Is It A Condom Or An Android Phone?
With so many Android phones coming out, it was only a matter of time before marketers ran out of names for them. — We came across this genius table that compares actual Android phone names to actual condom brand names. — The results are hilarious.
Context & Ripple Effects
By March 2012 Android is winning on sheer volume — it has passed Apple in the UK installed base (February 2012) after record holiday activations, even as ComScore flagged an uncharacteristic slowing of its US growth in December 2011. The dessert-themed version scheme (Ice Cream Sandwich) is central to the platform's playful public identity.
The viral table comparing Android phone names to condom brand names — syndicated same-day by Forbes, Fortune, Gizmodo and five other outlets — captures what that device flood does to naming: with so many handsets shipping under the Android banner, their names begin colliding with an entirely unrelated product category, and the joke writes itself.
First-order effects
- The table spreads unusually fast for a novelty item — eight outlets including Forbes, Fortune and Gizmodo ran it on the day — attaching a condom joke to every Android handset name at once, a branding cost no single manufacturer controls.
Second-order effects
- With ComScore already showing Android's US growth decelerating as of late 2011, indistinguishable device names make each new handset harder to market on its own merits against the iPhone's single-model clarity, raising the differentiation burden on individual OEMs.
Third-order effects
- If the device flood continues at this pace, the whimsical naming system itself — versions named after desserts, handsets named after whatever vocabulary remains — comes under structural pressure, pushing Google toward more disciplined, systematic platform branding.
The trend: Android's scale is outgrowing its whimsical naming conventions, making naming discipline an increasingly visible branding problem for the platform.