Item: Google Android Chief Andy Rubin steps down
Author: Mark Tyson

Google Android Chief Andy Rubin steps down

Andy Rubin, the chief architect of Android, has decided to step down from his position in charge of the development of the world’s most popular mobile operating system. “Andy’s decided it’s time to hand over the reins and start a new chapter at Google” wrote Larry Page, CEO of Google in a blog post yesterday evening.

Andy Rubin starts a new chapter at Google

Before letting us know Rubin was on the move, Larry Page wrote a potted history of the Android chief’s achievements at Google to date “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. Pretty extraordinary progress for a decade’s work.” The Google CEO said that Rubin would be starting a “new chapter at Google” but declined to say what projects Rubin would be working on. Page indicated that he wants further visionary and ambitious things from Rubin as he finished his tribute by saying “Andy, more moonshots please!”

Sundar Pichai will be Android boss, in addition to his current responsibilities

Page said that Sundar Pichai will take over from where Rubin left off “Going forward, Sundar Pichai will lead Android, in addition to his existing work with Chrome and Apps.” Page then took the opportunity to praise Pichai’s work record in developing Chrome; “Sundar has a talent for creating products that are technically excellent yet easy to use—and he loves a big bet. Take Chrome, for example. In 2008, people asked whether the world really needed another browser. Today Chrome has hundreds of millions of happy users and is growing fast thanks to its speed, simplicity and security.”

Reuters suggests that the merging of the Android and Chrome divisions at Google will “resolve a longstanding tension in the Mountain View, California-based company's corporate strategy” it also is another sign of the desktop and mobile convergence trend.

Successful and innovative Android devices continue to come out at a frantic pace. This evening in New York we will see the wraps taken off Samsung’s latest Galaxy S smartphone. The Samsung Galaxy S4 is purported to be one of the fastest smartphones ever made with new and innovative modes of user interaction.

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must have gotten bored of being sued for copying

ionicle
must have gotten bored of being sued for copying by Apple

There, fixed that for you. Then again, I don't remember Andy Rubin being sued - Apple seemed to prefer to go after the “small fry”. Attacking the branches rather than the trunk. Then again, most seemed to think that this was because Google either had a lot of patents from the Motorola deal and/or a big warchest to fritter away to lawyers.

Putting the pointless fanboy wars aside, ( :p ), I'm wondering if this means that we'll see less focus from Google on Android. Or do they think that it's well enough established that they can afford to “pull their foot off the gas” so to speak. More of a worry is that the loss of AR perhaps means also the loss of a strong advocate to stop Samsung from using their dominant position to screw Android up for everyone else.

It's maybe time that Google passed the reigns of Android control to some kind of broad based “foundation”.

This evening in New York we will see the wraps taken off Samsung’s latest Galaxy S smartphone. The Samsung Galaxy S4 is purported to be one of the fastest smartphones ever made with new and innovative modes of user interaction.

This should be an exciting announcement, but to be honest I'm not that bothered - definitely no where near the level of interest that the S3 generated, and the press seem to be the same. :sleep:

they need to pass the reigns of android to someone who knows more keyboard commands than CMD C, CMD V, (or CTRL C, CTRL V for users of windows), because if android became something special it might be worth considering…it needs a UI overhaul to look completely different, they need to police the store a bit better/more efficiently, charge 3'rd parties for copies of android and the dev kit (not massive amounts, pence at most) and maybe impose some rules on what third parties can do, not massive limits, just a list of do's and dont's as an outline to keep the experience vaguely similar across devices…
once thats done they might actually have a decent phone OS that is appealing to the higher end segment (currently dominated by iPhones).
Atm if i didnt have an iPhone, i would get an iPhone, but if that wasnt in my budget i would get a windows phone…why? …well, several reasons, but i think windows phones look vastly nicer …nokia's lumia's are really nice looking phones, and after a bit of hands on time, i like the way windows phones work…
ive had a go on android…didnt like it, a friend let me have a look at their HTC …seemed ridiculously slow compared to an iPhone, had a go on a SGS3, that was…awful, i have small hands and that thing was just…massive, if i want massive i buy an ipad mini, …it didnt even fit in my jeans pockets…
im going to stop ranting now but needless to say im sure my opinion is quite clear…
to sum up, google need to get someone in with some brains and a proven track record in software design, not this dope who looks so smug …

ionicle
charge 3'rd parties for copies of android and the dev kit (not massive amounts, pence at most) and maybe impose some rules on what third parties can do, not massive limits, just a list of do's and dont's as an outline to keep the experience vaguely similar across devices…

