back to article Give us a break: Next Android version to be called 'KitKat'

Google has announced that the next version of its Android operating system will be codenamed "KitKat", after the iconic chocolate-covered wafer candy bar. Photo of the KitKat mascot among the Android lawn statues The Chocolate Factory needs a break from 'Jelly Bean', it seems Previously, the leading speculation among the …

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  1. David Given
    Thumb Down

    Ouch

    ...I think I just facepalmed so hard I broke my nose.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Ouch

      So appropriate. Nothing brings to mind a flakey, crumbly easy to break meltdown to mind faster than Android...

      1. andreas koch
        Coat

        Windows Phone 9

        Codename 'Snickers'

        <g,d&r>

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Windows Phone 9

          Windows Phone 9

          Codename 'Snickers'

          .... so MS are in it for the long run then!

          1. andreas koch
            Happy

            @ AC 2130h GMT - Re: Windows Phone 9

            Yep, the full 26 miles.

            1. DRendar
              Megaphone

              Re: @ AC 2130h GMT - Windows Phone 9

              Yep, the full 26 miles

              Yes! someone who remembers the truth!

              Now I'm off to scarf some Opal Fruits.

            2. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: @ AC 2130h GMT - Windows Phone 9

              "Yep, the full 26 miles."

              As in "almost there, but not quite finished"?

              (Roughly 26.2 miles in a marathon)

    2. brainbone

      Wouldn't be so bad if it were a UK KitKat.

      The KitKats here in the states have a waxy yet gritty texture, seem needlessly sweeter, have less cookie/wafer, and just taste poor in comparison.

      So, does this naming mean that the UK version of Android will be better?

  2. Arctic fox

    I would have been very surprised if either company had objected.

    "In the US, however, KitKat is manufactured and sold by the Hershey Company, a Nestlé competitor. The chocolate was originally created by Rowntree Mackintosh of York, England, which licensed the brand to Hershey in the 1970s. When Nestlé bought Rowntree in 1988, that licensing arrangement remained in place – and it is to the Hershey KitKat website that the Android site now links."

    As far as free advertising goes it's win-win for them both.

    1. deshepherd

      Re: I would have been very surprised if either company had objected.

      "In the US, however, KitKat is manufactured and sold by the Hershey Company"

      I've lived in Silicon Valley for a few years and had the misfortune of buying a KitKat there and being unaware of the Hershey connection ... until I started to eat it and discovered it tasted DISGUSTING as it was covered in Hershey's "chocolate". In contrast when I had to fly to Vancouver to get my visa renewed (has to be done outside the US) it was a delight to find that they had KitKats there imported from the UK!

      1. Gene Cash Silver badge

        Re: I would have been very surprised if either company had objected.

        Pretty much ALL American chocolate is rubbery nasty crap, but yes, Hershey's is the worst offender. Pretty much tastes & feels like a doormat soaked in motor oil.

        Thank god we have a "British Shoppe" on 17-92 that has the imported good stuff.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: I would have been very surprised if either company had objected.

          Not to mention Hershey's "Kisses" which do, literally, actually taste of vomit.

          First time I ate one, I thought it had been spiked.

          1. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge

            Re: I would have been very surprised if either company had objected.

            Not to mention Hershey's "Kisses" which do, literally, actually taste of vomit.

            Funny, I came here to post exactly the same thing. I was worried it was just me.

            It's uncanny how they manage that.

            1. Cliff

              Hershey and ilk

              My first association was brown crayons.

              I know British newsagent chocolate isn't generally in the league of European-style posh dark chocolate bars (Lindt and friends), but still way ahead, and somewhat moreish!

              1. davemcwish

                Re: Hershey and ilk

                Given WallMart's ownership, I noticed recently that they (Hershey's) have inveigled their way in to these shores.

            2. Mint Sauce

              Re: I would have been very surprised if either company had objected.

              <AOL>

              It really *is* that bad...

              <shudder>

            3. tony2heads
              Trollface

              Re: I would have been very surprised if either company had objected.

              perhaps lark's vomit garnished over the cornish ram's bladder?

              http://www.montypython.net/sounds/sketches/larkvomit.wav

      2. asdf

        Re: I would have been very surprised if either company had objected.

        Usually I am quick to respond to Merkin bashing but this one is earned. American chocolate especially Hershey's is an embarrassment defended only by people who have never lived abroad.

      3. Chuunen Baka
        Unhappy

        Re: I would have been very surprised if either company had objected.

        You mean there's even worse milk chocolate than the British 'vegelate' rubbish? You live and learn.

      4. Peter Gathercole Silver badge

        Re: Hershey's chocolate

        I saw in interesting documentary on Hershey that claimed the reason why American chocolate is so nasty is historical.

        In the 19th century, Europe had a Chocolate fad. East coast America picked this up as Europe was trendy to Americans who lacked a long history, and looked across the Atlantic for trends and fashions. East Coast America is fairly cool and the major cities were fairly close together, so chocolate could be made and moved quite easily,

        When the frontiers started getting civilised (mainly with the railroads), high quality goods from the east coast were sent around the country because those people wanted to be seen a sophisticated, and chocolate was a small luxury that could be afforded in small quantities. Unfortunately, America is a big place, and often quite hot.

