If the efforts of two Indian groups bear fruit, the next update for Android phones may well be called Laddoo or Lassi!
NEW DELHI: Google has depended on sweets when it comes to naming the various versions of its Android mobile operating system. With it naming the next version KitKat after a popular confectionery brand, some Indians now believe the next update could be named after one of the two popular Indian desserts.
If the efforts of these groups bear fruit, the next update for our Android phones may well be called Ladoo or Lassi!
A group of students from IIT-Kharagpur have written an open letter to Google's Android boss Sundar Pichai, requesting the internet giant to name the next OS version as Lassi.
In their letter, the students of IIT Kharagpur (which also happens to be Pichai's alma mater) have written: "We would like to suggest that the very next version of Android be named on one of the most popular Indian dessert, Lassi. Lassi, the humble Indian sweetened yogurt based drink, is a traditional chilled beverage of India served with an assortment of flavourings. Lassi symbolizes the purity and delicacy of Indian culture. This explains the huge cult following that Lassi commands all over India."
The group also says that "it would be very logical to promote the interest that the Indian population shares with Android and strengthen that valuable bond."
According to them, naming the next Android version Lassi would be acknowledgement that Google is "aware of and wants to appreciate the customer support it has in this vast country."
Quoting IDC figures, the letter says, 68.8 percent of the smartphones shipped in the country in 2012 were powered by Android OS. This is three times more than the number shipped with Apple's iOS (18.8 percent) and dwarfs BlackBerry OS (4.5 percent) and Nokia's Symbian (3.3 percent).
Google too is said to have claimed in 2012 that Android adoption rate grew by over 500% year-on-year in countries like India, Brazil and others. And what better acknowledgement then an Indian name for Android.
Incidentally, IIT-GP students are not the only ones asking Google to give a desi name to Android. Another group of some 500 Indian tech start-ups too has launched a campaign to convince Google to name the next version of Android as Ladoo. The same group had last year unsuccessfully campaigned to name the OS Kaju Katli.
In their campaign, the start-ups have posted this message for the Google fraternity: "We are Indians. We have a big heart. We understand that there might be commercial pressures to do so (about Google naming the next as KitKat). Or may be our voices were just not loud enough to make KajuKatli Android a reality."
"We still love Android and we are committed to see a version of Android that is dedicated after an Indian sweet. With enough advance notice this time, we request you to name the next version of Android as Ladoo."
Apart from drumming up support on the internet and social media for naming the next Android OS as Ladoo, both the groups plan to send out these Indian delicacies to key Google executives.
It is said that Google dumped plans to name the next Android as Key Lime Pie ostensibly because the dessert was not well-known globally. This reasoning may not be a good reference point for Indian campaigners as Ladoo and Lassi are exclusively Indian.
The only factor to have given them hope is the Indian origin of Pichai. They must be hoping if Pichai likes their reasoning, he may consider the proposal
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