Google’s CEO Larry Page, announced in a blog post that Andy Rubin was moving away from heading the Android team in Google. He will be replaced by Sundar Pichai. This is a big change at Google but Andy Rubin is not quitting he is moving to other Google projects.
Sundar Pichai seems a natural choice as he heads the Chrome team. He has been very successful with the rise of Chrome browser and also tending to a very good developer ecosystem that keeps Chrome’s web store healthy with apps and extensions.
Now he takes over running of the Android project for Google.
There were also additional announcements of some major landmarks reached by Android.
- Android has now been activated on over 750 million devices.
- 25 billion apps have been now downloaded on Google Play.
- They also announced 60 manufacturers have a partnership with Android.
Andy Rubin’s Future
Andy Rubin is a legendary name in the mobile industry. He was the co-founder of Android Inc, the company that started the open-source OS. Google finally ended up buying Android but let Andy Rubin head the project. Andy Rubin has not just led Android from iPhone’s shadow but also made it into the arguably the best mobile OS with a big app ecosystem.
Andy Rubin is moving to other Google projects. Is it Google Glass? We will not know for a while atleast.
Future of Android!
With someone who headed the Chrome team now also in charge of Android, it is quite possible to expect a lot more integration of the two platforms.
Both have a healthy developer ecosystem but they are for the most part running parallel except for Chrome recently being available on Android and other mobile OS. Hopefully their paths will cross a lot more now.