If you're confused as to what that means: Android is like most pieces of software in that the versions are given numbers. It's also like most software in that the developers get tired of using the numbers and thus give the versions code names, with all the names having a theme. Often, the users or marketers start using the code names too. One of the best known examples is the Mac operating system, which for years have used names of large cats (Lion, Leopard, Cheetah etc.) It's been like that for years in the software industry; old-timers will remember how we discussed Windows 95 as "Windows Chicago" prior to its release.
Android's code name system is that each version is named after some sort of dessert or snack, beginning with successive letters of the alphabet. (The latest is "Jelly Bean," prior to that were "Ice Cream Sandwich," "Honeycomb," and "Gingerbread."
People who care about such things were wondering what they would do, given the paucity of sugary things that start with K. I had heard someone mention Kit Kat, but dismiss it, given the trademark problems. The smart money had been on Key Lime Pie. But no, Kit Kat it is. And it's not merely a case of Google scooping up a bucket of cash and throwing it at Nestle to pay for the license; there's actually going to be cross promotion here: You can win Android-based products, and credits on the Google Play store in specially marked packages of Kit Kat.
So that does it. Even insider code names that weren't originally meant to be seen by the public are being sold. There's nothing left that's off limits. I will now be listening to offers to put brand names in the programs themselves. Where I would have written:
if(x == 5)I'm now willing to change it to:
if(pepsi == 5)for reasonable prices. The possibilities are endless: recipes, blue prints, storyboards. And once everything in public is sponsored, and everything not in public, we'll have figured out how to do dream product placements.
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