Licorice has reportedly usurped Lollipop as the favoured name of Android's next mobile operating system, as Google readies the software for its official release.
Since being previewed at Google's 2014 I/O developer conference in San Francisco in June, the software has been widely known under the working name of Android L.
Given that Google tends to name its Android mobile operating systems after forms of confectionary and desserts (KitKat, Jelly Bean, Ice Cream Sandwich, to name but a few), in the months since the preview the rumour mill has suggested the next one could be called Lollipop or Lion.
However, a series of posts on the Google+ social networking site suggest the OS could be called Licorice.
The posts were published by Giovanni Calabrese from Themendous, the company responsible for creating 3D foam sculptures in honour of each Android OS for Google's HQ.
The first post refers to a conversation Calabrese claims to have had with a TSA representative while preparing to board a flight to Google's Mountain View HQ, whereby he was asked, "What's with all the boxes of licorice?"
This was followed by another cryptic message containing a link to an online article about how licorice is made, to which he adds: "It's made by Themendous, you silly search result."
The remarks have fuelled speculation about what the next version of the Android OS might be called, as Google's Q4 release date moves closer.
The highly-anticipated OS has been billed as the biggest Android update ever released, with the HTC Nexus 7 tipped to be the first device to have it pre-installed.
Google already announced many of the features it's set to include at its I/O conference, with standout additions including automatic user data encryption, the Google Fit health monitoring suite, and its revamped user interface.
