Andy Rubin was the major factor responsible for insecure Android devices. He thought it was impossible to be both secure and 'X' for any 'X'. Meanwhile, Andy Rubin's replacement is Sundar Pichai, SVP for Chrome and ChromeOS.<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundar_Pichai" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundar_Pichai</a><p>If you care at all about the security of Android mobile devices, this is probably a good sign.<p>EDIT: I wonder if this helped move Andy out the door? <a href="http://www.macrumors.com/2013/03/07/phil-schiller-tweets-link-to-mobile-malware-report-that-slams-android/" rel="nofollow">http://www.macrumors.com/2013/03/07/phil-schiller-tweets-lin...</a>
> But his insight immediately struck a chord because at the time it was extremely painful developing services for mobile devices. We had a closet full of more than 100 phones and were building our software pretty much device by device. It was nearly impossible for us to make truly great mobile experiences.<p>This is highly ironic statement given that one of the biggest pain developers trying to build mobile experiences face today is the number of devices they have to test on, and that Android plays no small part in making it worse.<p>The drawer/closet you have, full of all those test devices? it's called the "Drawer of broken dreams."
Sort-of thank you to the mod who changed the title. The old one ("Google lets go its (sic) Android head Andy Rubin, appoints Sundar Pichai") was editorializing and incorrect, but the new one ("Update from the CEO") is completely useless.<p>On a related note, I find it rather fascinating that Andy is planning on staying in Google.<p><pre><code> Andy’s decided it’s time to hand over the
reins and start a new chapter at Google.
</code></pre>
I wonder what the real story is.
> Sundar will do a tremendous job doubling down on Android as we work to push the ecosystem forward<p>This is really incongruous. You don't move a project from having a dedicated top level manager to being one-of-many under someone else as a way of "doubling down" on it (what an awful expression). It makes no sense, if Google sees Android has having future in its own right as one of Google's top priorities, that they put it under management with somebody with so many other priorities.<p>I can only conclude that either a) Sundar is a temporary replacement while they locate someone of Andy's stature as a replacement to lead Android in its own right or b) Google has charted somewhere far in the future that Android will get folded, substantially merged or otherwise share some kind of significant synergy with the other projects that Sundar Pichai is in charge of.<p>I find b) quite worrying because it signals an end to the (healthy) competitive tension that Google promoted internally where both Android and ChromeOS were pursued as independent ventures and "may the best man win" would determine the outcome. I also find it worrying because no matter how they spin it, I don't see how this can not seem like a blow to the esteem of the Android team - they've effectively been taken over by another division, effectively falling down one step in the company ladder. To have that happen after establishing one of the most incredible technology success stories in history - I can't imagine how deflating that would be to the team members. I hope Android doesn't lose a lot of talent from this. A huge amount is going to depend on how well Sundar Pichai handles this transition.
New Pope, New Head of Android--a wonderful correlation...just kidding.<p>It's an obvious move to try and blend Chromes OS with Android more seamlessly but I think it also means something else BIG at Google is coming--and not their everyday-'big'. As qualified as Pichai is, it doesn't make sense for Rubin to go anywhere UNLESS he truly is upto something groundbreaking.<p>My bet is that Rubin has a vision, perhaps a "moonshot" as Paige said, that impressed the execs at Google so much that it made sense for him to move on from his current position. It'll be interesting to see exactly what this is, but I have to imagine Rubin is upto something the masses (most of us) have not yet heard about...and his ingenuity will be absorbed by Google themselves.
I suspect that Andy is not in fact staying on at Google but instead this is a golden parachute in which he will pretend to stick around as "a consultant to the CEO" before leaving.
“We’re getting closer to a world where technology takes care of the hard work—discovery, organization, communication—so that you can get on with what makes you happiest… living and loving.”<p>Just lie back and let yourself sink into the goo. Don't worry about all that messy technology behind the curtains. We've got that taken care of. Have a nice day :)
I remember the week or so when both Sinofsy and Forstall were let go, people jokingly said 'these come in threes, look out for Rubin'.<p>Turns out that was true.