        This meant that chocolate arriving on the West coast or the South was often in box cars for days in hot conditions, and quite naturally went off. The milk in the chocolate became rancid. The people receiving such luxury items did not know that it was off because they did not have anything to compare it to, only knowing that it was the trendy thing to eat and just accepted that this was how it should taste, and got used to it.

        When Hershey, Pa (aka Chocolatetown, USA) was built, and they commissioned refrigerated box cars on the railways to distribute the product in ideal conditions, the outcry about the change of taste from the rest of the US was so great that Hershey changed the process to re-create the taste of gone-off chocolate that Americans now favoured. And the rest is history.

        Mind you, I understand that Americans now go wild about the taste of Cadbury's chocolate (and buying the company, unfortunately), so maybe they are beginning to see sense. Having said that, I guess that people from places like Belgium and France probably throw their hands up in the air at British chocolate, which substitutes vegetable fat for milk fat.

        But I prefer it that way, and that's what matters to me.

        1. asdf

          Re: Hershey's chocolate

          I forgot about one thing Hersey's makes I can stand. Their chocolate syrup is ok if you were raised on it. Like using to make chocolate milk or to top vanilla ice cream. Its not really chocolate and is probably still an acquired taste but knew there was something they made I could tolerate.

    2. Big-nosed Pengie
      FAIL

      Re: I would have been very surprised if either company had objected.

      "In the US, however, KitKat is manufactured and sold by the Hershey Company, a Nestlé competitor. The chocolate was originally created by Rowntree Mackintosh of York, England, which licensed the brand to Hershey in the 1970s. When Nestlé bought Rowntree in 1988, that licensing arrangement remained in place – and it is to the Hershey KitKat website that the Android site now links."

      Gods - those poor Yanks. That rubbish that Hershey laughingly calls "chocolate".

      1. Chris King

        Re: I would have been very surprised if either company had objected.

        Hershey's: We've heard about that "cocoa powder" stuff.

        1. Spleen

          Re: I would have been very surprised if either company had objected.

          Maybe Google should just go the whole hog and call it the Android KitKat Badger Cull Tuition Fees 10am Lecture just to *really* annoy the second-year PPE NUS-candidate wankers.

    3. Tom 38
      FAIL

      Re: I would have been very surprised if either company had objected.

      I'm astonished by Google on this. Since 1977, Nestle has been aggressively boycotted by action groups on milk powder. In the UK, the boycott is largely implemented by university students who ban Nestle products from sale in student run facilities and promote the issue amongst freshers. Google have willingly associated with this company, seemingly on a whim.

      Most people won't care one iota about this, but some people vehemently will. "Key Lime Pie" offends no-one..

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: I would have been very surprised if either company had objected.

        I bought into all that crap as a student. Now I've grown, I eat KitKats.

        1. Tom 38

          Re: I would have been very surprised if either company had objected.

          I bought into all that crap as a student. Now I've grown, I eat KitKats.

          Me too. But each year, hundreds of thousands of new students pop off to UK universities where a good proportion also buy into all that crap, and Google are willingly associating their brand with them. Surely having militant students saying "down with that" to your products would be a bad thing?

          My uni didn't have a Nestle ban when I went there, but each year I was there there were votes to have it banned from various places, and the vending machines with Nestle stuff in them often had stickers or posters on them to shame you if you bought Nestle.

          1. Great Bu

            Re: I would have been very surprised if either company had objected.

            I think it will be an excellent test of their level of conviction - it's fine to boycott a particular company's product when there are a great many easily available alternatives that are just as good but how will the poor impressionable freshers decide between trendy boycotting of baby milk producers and using their shiny new smartphone (or will they defect to iOS (there goes my student loan), WinPho (even less cool points, surely MS are satan spawn) or Blackberry (choice of the Chav)) ?

        2. taxman
          Facepalm

          Re: All that crap

          Obviously a very long time since you were learning......and not much stayed - or was understood - by the looks of it.

          Here's a refresher....if you can believe any of it.

          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nestl%C3%A9_boycott

          1. Andrew Garrard

            Re: All that crap

            Quite. I still prefer to avoid Nestle (although I'm not absolutely strict about it). Not something I'd want to associate with if I had "don't be evil" in the company motto, though. I have a vague hope that it's going to be a deliberate name-and-shame policy and they'll change back.

            I kind of think they did this just to spite everyone who assumed Key Lime Pie. Which is a pain for people who actually have source code with that moniker in it, of course. The "people don't know what key lime pie tastes like" seems rubbish, at least (lime, duh).

      2. Mark .

        Re: I would have been very surprised if either company had objected.

        If Nestle aren't getting any money from it, surely one can still boycott them even if you're buying an Android device?

        True it might seem annoying that they be given publicity, but one doesn't have to refer to Android Kitkat, you can just say Android, or specify Android 4.4. (This isn't quite as nuts as "sponsored by itunes festival", where there isn't any name to refer to the festival by AFAIK other than the product placement name.)

