Slashdot Mirror
Android 4.4 Named 'KitKat'
Today Google revealed that the next major version of the Android mobile operating system will be called 'KitKat.' The naming convention has always used sugary snacks in alphabetical order — Jelly Bean (4.1 - 4.3) followed Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0), which followed Honeycomb (3.1 - 3.2), which followed Gingerbread (2.3), and so on. Unlike the previous releases, KitKat is named after an actual product, rather than a generic treat. Thus, Google contacted Nestle, who was happy to jump on board and take advantage of the cross-marketing opportunities. According to an article at the BBC, the Android team was originally going to use 'Key Lime Pie,' but they decided it wasn't familiar enough to most people. After finding some KitKat bars in the company fridge, they made the choice to switch. Nestle was on board 'within an hour' of hearing the idea.
They using the same alphabet I'm using?
@Valentinial
Android 4.5, brought to you by Pepsi can't be far from here.
Screw you and your cross marketing opportunities.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
That's fine and all, but I really don't care about the OS name. There's multiple articles out there and people going crazy _just for the name_. I want to know what's new in the OS for developers, not what their next marketing strategy is.
You mean they didn't want to turn down a free opportunity to have their trademark splashed all over the world in marketing blurbs for the next couple of years on someone else's dime? Shocking!
Why not 'candybar', or whatever non-commercial name? Seems like a silly choice.
Because that doesn't begin with a 'k'.
(and 'kandi' sounds like the name of a pornographic actress)
No sig today...
Give me a break!
Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
'Candybar' doesn't start with K. Besides, it's a silly joint marketing ploy. Hard to do with generic names.
I suspect no one asked the lawyers yet.
Not only that, but it demonstrates Google's furtherance of Whig objectives.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Why not 'candybar', or whatever non-commercial name? Seems like a silly choice.
Well, probably because "candy bar" doesn't start with a K.
And I'm not sure I buy the "not familiar with" story. More likely somebody made an offhand suggestion of KitKat and marketing messed their shorts over the idea of "cross marketing opportunities".
"Key Lime" would have been a great name.
"What do you despise? By this are you truly known." --Princess Irulan, Manual of Muad'Dib
/)
This is the result of what happens when an advertising company makes an operating system.
I went to eat some animal crackers and the box said, "Do not eat if seal is broken." I opened the box and sure enough..
From Nestlé's Wikipedia page alone:
Chocolate price fixing: "Nestlé recently agreed to pay $9-million, without admitting liability, in a settlement subject to court approval in the new year. But a massive class-action continues in the United States". Nestlé CEO Robert Leonidas is under threat of a criminal charge for his role in the price fixing of chocolates in Canada when he was at the helm of Nestlé Canada from 2006 to 2010.
Marketing of formula: One of the most prominent controversies involving Nestlé concerns the promotion of the use of infant formula to mothers across the world, including developing countries – an issue that attracted significant attention in 1977 as a result of the Nestlé boycott, which is still ongoing. Nestlé continues to draw criticism that it is in violation of a 1981 World Health Organization code that regulates the advertising of breast milk substitutes.[34] Groups such as the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) and Save the Children claim that the promotion of infant formula over breastfeeding has led to health problems and deaths among infants in less economically developed countries.
Ethiopian debt: In 2002, Nestlé demanded that the nation of Ethiopia repay $6 million of debt to the company. Ethiopia was suffering a severe famine at the time. Nestlé backed down from its demand after more than 8,500 people complained via e-mail to the company about its treatment of the Ethiopian government. The company agreed to re-invest any money it received from Ethiopia back into the country.
Melamine in Chinese milk: In late September 2008, the Hong Kong government found melamine in a Chinese-made Nestlé milk product. Six infants died from kidney damage, and a further 860 babies were hospitalised. The Dairy Farm milk was made by Nestlé's division in the Chinese coastal city Qingdao. Nestlé affirmed that all its products were safe and were not made from milk adulterated with melamine. On 2 October 2008, the Taiwan Health ministry announced that six types of milk powders produced in China by Nestlé contained low-level traces of melamine, and were "removed from the shelves".
