Android lawn statues

The Android lawn statues are a series of large foam statues near the Googleplex (Google's headquarters) in Mountain View, California, currently located at 1981 Landings Drive. They are based on the code names for versions of Google's Android mobile operating system, which are named after desserts and sweet treats. These statues were originally located in front of Building 44, where the Android development team had its offices, before being moved to their present location a few blocks away next to the Google Visitor Center Beta. The area is open to Google employees and their guests, and visitors are encouraged to take photos. The sculptures are mostly made by a company named Themendous.[1]

Android lawn statues
The Android lawn statues in 2015
MediumSculpture
LocationMountain View, California
Coordinates1981 Landings Drive
OwnerGoogle

Background
Android dog model, Puppy by Eero Aarnio, 2008.

Google's Android is the fastest selling mobile operating system as of late 2010[2] and was developed as a partnership with the Open Handset Alliance, with version 1.0 being released on September 23, 2008.[3] The first publicly codenamed version of Android was "Cupcake" which was released on April 27, 2009.[4] Versions 1.0 and 1.1 did not have codenames following this scheme. There was initially a plan to use famous robot names in alphabetical order, and some early interim revisions have been tagged "Astro Boy" and "Bender". Eventually, this plan was discontinued, and version 1.0 did not have a codename, but version 1.1 got the internal codename "Petit Four", which launched the custom of naming Android releases after desserts. When codenames became public with version 1.5, they started to follow alphabetical order, beginning with "C" (apparently since the two previous public releases have been 'skipped' in this scheme). Since then, all further releases of Android were named after desserts or sweet treats, with names being chosen in alphabetical order, although sometimes the same name was applied to multiple versions.[5] A few days before each named operating system is unveiled, Google unveils a lawn statue representing that version's codename. The statues were on the lawn in front of Building 44, where the Android development team worked[6] until August 2014.

Statues

As of September 2020, eighteen statues comprise the collection. Each was created by Themendous (with the exception of Oreo, where, out of two statues, one was made by them), located in Union City, New Jersey.[7] The statues in the order of installation are:

Statue Android version Codename
A green Android robot Represents the operating system in general
A cupcake 1.5 Cupcake
A donut 1.6 Donut
An éclair pastry 2.0, 2.1 Eclair
A dish of frozen yogurt 2.2 Froyo
Nexus One First Google phone and 2.2 flagship device
A gingerbread man 2.3 Gingerbread
A piece of honeycomb with a bee and the Android robot 3.0, 3.1, 3.2 Honeycomb
An ice cream sandwich in the shape of the Android robot 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
A jar in the shape of the Android robot filled with jelly beans[8] 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 Jelly Bean
A Kit Kat bar in the shape of the Android robot 4.4 KitKat[9]
An Android robot holding an oversized swirl lollipop[10] 5.0, 5.1 Lollipop
An Android robot holding an oversized marshmallow 6.0 Marshmallow
An Android robot standing on nougat bars[11] 7.0 Nougat
An Android superhero robot with an Oreo cookie on it (two statues were made) 8.0 Oreo
An Android robot with a cherry pie with a slice cut out of it 9.0 Pie
A giant signed "10" statue with the Android logo on the digit "0" 10.0 Queen Cake
A giant "11" statue with the Android logo between the numbers and a recipe for red velvet cake on the side 11.0 Red Velvet Cake

The green Android was joined early on by Alex, a dog of similar colour and design. It was actually a toy chair Puppy by Eero Aarnio. This statue was stolen in 2009.[12]

A similar incident happened in 2012. Due to the summer heat, the head of the Jelly Bean statue popped off, and one of the jelly beans inside was stolen. This prompted Android engineer Dan Morrill to post on Google+, "Jelly Bean is so ridiculously hot that the JB statue overheated, and his head partially melted and popped off. And then we think somebody stole one of the jelly beans. People: please don't steal our jelly beans." [13] The statue has since been repaired.

In 2017, for the Android Oreo statue, Google ordered two different statues, with one of them featuring a single Oreo and a boxy design and the other (made by Themendous) with multiple Oreos and a more roundish shape.[14]

See also

References
  1. King, Bertel, Jr. (September 4, 2013). "Themendous Is The Company That Makes Google's Android Statues, Here's How They Made The Latest 'KitKat' One". Android Police. Retrieved January 4, 2017.
  2. Savov, Vlad (January 31, 2011). "Canalys: Android overtakes Symbian as world's best-selling smartphone platform in Q4 2010". Engadget. Retrieved 10 November 2011.
  3. Morrill, Dan (September 23, 2008). "Announcing the Android 1.0 SDK, release 1". Android Developers Blog. Retrieved 27 October 2011.
  4. Ducrohet, Xavier (April 27, 2009). "Android 1.5 is here!". Android Developers Blog. Retrieved 27 October 2011.
  5. Amadeo, Ron (17 September 2012). "A History of Pre-Cupcake Android Codenames". Android Police. Archived from the original on 25 August 2013. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
  6. Kowitt, Beth (June 16, 2011). "100 million Android fans can't be wrong". Fortune. Archived from the original on 26 October 2011. Retrieved 27 October 2011.
  7. Grahm, Flora (March 2, 2011). "Look on Google's Android Honeycomb statue, ye mighty, and despair!". CNET. Retrieved 27 October 2011.
  8. Westaway, Luke (June 27, 2012). "Android Jelly Bean confirmed by new Google statue". CNET UK. Archived from the original on June 29, 2012. Retrieved February 13, 2013.
  9. "Just back from a whirlwind trip to Asia visiting our Android ecosystem partners‌". Plus.google.com. 2013-09-03. Retrieved 2015-08-11.
  10. Seifert, Dan. "Android 5.0 Lollipop gets its statue". The Verge. Retrieved 2015-08-11.
  11. Whitwam, Ryan (June 30, 2016). "Android N's official name: Android Nougat". Geek.com. Ziff Davis. Retrieved July 1, 2016.
  12. Martin, Michael (October 1, 2009). "Android Dog Statue Of GooglePlex Stolen". Search Newz. Retrieved 27 October 2011.
  13. "Dan Morrill asks people not to steal Jelly Beans on Google+". July 2, 2012. Archived from the original on 2012-10-19. Retrieved October 15, 2012.
  14. "One of these Android Oreo statues is not like the other". Android Central. 2017-08-21. Retrieved 2017-08-22.


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