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Why Not.

    I however love chocolate and I love android products, what I love most is how random things like this confuse marketing people.

    Why should everything have to make sense? Why does everything HAVE to be so formulaic? Why can't things be organic?

    Why should tie up deals involve money (neither Nestle or Google paid money for this, it was born out of Android engineer's love for chocolatey wafer biscuits)

    1. dogged
      Meh

      Re: Why Not.

      Having tasted it, I refuse to believe there's anything organic about Hershey's chocolate.

      As for Nestlé - still evil....

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Why Not.

        Organic? Having tasted it I would suggest Hershey's chocolate is very organic. It appears to be excreted rather than conched, and I'm sure the bovine it was excreted from was very organic.

    2. FIA Silver badge

      Re: Why Not.

      "I however love chocolate and I love android products"

      But which one's better?? There's only one way to find out...

      FIGHT!!!!

    3. Pete 2 Silver badge

      Re: Why Not. Here's why

      Is it really a good move to name a software release after something that breaks so easily?

      Or that melts when it gets warm?

      I suppose some people will give it the finger (or 4).

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Why Not. Here's why

        It's not a software release you idiot.

        The software is called ANDROID 4.4

        INTERNALLY it's codename is called KitKat...

  4. Matt Piechota

    Confectionary Perfection

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=OKOrkLxOBoY

  5. Tom 7

    4 damp cores

    but I guess the silver wrapper might keep the NSA away.

  6. JDX Gold badge

    It would be a great homage to advertising history if they call the next version Android Lemon

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Pssst!

      <_< ... >_> ... Next Android after 'Kit-Kat' will be called 'Licorice'.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Pssst!

        Lindt Gold Bunny

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Pssst!

          Lindt Marc de Champagne

  7. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge
    Coat

    The Nestle Kit-Kat Chocolate is far too sweet

    The old rowntree mix was a lot better (IMHO)

    I wonder if this Android release might be the same? After all they are due their Vista release aren't they?

    Ok, I'm gone to get some Thornton's.

    1. John H Woods Silver badge

      Re: The Nestle Kit-Kat Chocolate is far too sweet

      Have you ever tasted Hershey's though? The first time a US friend gave me some, presumably expecting me to have a "wow" moment, I thought I had been given joke chocolate. Nestle is hardly the height of chocolate but in my opinion it beats the waxy texture and soapy taste of Hershey pretty much hands down.

      1. 100113.1537

        Re: The Nestle Kit-Kat Chocolate is far too sweet

        I fully agree - Hershey chocolate is a completely different texture and I never touch it. All a matter of taste, of course, but I know someone who imports Cadbury's into North America and makes a pretty penny doing it. I can even get Nestle KitKat in some shops in Canada (at an inflated price) so there are a good few of us with the same taste!

        Have you had Kvikk Lunsj from Freia (probably limited to Norway and Sweden)?

        http://www.freia.no/sjokolade/freia-kvikk-lunsj/659

        The Norwegians claim this is the original and no self-respecting Norwegian would dare go to mountains without a bar in their pack. I have to say Freia is nice chocolate and probably beats out the Nestle version. Maybe this new version of Android can be called Kvikk Lunsj in Norway?

        1. deshepherd

          Re: The Nestle Kit-Kat Chocolate is far too sweet

          I know someone who imports Cadbury's into North America and makes a pretty penny doing it.

          Target started to sell Cadbury's Creme Eggs just before we returned to the UK in 2000 - recall buying several dozens of them

        2. jonathanb Silver badge

          Re: The Nestle Kit-Kat Chocolate is far too sweet

          There is only one place in the world to go for decent chocolate, and that is Belgium. Nowhere else is any good.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: The Nestle Kit-Kat Chocolate is far too sweet

            "and that is Belgium"

            Never heard of it. Which country is that in?

            1. Piro Silver badge
              Pint

              Re: The Nestle Kit-Kat Chocolate is far too sweet

              Ah good old Belgium. They make the finest beer, too.

              Infact, cram the chocolate, just give me some Trappist booze, and I will be happy

          2. Thecowking

            Re: The Nestle Kit-Kat Chocolate is far too sweet

            I disagree, hotel chocolat is definitely up there, and British to boot.

            *stares patriotically into the distance while eating a 100% cocoa single plantation bar slowly.*

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: The Nestle Kit-Kat Chocolate is far too sweet

              I'm afraid I'm going to have to disagree - Hotel Chocolat is over-rated. It's a massive step in the right direction for British chocolate, but is still nowhere near as good as the proper Belgian, French or Swiss stuff, for example.

              It's a lot more gimicky as well, rather than purely designed to taste and to feel amazing as it melts - the 100% cocoa bars being a prime example. They're essentially taking advantage of the British public's niavety and new found enthusiasm when it come to 'proper' chocolate. Brits used to like Dairy Milk, then discovered 70% Green and Blacks is so much better - so now think more cocao must = better.