Greenwashing: A coalition of environmental groups filed a complaint against Nestlé to the Canadian Code of Advertising Standards after Nestlé took out full-page advertisements in October 2008 claiming that "Most water bottles avoid landfill sites and are recycled", "Nestlé Pure Life is a healthy, eco-friendly choice" and that "Bottled water is the most environmentally responsible consumer product in the world". A spokesperson from one of the environmental groups stated: "For Nestlé to claim that its bottled water product is environmentally superior to any other consumer product in the world is not supportable". In their 2008 Corporate Citizenship Report, Nestlé themselves stated that many of their bottles end up in the solid-waste stream, and that most of their bottles are not recycled. The advertising campaign has been called greenwashing.
Zimbabwe farms: In late September 2009, it was brought to light that Nestlé was buying milk from illegally seized farms currently operated by Robert Mugabe's wife, Grace Mugabe. Mugabe and his regime are currently subject to European Union sanctions. Nestlé later stopped buying milk from the dairy farms in question.
Palm oil use: Rapid deforestation in Borneo and other regions, in order to harvest hardwood and make way for palm oil plantations, releases large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. In particular, where peat swamp forests are cleared, destroying the habitat for many threatened species of animals such as the orangutan, much public attention has been given to the social and environmental impact of palm oil and the role of multinationals such as Nestlé in this.There is ongoing concern by various NGOs including Greenpeace.
On its
Corporation, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility. - Ambrose Bierce
I see what you did there.
Oh well, more for me.
Crashes upon hearing the news.
Actually, reading the article, I rather think they have. Otherwise they wouldn't be doing stuff like this:
"To promote the alliance, Nestle now plans to deliver more than 50 million chocolate bars featuring the Android mascot to shops in 19 markets, including the UK, US, Brazil, India, Japan and Russia.
The packaging had to be produced in advance over the past two months. But despite the scale of the operation, the two firms managed to keep the story a secret,"
Coincidentally, just the other day I was watching Aziz Ansari's stand-up special, Deliciously Dangerous, in which the comedian covers the topic quite succinctly:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIXl1e0d5QI
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
Don't forget Kit Kat (played by David Caruso) from Hudson Hawk -- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102070/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
Invalid Checksum. Retrying.
... in a fire? Pretty please?
For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
I'm not sure I buy the "not familiar with" story.
I've not heard of a Key Lime Pie before (I'm British). Wikipedia has a page, and it looks like a lemon meringue pie with a particular variety of limes rather than lemons.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemon_meringue_pie
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_lime_pie ("Key lime pie is an American dessert...")
However, it probably is just marketing. An unknown (to me) American dessert was already used: froyo.
Thank you, you just ruined my afternoon.
Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
Wait until they find out that KitKat is a steaming pile and it'll be too late. Don't try to associate your product with something that's completely out of your control. Murphy's Law will get you. Same goes for Android, as they can't control what people think of KitKats.
Do we get to take credit for Frozen Yogurt? That's pretty cool. I didn't know that was ours. Its by far the healthiest desert I know of.
Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
True, same as getting a salad at McDonald's -- it's got more fat and sugar than the Big Mac.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Didn't you pay the self-proclaimed patent owners of that alphabet either?
Be sure, Google will _never_ pay Apple for using the alphabet.
Don't ever pay Apple for using the alphabet!
Do we get to take credit for Frozen Yogurt? That's pretty cool. I didn't know that was ours.
You do indeed!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frozen_yogurt "Frozen yogurt was introduced in New England, north-east United States, in the 1970s as a soft serve dessert by H. P. Hood under the name Frogurt."
Its by far the healthiest desert I know of.
Full-fat yoghurt is perhaps healthier (fewer calories).
