Android 4.4 is Called 'KitKat'

Android has historically used a type of candy or other sweet treat in the moniker of each major version update. But up to this point, those were generic descriptions like Jelly Bean or Gingerbread. According to Google's Sundar Pichai, the next iteration of the Android mobile operating system will carry an actual brand name: Kit Kat.

Pichai's Google+ account not only confirmed that Android has now passed one billion device activations, but that a giant statue of a chocalately--and very much brand-friendly--Android bot is now on Google's front lawn. Apparently, Google has decided to name Android 4.4 after Hershey and Nestle's chocolate covered wafers.
"It's our goal with Android KitKat to make an amazing Android experience available for everybody," says a short blurb on the Android website. But incorporating a huge, established brand name into the title of an operating system is a first, and it's unclear how this apparent licensing arrangement was handled. Did Google simply pay the owners of Kit Kat to use the name, or is Hershey's (in the U.S.) and Nestle (everywhere else in the world) paying for the privilege?