              There's a sweet spot for chocolate, where you have the balance of flavours right. It's between about 65% an 80%. A lot of the 99% and 100% bars are more of a statement a than genuinely nice. (A bit like those extra lean steak beef sausages - people think that they must be better, even though an actual ingredient of a sausage is the fat, and they end up eating somehing that actually doesn't really taste that nice or succulent.)

              Look at Jean-Paul Hévin for example. He does about 30 bars of 65% - 80%, and one at 100% (which he also charges considerably less for). I don't think Pierre Herme even makes stuff higher than 75%. (If you don't know who these people are, sorry - I'm not name dropping - these guys are reall good at their job, and Herme has a couple of places in London if you want to try without leaving the UK. Genuinely worth checking out if you want to go to the next chocolate level after Hotel Chocolat.)

              I'm not saying it's wrong for you to like a 100% bar, just as it's not wrong to like a KitKat, but it's genuinely not the best chocolate.

              It's just market maturity thing. Brits used to drink beer - then wine arrived and there was some pretty nasty stuff being sold at a premium until peope's tastes matured and they could tell actually the best from what they were told is the best.

              Possibly the most in depth chocolate post ever on El Reg?

              1. TheOtherHobbes

                Re: The Nestle Kit-Kat Chocolate is far too sweet

                The best British chocolate is Rococo, available from posh supermarkets everywhere.

                Hotel Chocolat does a better job with selling and branding, but not so much with the actual chocolate.

                Charbonnel & Walker are good too.

                I don't get the macho-chocolatismo >100% cocoa thing. Pretty much everything tastes like compressed charred vegetable matter once the content goes over 80%,

                1. Anonymous Coward
                  Anonymous Coward

                  Re: The Nestle Kit-Kat Chocolate is far too sweet

                  I must speak highly of Hotel Chocolates customer services.

                  My wife ordered a large slab of the rocky road by post for her friend's birthday.

                  It arrived broken, she called them, they said they'd send a free replacement and she could keep the broken one.

                  The replacement arrived broken, in response they sent another replacement and a small box of their chocs by way of apology.

                  The third was also broken.

                  I don't remember if it got as far as a fourth broken one but In the end, she took an alternative to the slab as a replacement.

                  I personally can't help thinking that by the third replacement (taking into account next day courier fees and the cost of the products) it would have been cheaper for them to have sent someone from the local branch in a taxi to deliver the replacement.

              2. Jonathan 29

                Re: The Nestle Kit-Kat Chocolate is far too sweet

                The Europeans are snobs about a lot of things including chocolate. I would love to put Belgian chocolatiers in a blind taste test with their British and American compatriots. It would be the Judgement of Paris in 1976 all over again. it's not like they can even claim to grow the bloody stuff though this time.

          3. Rusty 1

            Re: The Nestle Kit-Kat Chocolate is far too sweet

            There's no need for language like that.

            Belgium yourself!

            1. Admiral Grace Hopper
              Joke

              Re: The Nestle Kit-Kat Chocolate is far too sweet

              "There's no need for language like that.".

              Stupid Ghent.

          4. DF118
            Stop

            Re: The Nestle Kit-Kat Chocolate is far too sweet

            There is only one place in the world to go for decent chocolate, and that is Belgium. Nowhere else is any good.

            Yes, the ability to make decent chocolate STOPS at the Belgian border. Nowhere else in the world can you find anyone with the ability to make chocolate so good.

            What a load of tosh. For one thing the Belgians are IMHO a bit too obsessed with minging chocolate smoosh and other pointless frou-frou to make their chocolate consistently enjoyable. That's not to say they don't know a thing or two about it but your statement is nothing more than a pointlessly sweeping generalisation.

            1. Dr_N

              Re: The Nestle Kit-Kat Chocolate is far too sweet

              "What a load of tosh. For one thing the Belgians are IMHO a bit too obsessed with minging chocolate smoosh"

              Not as obsessed as they are with having frites with everything.

          5. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: The Nestle Kit-Kat Chocolate is far too sweet

            The chocolate shop opposite the top of the lift in St Moritz is pretty damned good, if pricey...

    2. Jonathan Richards 1
      Thumb Up

      KitKat chocolate: talking tech

      This is a tech site, innit? The issue for manufacturers of chocolate-coated biscuits is that the characteristics of a chocolate that works for a bar are different to those that work for enrobing or moulding. If you've ever scoffed your kids' moulded easter eggs (... what?) you'll know that the texture isn't a bit the same as that of a decent-quality bar. During a visit to the RM site in York during the mid-seventies we were given a piece of the KitKat mix to try, and trust me, it really needs the biscuit in the middle to make it palatable. The mouthfeel of chocolate accounts for a lot of its appeal, and that depends on many different factors, especially the fats and oils that are used to supplement or replace the cocoa butter. The chocolatier needs artistry as well as technique.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: KitKat chocolate: talking tech

        Their grasp of the Kit Kat in York may have been spot on.

        But Rolo was never the same after production left Norwich.

  8. MJI Silver badge

    I used to like KitKats

    Haven't had one in a while though

    BTW What exactly is candy?