Title seems misleading, the post said Andy is moving on to other things <i>at Google</i>.<p>Edit: fixed (it used to be "Google lets go Andy Rubin", which is generally a euphemism for fired)
Pure speculation here: Andy might work on a new version of Android which will integrate Android with Google's self-driving car, and also bring the work done by CloudCar to Android.
<a href="http://techcrunch.com/2012/06/22/cloudcar-the-stealthy-startup-that-andy-rubin-is-not-joining-has-raised-11-5m/" rel="nofollow">http://techcrunch.com/2012/06/22/cloudcar-the-stealthy-start...</a>
Observation by Benedict Evans: almost all key divisional leads at Google were born in India. Android, Engineering, Advertising, Youtube…<p>Polar opposite to Apple, which is a white boys club.
This is an interestingly timed article. We're building our Android app right now, and its certainly more annoying than when we built out iOS app.<p>As an app developer, in Canada (not Canadian however) i'm excited that RIM have attempted to prevent further fragmentation by sticking close to the Android stack, however i really don't want to deal with the distribution and other issues (such as screens, OS bugs etc) that i'm sure will come with releasing on a 3rd platform.<p>I feel like we're dealing with the issues similar to what were encountered during the 17-1800's with different size railway tracks. Is it just a matter of time until we agree upon a standard?
Whether Android and ChromeOS are merged or Android scales up to the desktop, I hope Google makes a big play for the desktop within the next 1-2 years.<p>1. Microsoft support for Windows XP ends in about a year leaving a huge chunk of their users orphaned.
2. PC sales are flatlining... there's a sense among users that performance is getting to be "good enough"
3. Apple isn't really even trying to compete in countries that aren't somewhat well to do.
4. The ARM Cortex-A15 will help bring those ARM mini-pc sticks and net tops up to task for desktop work.
The "open source" posturing is very annoying. They're just doing it for the PR.<p>Even considering the subset of Android that is "open source" the development process is closed and we just get code drops after product releases. It's like Apple used to do when they were playing the game with Darwin. They're doing a lot of work to avoid and purge LGPL and GPL code so they can work this way. It's not even free to use for vendors, you need to pay licensing fees to get a useful system out of it and sign contracts subjecting you to Google's whims.
Wait... where is this post saying what's going on with Andy Rubin? Let me understand: you have a guy that leads one of the most adopted projects coming out of Google and then you announce a new person to lead that project without mentioning anything about the former? That should be an awesome feeling for everyone at G...
Rubin is someone who, from his days of running a BBS in New York many years ago, to creating and working to expand Android more recently, has always had a strong alignment with the values of free software, hackers and hobbyists. Over two decades ago he praised those who "write their programs for the hobby, for the hack". His commitment and his efforts for open source software and open platforms have borne fruit with an open platform which accounted for over 70% of smartphone sales in the fourth quarter of 2012. I am grateful for his efforts in this regard, especially since I have been focusing on writing Android apps for the past few years.
Another way to look at it is that Android was a home run and basically accomplished everything it was supposed to do, not much left for Rubin to accomplish.
This is an unusually bleak and uninspiring message. Reads like a mundane press release. An average update from a small startup founder is more exciting.
I would've preferred Vic Gundotra to take the lead of Android. He's a much more "experience" kind of guy, and a great speaker, too.<p>But I guess Sundar Pichai isn't a bad choice, either, especially if they plan on unifying the 2 platforms. But he's still more of a "core" product guy, than a human interface guy. I just hope he at least leaves Matias Duarte enough independence.
>>Today Chrome has hundreds of millions of happy users and is growing fast thanks to its speed, simplicity and security.<p>Simplicity and security, fine. But speed? That's hardly the reason people prefer Chrome these days.