Android gave KITKAT a Break ? :)

I can’t remember the last time I had a Kit Kat candy bar, but I’ve thought of eating one at least five times in the last half hour.

This, more than anything, speaks to the not-so-subtle marketing brilliance of Google’s decision to name the next version of Android after the candy with a jingle I now can’t seem to forget.

Google sent a shock through the Android community this morning when it announced the next version of Android will be Android 4.4, KitKat. That's a big twist from the long-standing expectation that this fall's release would be numbered 5.0 and called Key Lime Pie.

For anyone following the naming pattern of Android upgrades, the KitKat news was a big, crunchy surprise. Conventional wisdom suggested that Google would name the next version of Android the decidedly brand-less “Key Lime Pie.” Dubbing it “KitKat” takes Google’s naming scheme in a different — and potentially more lucrative — direction.

But let’s consider how huge of a deal this is for Nestle (and also Hershey, which controls the Kit-Kat branding in the U.S). By slapping together Android and Kit Kat, Nestle is giving its brand a prominent, unavoidable place in not only Google’s eventual unveiling of Android 4.4 but also in the daily vocabulary of countless Android users — or at least the ones who know what “Android 4.4 KitKat” actually refers to.

It’s also ensuring that every time a tech blogger writes about Android 4.4 from this point on, they’re going to make a whole lot of people think about Nestle’s brand of chocolate.

With Android 4.4, we’re all going to be doing the jobs for Nestle’s marketers for them.

So what gives? According to the BBC, the decision to go with KitKat actually happened late last year and has been kept under wraps, so to speak, ever since. Google apparently reached an agreement with Nestle to use the name -- one that's "not a money-changing-hands kind of deal," as a Google exec explains it..

We can only assume, then, Google was paid in Kit Kats.

 The spokesperson also confirmed that it was Google, not Nestle, that initiated the deal.

So, what does Google get out of this? In a tit-for-kat trade, Nestle plans to slap the Android branding on its Kit Kat packaging in 19 countries — including Brazil, the U.S., India, and Germany.

In short, neither company could have asked for a better deal.

Nestlé puts itself in a risky position not knowing whether Android KitKat will be plagued by bugs or malware.Does Nestlé want to propagate the image of a KitKat covered in bugs and baddies?

Lets hope for the best and await the surprises lined up for the same.

Now, excuse me while I go and eat a Kit Kat.!!