Google is calling the next version of the Android operating system Kit Kat in keeping with their tradition of naming the OS versions after food items. This time, it’s a trademarked food item that Google struck a licensing agreement with Nestle (Hershey licenses the Kit Kat name from Nestle in the US). If you visit Google’s Android page you’ll see a Kit Kat bar with an Android-themed wrapper.

This cross-promotion deal (which involved no money changing hands) has a contest going that will put vouchers for a free Nexus 7 tablet and Google Play credits into some Kit Kat bars. There will even be some Android-shaped Kit Kat bars appearing in some markets.

Check out this clever commercial extolling the high-tech features engineered into the Kit Kat bar.

“One of the snacks that we keep in our kitchen for late-night coding are Kit Kats,” said John Lagerling, director of Android global partnerships. “And someone said: ‘Hey, why don’t we call the release Kit Kat ‘ We didn’t even know which company controlled the name, and we thought that [the choice] would be difficult. But then we thought well why not, and we decided to reach out to the Nestle folks.”

A BBC report described the process: “Mr Lagerling said he had made a ‘cold call’ to the switchboard of Nestle’s UK advertising agency at the end of November to propose the tie-up. The next day, the Swiss firm invited him to take part in a conference call. Nestle confirmed the deal just 24 hours later. “Very frankly, we decided within an hour to say let’s do it,” Patrice Bula, Nestle’s marketing chief told the BBC.”

The brand promotion is significant, with over 50 million KitKat bars in 19 countries featuring Android and the chance to win a Nexus 7 or Google Play credits. The promotion was even kept secret from Google employees, with the company referring to the new operating system release internally as ‘Key Lime Pie.’ The wrappers began production two months ago, yet the secret was maintained.

The promotion was a little more complicated in the US, since Hershey licenses the KitKat name here. Google had to work out a deal with Hershey’s so that US KitKat bars would be part of the promotion as well. Nestle is commemorating the partnership with 500 specially-produced KitKats in the shape of the Android logo.

How did the whole deal arise Apparently Android engineering head Hiroshi Lockheimer loves KitKats to the point where a KitKat was his Gmail icon, and the Android team even decorated his door with KitKats at one point.

Source: The Verge