You do realise that the open nature of Android is one of the biggest reasons it's grown so fast?
Letting devs do what they want and giving away a free SDK is by far the smartest move they did. Besides, how do you propose they charge for an SDK of an open source OS? Someone would just make a free version anyway.

ionicle
to sum up, google need to get someone in with some brains and a proven track record in software design, not this dope who looks so smug …

In September last year, Google announced over 500 million Android activations. He has every reason to be as smug ;)

ionicle
they need to pass the reigns of android to someone who knows more keyboard commands than CMD C, CMD V, (or CTRL C, CTRL V for users of windows), because if android became something special it might be worth considering…it needs a UI overhaul to look completely different,

Completely different to WHAT FFS? :wallbash: As others have REPEATEDLY said here, there are ways of doing certain tasks that are best, and choosing something else merely gives a worse user experience. And you're also speaking from plain ignorance or bias - unless you're going to claim that TouchWiz is identical to Sense, which is identical to Sony UXP, which is identical to stock Android, etc. If that was the case for even a microsecond - which it isn't - then others would not be complaining about “UI fragmentation”.
Oh, and your beloved iOS isn't above stealing ideas/concepts from other people. I've no problem with this, the “we stand on the shoulders of giants” idea, but what sticks in my craw is that Apple writ-fling when folks do that to them, but are quite happy to “leverage” themselves. It's widely accepted - for example - that iOS's current notifications concept was “borrowed” ;) from Android.

ionicle
they need to police the store a bit better/more efficiently,

Granted. If I'm going to slap Andy Rubin for anything in particular, then this is probably #1 on my list. Like most things Android it IS improving, but I'll say it's got a bit to go.

ionicle
charge 3'rd parties for copies of android and the dev kit (not massive amounts, pence at most) and maybe impose some rules on what third parties can do, not massive limits, just a list of do's and dont's as an outline to keep the experience vaguely similar across devices…

Charge for the SDK? Please do yourself a favour and look up the concept of “open source”. :rolleyes: As for do's and don'ts - these exist - see http://developer.android.com/design/index.html. Good developers/manufacturers have these guidelines, but are free to ignore them if they feel this would be best. At the end of the day, us users will praise (if the chosen app/phone UI is better) or blame (if it's worse) - commercial darwinism.

ionicle
once thats done they might actually have a decent phone OS that is appealing to the higher end segment (currently dominated by iPhones).

All of that quote is debatable, and we're firmly into the realm of “lies, damned lies and statistics”, so I'm not going to go further (in the interests of brevity)

ionicle
Atm if i didnt have an iPhone, i would get an iPhone, but if that wasnt in my budget i would get a windows phone…why? …well, several reasons, but i think windows phones look vastly nicer …nokia's lumia's are really nice looking phones, and after a bit of hands on time, i like the way windows phones work…

Ah ha - the second point upon which we agree. If I didn't have an Android phone (SGS3) then I'd probably go for a Lumia - they are nice to look at, and nice to use. As a long time Nokia fan I'm really rooting for Elop and co. I wouldn't go for an iPhone because for me they're too limited and I'm not a big fan of the iOS UI - I find it unfriendly for anything more than base operations - and don't get me started on the focus on Siri…

ionicle
ive had a go on android…didnt like it, a friend let me have a look at their HTC …seemed ridiculously slow compared to an iPhone, had a go on a SGS3, that was…awful, i have small hands and that thing was just…massive, if i want massive i buy an ipad mini, …it didnt even fit in my jeans pockets…im going to stop ranting now but needless to say im sure my opinion is quite clear…

You didn't like Android - fine, it's a free world, you're entitled. Conversely I don't have shovel-hands (e.g. fingers aren't long enough to be able to play my guitar easily) but the S3 is fine for me - and fits (in a case) in my shirt pocket. By the way, you are aware that the iPad can't be used as a phone (VOIP excepted)? ;) As for your opinion, you're undoubtedly welcome to express it - but I'm going to politely say that you're wrong (apart from the paragraph above, since that's personal experience)

ionicle
to sum up, google need to get someone in with some brains and a proven track record in software design, not this dope who looks so smug …

Nearly 700 million Android devices sold last year, outdoing Apples share by nearly 2.5x (source). That's not the track record of someone who's a “fail”. Tim Cook on the other hand possibly has reason to be worried. ;)

If I'm grading Andy's time at the helm then either A- or B+ from me - well done, but there was definitely scope to have done better.

Google Android Chief Andy Rubin steps down

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