus Kit Kat bars with Android packaging that offered a chance to win a Nexus 7 tablet or Google Play store credits. The benefits got sweeter for Google but bitter-sweet for Apple when the Google Play store credits inside the candy created interest in the Google Play store itself which lagged far behind the Apple App Store in terms of both customer interest and profitability.

Confectionary names do tend to stick in the mind much more than Intel’s idea for using geographical entities (Atlanta, Berup Lake, Wolfdale, Allendale, Clarkdale) or names of trees (Acacia) for integrated circuit development projects and desktop processors.

This is one sugary treat right inside your Android phone and it is not loaded with calories. Since the last one was Kitkat, one wonders if the next operating system will start with L?

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, March 8th, 2015

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