    Also why are Hershey things in Asda?

    What is wrong with our own chocolate?

    1. davidp231

      Re: I used to like KitKats

      Herschey stuff is in Asda most likely because Wal-mart own Asda and can stock them with American goodies.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: I used to like KitKats

        > American goodies.

        American baddies more like.

      2. MJI Silver badge

        Re: I used to like KitKats

        I wonder who is buying them?

        BTW I like milk and white chocolate, had some nice chocolate from Cornwall (Trenance) Green & Blacks is OK.

        Just don't like dark chocolate - too bitter for me.

        A nice quality milk chocolate

    2. DF118

      Re: I used to like KitKats

      What is wrong with our own chocolate?

      Where to begin? It's in a different leage from Nort American excreta, but it's otherwise somewhat of a joke. Loading it up with waaay too much sugar and dairy fat is our problem.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Have a break?

    1. Simon Harris
      Happy

      debugging...

      Presumably the next Android debugging tool will allow you to stop your programs at KitKat points.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Go

    How long til the "deep fried mars bar" build?

    Because we all want to know!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: How long til the "deep fried mars bar" build?

      How long? Until the Android versions go through the alphabet, back to the beginning and then on a few.

    2. Voland's right hand Silver badge
      Devil

      Re: How long til the "deep fried mars bar" build?

      It is silicon valley we are talking about here, not Glasgow.

      More interesting question - how long until the Candyman starts to hand out candy not just out of the boxes on the counter, but from the rolls on the wall. Oh... sorry... he already does... And the world tastes good...

      1. Tom 35

        Re: How long til the "deep fried mars bar" build?

        "It is silicon valley we are talking about here, not Glasgow."

        If it's Texas it would be bacon* wrapped deep fried mars bar.

        * The nasty American bacon of course

    3. Horridbloke

      Re: How long til the "deep fried mars bar" build?

      It will the one after the "Curly Wurly" release.

  11. petur
    FAIL

    Somehow the name always reminds me of kitekat

    which is cat food...

    Anyway, being from Belgium, I wouldn't touch that 'chocolate' anyway ;)

  12. The Infamous Grouse

    The touch interface on this new version is horrible. Every operation requires four fingers.

    1. Miek
      Coat

      I knew a girl like that once ...

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      And after prolonged use, becomes a sticky mess. I guess that applies to both comments.

  13. Fibbles

    KitKat?

    They should've named the next version of Android after Kendal Mint Cake. Google could've done a publicity stunt which involved sending somebody with one of their ruggedized Motorola handsets up Mt. Everest. I don't know how far up the mountain they've bothered to install base stations but it would still have been a more impressive marketing ploy than giving away a few free phones with purchases of KitKats.

    1. Jedit Silver badge
      Headmaster

      "They should've named the next version of Android after Kendal Mint Cake"

      That would be potentially risky due to politics. The Romney family who manufacture Kendal Mint Cake are relatives of (thankfully failed) Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

      I think we may see more branded Android releases in future. L will be Licorice or Lemon Meringue for sure, but after that we go straight to Mars Bar or Milky Way. N will be Nougat, but O will be Oreo.

      1. monkeyfish

        Re: "They should've named the next version of Android after Kendal Mint Cake"

        Ahh the Kendal Ming Cake, appropriate emergency food as you would only choose to eat it in an emergency.

        1. Alister

          Re: "They should've named the next version of Android after Kendal Mint Cake"

          Ahh the Kendal Mint Cake, appropriate emergency food as you would only choose to eat it in an emergency.

          No, no, you're thinking of Dwarf Bread, it lasts for months... years... decades... aeons!

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: "They should've named the next version of Android after Kendal Mint Cake"

            "No, no, you're thinking of Dwarf Bread, it lasts for months... years... decades... aeons!"

            You're not thinking of Elven lembas? I tried to make some myself recently, based on a bag of out of date muesli, some almost out of date porridge oats, butter, golden syrup, brown sugar and a bit of honey. Nice, and definitely moreish, yet in some intangilbe way not quite the sum of its parts.

            And I'm sure the out of date cereals weren't to blame - I'm a strong believer in "home maturing", with a particular predilection for out of date Stilton that tastes of soap and smells of ammonia - magic!

            1. Fibbles

              Re: "They should've named the next version of Android after Kendal Mint Cake"

              "You're not thinking of Elven lembas?"

              Dwarf bread has the taste, consistency and nutritional qualities of rock. It lasts for aeons because nobody wants to eat the stuff.

  14. graeme leggett Silver badge

    Hershey's chocolate

    that's the stuff that smells like milk that's gone off isn't it?

    can we look forward to 4.8 Liquorice Allsorts, or 5.1 Snickers-but-when-I-was-young-it-was-called-Marathon

    1. tirk

      Re: Hershey's chocolate

      "or 5.1 Snickers-but-when-I-was-young-it-was-called-Marathon"

      If you really want an "S" that gets the old fart brigade going, how about "Spangels"?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Hershey's chocolate

        > If you really want an "S" that gets the old fart brigade going, how about "Spangels"?