Maybe now Nestle will sell the same KitKat bars in the US as they do in Canada. KitKat bars in the US have a candy chocolate coating. In Canada, and in the rest of the world, they use milk chocolate. Plus, they have a KitKat chunky... more milk chocolatey goodness...
Mountain KitKat
That that is is that that that that is not is not.
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/09/balky-carriers-and-slow-oems-step-aside-google-is-defragging-android/
Most key lime pies I've had do not have the meringue. LMP filling is lemon curd (lemon juice, egg yolks, butter, starch, sugar) whereas KLP filling is key lime juice, sweetened condensed milk, and egg yolks. They're really quite different. So, different fruit, different taste, different mouth feel, different pie.
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
They should have named this release after Kent Cigarettes, then they could immediately follow it with Lung Cancer. Perhaps the successor to Kitkat could be Lard.
Nullius in verba
True, same as getting a salad at McDonald's -- it's got more fat and sugar than the Big Mac.
i doubt the veracity of those statements.
the big mac has: 28g fat, 46g carbs, and 9 g sugars.
the "worst" salad has 22g fat, 24g carbs, and 7g sugars.
http://nutrition.mcdonalds.com/getnutrition/nutritionfacts.pdf
Ketchup :)
Sweet condiment
course then you'd have joked Android Ketchup more like "catch-up"
so yea probably wouldn't work
It's not small. No no no!
Honeycomb's got...a big big bite!
Big big (taste/crunch) in a big big bite!
At least, it USED to be, until the nutrition nazis ruined it, like seemingly everything else from our childhoods. :-(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honeycomb_(cereal)
Apple once famously code named new version "Sagan", but Carl Sagan objected. So they renamed it BHA, for "Butt head Astronomer". Sagan sued.
http://www.lettersofnote.com/2012/03/butt-head-astronomer.html
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
Sorry about our deserts not being boiled, but froyo is frozen yogurt which even you should be able to get. How is it exactly that the limeys are unaware of lime pie?
Hey, it would be pretty boring if Britain was just a smaller, older version of the USA. Frozen yoghurt is available, but only quite recently.
Here's some (supposedly) quintessentially British desserts: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatpicturegalleries/9213506/Famous-British-desserts-in-pictures.html (including a few I've never heard of).
None boiled, though a couple are steamed. (None deep-fried either, the author clearly wasn't from Scotland)
Yeah, the milk makes it much different.
I'd explain it as a cross between lemon meringue and cheesecake in consistency, with lime taste, of course. Although that might be a poor approximation.
Sent from my PDP-11
How is it that you are unaware of how to spell dessert? A desert is something entirely different.
That's with either no dressing or minimal dressing. Addthe dressings most people will be eating on that salad for a real number.
- Michael T. Babcock (Yes, I blog)
Key Lime Pie is less common than kit kats? Look, I enjoy kitkats, always have, but I've had way more key lime pie in my life. It's kinda sad that your country in general feels the reverse. Sad, and not unexpected.
It's not usually served with a meringue on top like that. Well, not outside of the Florida keys.
by Mike Buddha -- Someday the mountain might get him, but the law never will.
They could have gone with Koka Kola :)
...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
If I was Nestle I'd want searches for "KitKat" to go to sites about the candy bar not sites about phones. It will probably be 4-5 years before a search for "KitKat" will lead to a page about or selling the candy bar after this
I've not heard of a Key Lime Pie before (I'm British).
Really? They're in Tesco in the refrigerated dessert isle, right next to the cheesecakes. Live a little, wander around a supermarket and try something you've never tried before. I did that last week and ended up with a tub of Marshmallow Fluff. Hope they consider that in a couple of versions time... :)
KitKats are something that are recognised across the world. 96% of the planet wouldn't know a key lime pie if it fell on them.
Google is pretty bad at releasing later to the planet earth than the USA. For a long time, for example, we heard about Google Music which did not exist. There were people somewhere saying how wonderful it was but it only seemed to exist for a small group of people far away from everyone else.
Perhaps they are improving?
I'll see your Constitution and raise you a Queen.