Google surprises Android users with Kit Kat

No, your eyes aren’t deceiving you. That’s a robot-shaped Kit Kat bar, and Google’s head of Android and Chrome, Sundar Pichai, has confirmed in a Google+ post that the next version of Android will be dubbed Android 4.4 Kit Kat. 

Pichai posted a photo of the official Kit Kat-shaped Android guy on the Google lawn, adding that he “can’t wait to release the next version of the platform that is as sweet as the candy bar that’s one of our team’s favorites.”

Google buried the official announcement on the new name inside a clever marketing campaign illustrating a “sweet new treat,” along with the news that Android had just recently passed 1 billion device activations. The page depicts a timeline that carousels through the different versions of Android, including the new Android 4.4 Kit Kat. You can also enter in the code from any specially marked Kit Kat wrapped onto the site to check and see if you’ve won a Nexus 7 or Google Play store credit.

This is the first time that Google has partnered up with a company to name its operating system. Many Android faithful were expecting that the company with stick with a dessert like Key Lime Pie for the next iteration of Android, but Google may have made a smarter move by sticking with a well-known global brand name. There are no details on when the new operating system will surface or what it will feature, but today’s announcement will likely kickstart the rumor mill.