Why Android Kit Kat Is Going To Confuse People

Google has revealed that the next version of Android will be named Kit Kat, rather than the anticipated Key Lime Pie. We’re fans of the new name (Key Lime Pie was a very US-centric branding for starters), but it’s already created one huge potential source of confusion: how to correctly spell it.

Google’s own announcement page (pictured above) demonstrates the problem. In the body cop, ‘Kitkat’ is one word with no K in the middle. In the headline, ‘KitKat’ is presented as a single word with two capital Ks. Neither is actually correct.

Searches of trademark registries show that the registered name is actually ‘Kit Kat’ as two words. That’s also reflected on the official Kit Kat site, which has been jokily updated to reflect Google’s new name, as you can see in the photo below:

So it’s definitely two words. Google needs to get this right. It does appear correctly at the bottom of Google’s Kit Kat page, but if Google can’t stay on brand, mistakes are going to be rife elsewhere. The fact there’s no an evident space in the logo on Kit Kat bars themselves is definitely one source of confusion, but on this matter, we’ll stick with the trademark evidence, since logos don’t always accurately reflect spelling.

According to the BBC, Google isn’t paying to use the name, despite it being a trademark. No doubt owner Nestle figured all the free publicity was well worth it.

All Android versions have been named after desserts, and the two most recent (Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean) have been multi-word names. It’s a pity the latest one seems destined to produce a lot of inaccurate variants. No word on the release date for the actual software yet.


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