        I have only one thing to say: "Mint Cracknel".

        And wasn't it "Spangles"?

        1. Admiral Grace Hopper
          Windows

          Re: Hershey's chocolate

          Yes, it was "Spangles". Old English flavours FTW.

          I'll risk it for a Swisskit.

          1. graeme leggett Silver badge

            Re: Hershey's chocolate

            How about a Texan bar?

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    There's plenty more, but why don't you just head on over and see for yourself?

    Complete with a "Tech Specs" slide :-D

    Definitely a win/win for them both.

  16. DJGM

    Nestle = Evil ... http://www.corporatewatch.org/?lid=240

    Seems my next smartphone is very likely to be a Windows Phone.

    1. DF118

      No doubt there will those who dogmatically avoid a K-version Android handset in this manner. I very much doubt either Google or Nestlé will care though, as I suspect the Venn diagram of "people who truly avoid giving financial benefit to Nestlé in any way whatsoever" and "people who buy the latest smartphones built by the tiny hands of east asian children" will have a very small overlap.

      And to anyone who sucessfully avoids Nestlé utterly and completely - my hat's off to you. They have their fingers in so many pies that I'd imagine successfully avoiding them would take up the same amount of time as having a full time job.

  17. 0_Flybert_0

    .. at 'KitKat' eh ? .. won't be long till little android 'M&Ms' then ..

  18. julianh72
    Coat

    And suddenly Apple's strategy for the new iPhone models makes sense...

    iPhone 5Cadbury and iPhone 5Snickers

  19. RyokuMas
    FAIL

    "Do No Evil"...

    ... my arse! As far as I know, the Nestle boycott is still going on after what? nearly 40 years?

    At least it gives me a laugh - everybody hurling abuse at Microsoft, not realising that Google - the entity that many champion for Microsoft's de-thronement - is rapidly becoming as bad. And so the wheel turns...

  20. Chet Mannly

    "In the US, however, KitKat is manufactured and sold by the Hershey Company, a Nestlé competitor. "

    Now I know why Kit Kats in the US tasted like s**t compared to those in Australia...

  21. IHateWearingATie

    Am I the only one who quite likes Hershey's?

    It's not chocolate, but I quite like the taste of the sweet brown stuff they wrongly label chocolate.

    1. Cliff

      Re: Am I the only one who quite likes Hershey's?

      Go to pound land, they do boxes of 48 crayons, differing colours so you can tell yourself they're boutique flavours of Hershey chocolate. Shit crayons, mind, only good for eating.

  22. poopypants

    Looking forward to 'Vegemite'

    Mwahahahahahaha.....

    1. Steve the Cynic

      Re: Looking forward to 'Vegemite'

      I enjoyed the reactions of my French colleagues when someone brought in a couple of tubes (!) of Vegemite. In fact, the first thing was that someone brought them over to ask me about them. So I said that it's an Australian thing, with a strong and distinctive flavour, but that they'd have to try it because the flavour's a bit hard to describe. (And also because although I get along OK with Marmite - I'm one of the three people world-wide who neither hate it nor love it to bits - I've never actually tried Vegemite.)

  23. Erix

    Hudson Hawk?

    Why don't they start naming the Android releases after diseases instead?

    Android 5.1 Chlamidia does have a nice ring to it

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Hudson Hawk?

      Once named a bunch of servers after diseases. Amused me immensely when someone told me they had a problem with gonorrhea.

  24. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    This will out me as an old...

    I am inclined to believe the name refers to the defunct Kit Kat Club.

    http://www.yelp.com/biz/kit-kat-club-sunnyvale

  25. jai

    awesome marketing idea

    not Android, i mean KitKat - i'm going to go get one now!

  26. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    nomenclature

    Of all the forms of snobbery, surely chocolate snobbery is the saddest.

    This is a problem of taxonomy. Hershey's, Cadbury's, Nestle's, Lindt, expensive-designer-Belgian - they are called 'chocolate'. If all but one had names other than 'chocolate', nobody would think to compare them. They would just be different confections in the way we already have different confections.

    It's the same in many of the arts - 'Rap' and 'Classical' are both called 'music'. About the only thing they have in common is noise. Trying to compare them is pointless.

    1. DF118
      Facepalm

      Re: nomenclature

      Well done you - a snobbish comment railing against snobbery and all said without a hint of irony.

    2. petur
      WTF?

      Re: nomenclature

      "expensive-designer-Belgian"

      Do know that the chocolate sold in Belgium in normal shops in neither designer nor expensive, only bloody good...

      You're confusing with the expensive crap they sell to tourists and abroad.

  27. MJI Silver badge

    How about

    L - Liquorish Allsorts

    M - Marathon

    N

    O - Opal Fruits

    P

    Q

    R - Rhubarb & Custard

    1. DF118

      Re: How about

      P - Peanut Treets

      1. This post has been deleted by its author

      2. Anonymous Custard

        Re: How about

        N - Nutella

        P - Peanut Butter (or brittle)

        Or are we straying a bit too far from the sweets/desserts arena there?

