Google plans to continue the trend of naming Android OS’s, in alphabetical order, after deserts, according to a report from The Verge. First there was Cupcake, then Donut, Eclair, Froyo, Gingerbread and finally Ice Cream Sandwich. The next major Android build will be named Jelly Bean. Even though Google has not officially acknowledged the next version of Android, it is believed that “Jelly Bean” could be released as soon as this summer, even though Ice Cream Sandwich is on only 1% of all devices.
The Verge claims that “Key Lime Pie” will come after Jelly Bean, however no details surrounding the OS were provided and no launch time frame was supplied beyond speculation that Google will launch Key Lime Pie in 2013.
Jelly Bean seems like a lock after the Mobile World Congress. That being said, Key Lime Pie seems as likely a name as any other, since there aren’t that many desserts starting with the letter K. Google’s the kind of company that thinks these things out in advance, so it’s certainly possible that they’ve got several names lined up for future releases.
More interesting is how the version number of Android will progress in “Jelly Bean” and beyond. Google tends to save full numerical updates for major overhauls, which both 3.0 Honeycomb and 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich exhibit. Compare these to 2.1 Eclair, 2.2 Froyo and 2.3 Gingerbread, all of which were evolutionary updates. Hence, “Key Lime Pie” will most likely be Android 6.0.
