In a surprising move announced Wednesday, Google Android chief Andy Rubin is stepping down in his current position as the head of Google’s Android team.
Rubin, however, will remain with Google, embracing hush-hush new responsibilities only referred to as the next chapter in Google’s evolution.
Confirmation of Rubin’s move came from Google Chief Executive Larry Page in a post on the company’s official blog.
“He believed that aligning standards around an open-source operating system would drive innovation across the mobile industry,” Page says of Rubin. “Most people thought he was nuts. But his insight immediately struck a chord because at the time it was extremely painful developing services for mobile devices.”
Page says Rubin concluded that “it’s time to hand over the reins and start a new chapter at Google.”
He will be replaced by Sundar Pichai, who is a veteran of the Chrome browser and Apps teams at Google.
“The pace of innovation has never been greater, and Android is the most used mobile operating system in the world: we have a global partnership of over 60 manufacturers; more than 750 million devices have been activated globally; and 25 billion apps have now been downloaded from Google Play,” Page said, praising Rubin.
Does Rubin’s resignation deliver a devastating blow to Android just as the operating system is reaching record global momentum? Please weigh in with a thought or comment below.