        And Q is definitely going to be an interesting one, as will be Android Wonka when they get to W (who knows what it'll do)

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: How about

          "N - Nutella"

          Disallowed. Nutella not a snack, merely a particularly disgusting concoction that should be force-fed to all European chocolate snobs. Maybe the Italian air foce could carpet bomb Belgium with the stuff.

          I'm not really one for any cholcoate spread, but at least Cadbury's do a passable chocolate spread for the kids, unpolluted with the hazelnuts, acorns and sawdust that Nutella consists of. Mind you, only to be expected, as Nutella is made by Ferrero of Ferrero Rocher fame.

          1. Tom 38

            Re: How about

            Nutella isn't chocolate, its hazelnut. Well, OK, mainly it is palm oil and sugar. In Italy, you can't even describe is a "chocolate cream" because it has so little chocolate in it.

          2. petur

            Re: How about

            +1

            Nutella is crap. Hear this from a Belgian ;)

  28. Al_21
    Go

    I'll sit back and wait for Grandma's Chocolate Brownies

    Nothing beat's anyone's grandma's food - nothing.

    Oh, and using locally sourced ingredients according to the average American citizen in Man vs Food and Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.

  29. TRT Silver badge

    Literally the Chocolate Factory, then.

    ha!

    1. DF118
      Thumb Up

      Re: Literally the Chocolate Factory, then.

      Chapeau

  30. Steven Raith

    Nestles parody - read the small print?

    It's batshit insane and I approve wholeheartedly.

    "The small print

    Wow this really is small print isn't it? Look how tiny it is. How are you even reading this? Come to think of it, why are you even reading this?? This is no way to spend your break! You've just read all of that stuff about how awesome the KITKAT 4.4 is and you still haven't run out and got one? Wow, tough crowd.

    As soon as I finish writing this I'm gonna get one from my secret stash and go drink milk through it like a straw. I have to keep my stash secret because my grandmother looks at me all puppy eyed if I don't share it with her. Is it still puppy eyed if it's your gran? I suppose it would be gran eyed? Or granny eyed? Let's go with granny eyed. I feel like we've just coined a new phrase. Where's the 'trademark' symbol on this keyboard? Ah here it is ™. GrannyEyed™. I wonder if that's legally binding? Hey, let's see if we can get it trending! #GrannyEyed. Tweeted. The Internet has it now. It's out of our hands. I feel like we've just started something epic. Ok, well this was a lovely chat. I'm gonna go and grab that KITKAT now. Fancy a break?"

    1. d3rrial
      Happy

      Re: Nestles parody - read the small print?

      PR is getting better in some companies it seems.

      Btw. Milka ( I don't know if you know this stuff, its a german brand apparently ) is a brand of Kraft Foods which is a US-based company. However in my honest opinion there is no better chocolate than Milka chocolate and I have tried a lot of chocolate by many manufacturers, including Crayola/Hersheys.

      1. Cliff

        Milka

        Cadbury's and Green and Blacks are also just Kraft sub-brands.

        Somewhere there's one big cement mixer blending vegetable oils, cocoa dust, cement dust and varying quantities of poundland nightlights to serve different markets.

  31. monkeyfish

    "to make an amazing Android experience available for everybody"

    Does that mean it will automatically update itself over all previous versions of Android so that manufacturer abandoned phones actually receive it?

    Thought not.

  32. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    So Google and teamed up with Nestlé?

    Whatever happened to "Don't be evil"?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: So Google and teamed up with Nestlé?

      "Whatever happened to "Don't be evil"?"

      They looked up the original commitment, and luckily it had been mis-typed: "Don't be Levi". So they haven't, and they can now be evil.

      1. mraak

        Re: So Google and teamed up with Nestlé?

        Maybe "Don't be live", diabetes will kill you.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: So Google and teamed up with Nestlé?

        If they were Levi then it would be reggae reggae flavoured.

  33. Zot

    All those brightly coloured bars at the counter...

    ...are there for the kids. Why are you adults even eating kids treats?

    Lol. Sorry, it really is my view about chocolate and I don't have any fillings either.

  34. Captain Queeg

    The best thing...

    ... is the quality Jony Ive rip in the video.

    "Every line and every corner" lol

  35. MJA

    I was quite taken on Key Lime Pie. Their names have been playful so far. Why the sudden free advertising for Hershey? Makes for interesting guessing on what the next ones will be though...

    Lindor, Mars Bar, Noughat, Oh Henry!, Penguin....

    Unless they decide to move away from confectionary completely.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      "Why the sudden free advertising for HersheyNestle? "

      Fixed that for you

      Trust me, the name Hershey means little to the great swathe of humanity that exists outside the borders of the USA.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        But it means quite a bit to the company that updates Android (Google). Google is American, so the tie-in to them is more with Hershey than with Nestle. They had to contact Nestle simply because they hold the global trademark on the brand. That's the way it is, take it or leave it.

