How many phones does the average person have lying around the house?
Though quite not the average person, Google's Chief Executive Sundar Pichai, revealed in a recent interview that he has somewhere between 20 to 30 phones scattered about his home.
Besides talk of cellphones, however, Google's head honcho also shared with an audience at India's Delhi University that the naming convention for the company's Android platform may come with a slight tweak.
Right now, we're at Android 6.0 Marshmallow. Next year, as has been done the past few years with names after sweets like Android 5.0 Lollipop, Android 4.0 Kitkat, and Android 3.0 Jelly Bean, Android 7.0 will continue that tradition with a dessert beginning with the letter "N."
More obvious and traditional sweets that could be used as names for Google's next version of Android could be "nougat" (the yummy, creamy insides of chocolate bars like in Snickers or 3 Musketeers) or even after the candy "Nerds" (which would be hilariously funny but believable). It's always been up to Google, but Sundar Pichai says his company could do something different by crowdsourcing the name for the next edition of Android.
In fact, Android 7.0 could be called "neyyappam" or "nankhatai" after Indian desserts. Unsure of what it could be called himself, Pichai said, "When I meet my mom, I'll ask her for suggestions." This, of course, drew much laughter and cheers from the crowd.
"Maybe what I'll do next time, is when we're working on the next release of Android, Android N, maybe we'll do an online poll on what the name should be. And if all Indians vote ... I think we can make it happen!" Pichai happily added.
The 43-year-old Chennai-born tech executive, who is on a two-day visit to India, would do well to consider a more international flavor for Google's upcoming versions of Android. As the mobile operating system continues to grow alongside the growing number of people getting their hands on more affordable smartphones, Android could expand its palate and appeal to even more users around the world.
Photo: Maurizio Pesce | Flickr
