Google's next version of Android will be dubbed 'Jelly Bean,' according to a temporary listing on the Google Play store. New wallpaper options might show up too. Image: Google
If there was ever any debate about what the nickname of Google’s next version of Android would be, those questions can be put to rest. According to a posting in Google’s own online storefront, Android 4.1 will be called Jelly Bean.
This doesn’t come as much of a surprise, as Jelly Bean had been rumored as the code name for months. But it was a surprise that the facts were revealed Thursday on the Google Play online store. It also seems to have been a mistake.
According to a user named Lil Jones on the XDA Developers forum, a popular site among Android developers and modders, Google Play listed the Samsung Galaxy Nexus smartphone as, “The latest smartphone from Google, soon the first phone with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.”
The website Droid Life also saw the same product description on Google Play after adding a Galaxy Nexus to a Google Play shopping cart. Google, however, took the product listing down after a few minutes. While the Galaxy Nexus is still available through Google Play, it no longer makes mention of Android 4.1. A shot of the Galaxy Nexus sporting a new pink and green wallpaper and what looks like a new search box still shows up (as seen above) on Google Play when the Galaxy Nexus is in a user’s shopping cart.
Google declined to comment on the Google Play mishap, or on the Jelly Bean nickname. One bit of detail not disclosed on Google Play or by Google is when the next iteration of Android will arrive. A good time for such a launch would, of course, be Google I/O, the company’s massive developer conference taking place June 27-29 in San Francisco.
At the last I/O conference, Google teased Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich, but it didn’t arrive until November with the launch of the Galaxy Nexus.
In case you’re not up on Google’s Android name game, the tasty treat-inspired monikers for the software are selected in alphabetical order. Over Android’s history, we’ve seen Cupcake, Donut, Eclair, Froyo, Gingerbread, Honeycomb and Ice Cream Sandwich. Jelly Bean, you’re up next.