        Me? I frankly don't care much as I lost most of my sweet tooth years ago. I only have chocolate infrequently, usually the occasional Lindor truffle (hey, they're three for a buck, and that's more than enough for me). I've tried different kinds and brands of chocolates and frankly don't taste (or feel, as I prefer to melt it in my mouth first) much difference between them. I suppose it's a lot like beer. There are connoseiurs and then there are those who just want a quick refresher (and don't say it tastes like water--we know the difference here; water tastes like lead even out of a filter).

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          "But it means quite a bit to the company that updates Android (Google). Google is American, so the tie-in to them is more with Hershey than with Nestle. They had to contact Nestle simply because they hold the global trademark on the brand. That's the way it is, take it or leave it."

          Well surely they should have gone for something through and through American? I'm sure Hersshey have got plenty of alternative and wholly owned brands that they apply to their disgusting, excrement flavoured mastic, and not had any embarassing need to deal with slightly suspect Swiss megacorps.

          But I think that that Kit Kat was in fact perfect, in a brand name that has worldwide recognition, even if applied to completely different products. The alternative "Kisses" has no food related recognition in (say) Europe, excepet amongst a tiny handful who know it refers to a product made of mashed dead badgers and settled sewage sludges.

  36. PaulR79

    *checks domain*

    "codenamed "KitKat", after the iconic chocolate-covered wafer candy bar."

    NO! Chocolate-covered wafer bar or KitKat. None of this candy crap!

  37. Dave Stevens

    kitkat.com

    At any rate, I was impressed by the the website. Specifications? Features? Accessories? etc..

    Runs very slowly on my old laptop though...

  38. Magnus Ramage

    In defence of Hershey

    Along with the muck, they do make Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, which are really nice, and contain no cat vomit.

  39. Chris G

    Hershey giveaways

    Having lived in California and had the dubious pleasure of tasting a Hershey Bar I realised why you always see American soldiers in films and on the News around the world giving them to the local children!

    Also helps to explain the growth of terrorism,the effect it must have on any poor kid who has felt obliged to eat a whole Hershey in front of the large scary soldier that is democratising his country.

    1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge
      Happy

      Re: Hershey giveaways

      That can't be right though. As the Romans brought edible dormice and garum (which is a 'sauce' made from leaving fish guts to ferment in the sun) - and yet their empire lasted for hundreds of years, so everyone must have loved them.

      Even worse, they apparently had a popular desert of pears poached in wine with custard. Yummy, but sadly it was fish sauce custard. For which the inventor should be burning in a very special hell.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Hershey giveaways

        "Even worse, they apparently had a popular desert of pears poached in wine with custard. Yummy, but sadly it was fish sauce custard. For which the inventor should be burning in a very special hell."

        How do you know?

        1. This post has been deleted by its author

        2. Tom 38
          Headmaster

          Re: Hershey giveaways

          How do you know?

          Roman cook books, probably Apicius.

  40. Armando 123

    I'm offended!

    As someone with a useless liberal arts degree from a pompous college, I am naturally a complete wanker with a sad life who has nothing better to do than to poke my nose into other people's business and be offended for no good reason. Therefore, i will proceed to scream my offense at Google promoting obesity and I'm going to sue and the louder I scream, the more likely I am to get a show on ESPN.

    Insincerely,

    Myron Pantywayste

  41. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Autocomplete

    Top four entries on google.com autocomplete:

    Why does American chocolate taste...

    1) different

    2) so bad

    3) like vomit

    4) different to uk

  42. TRT Silver badge

    Will it run on the Motr* Razr?

    * Middle Of The Road, for those of you old enough to remember that advertising campaign.

  43. Acme Fixer
    IT Angle

    Er...

    I think they've bitten off more than they can chew. ;-)

  44. lotus49

    Dismayed

    Nestle has a terrible reputation for all sorts of things but its profiteering promotion of baby formula in the third world in breach of WHO guidelines in particular has led to the deaths and impaired health of tens of thousands of babies.

    Does Google really want to be associated with a company like Nestle?

    Calling the next version KitKat may be preferable to calling it Marlborough Lights or AK47 but not much. What an idiotic decision.

  45. mraak

    Sugar

    Sugar is having pretty bad PR lately. Corn sugar subsidies in US, obesity, toxicity, addiction, diabetes, amputations. I wonder where google is going with this.

  46. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    GreenTea Kit-Kats from Japan

    Best.

    Kit-Kats.

    Ever.

  47. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I would like to point out this is miss leading the consumer:

    Universal compatibility > not true, not for those who are lactose intolerant or coco sensitive, or have nut allergies

    Unlimited standby time > not true, it has a shelf life / best before date.

  48. hairydog

    Foolish choice

    I'm sure that in the US KitKat's association with Hershey's won't do much harm (even though to everyone outside the US their fare tastes of brown sick).

    However, everywhere else in the world (and that really IS most places, honest!) KitKat is recognised as a Nestle product.

    Nestle's long-standing aggressive marketing of baby formula (which causes poverty, malnutrition and death in the third world) has made the company a global pariah to many, and their products unacceptable in many places (including my house).

    It seems an exceptionally poor choice of name to me!

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