Android Hits A Billion Users, Unveils "KitKat"

On Tuesday afternoon, Google exec Sundar Pichai confirmed via blog post that activated Android devices have hit the one billion mark.

Pichai didn't punch the air and scream "world takeover!," but let's put this into perspective: The human population hovers around 7 billion. There are, therefore, at least a billion little gadgets with those funny little robots on them — about as many sheep as there are in the world. (That's literal sheep, not us sheep buying smartphones.)

And speaking of those robots...

That's not KitKat paying homage to the mothership that is Google — it's a promotional tool for Android's latest operating system, which has been named KitKat. (Fun fact of the day: the name was expected to be "Key Lime Pie.") Copyright issues, you say? Pah! Google laughs in the face of copyright issues. In fact, Nestlé has agreed to launch a joint promotional campaign to get the word out about the new software, which involves producing a casual 50 billion KitKat bars stamped with the Android logo.

And for this, Android has not had to pay a cent. Seriously.

Each Android system is named after something sweet: so far, we've had Cupcake, Donut, Eclair, Froyo, Gingerbread, Honeycomb, Ice Cream Sandwich, and Jelly Bean. In keeping with the very tech-y month that is this September — what with the new iPhones, smartwatches, and Microsoft buying out Nokia — Android is expected to unleash this tasty treat on the world sometime in the next month or two.

It looks like Android isn't letting the departure of top executive Hugo Barra, king of Android for the past five years, get in the way of their steady rise to Godzilla-esque power. Barra jumped ship last week to Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi, which has made its fortune selling inexpensive knock-offs of Apple products. Awkward.

Coming up next: a collaboration between Apple and Cheetos?