Sundar Pichai, Google senior vice president of Chrome and Google Apps, will be adding Android to his title, as he takes the reins of that important business unit for Google.
Andy Rubin, who built Android into the most popular phone operating system in the world, will stay at Google in an unspecified role.
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. So while Andy's a really hard act to follow, I know Sundar will do a tremendous job doubling down on Android as we work to push the ecosystem forward.
Page isn't just spouting hyperbole about Chrome. I reviewed Chrome when Google introduced it five years ago. I led the review with a comment about how pointless it seemed, at least at first glance. It now has a respectable 14 percent market share, making it the third-most popular browser, trailing Firefox's 17 percent and Internet Explorer's 48 percent. But it's still struggling.
Chrome OS also seemed pointless when it was announced in 2009. Google already had an open-source operating system in Android; it apparently had no need for two. The two OSs differentiated themselves over the years, with Android for phones and tablets and Chrome for netbooks, and more recently, the high-end Chromebook Pixel. But the lines between the two began to blur again recently, as the Pixel has a touchscreen. So it makes sense to have one person in charge of all of Google's mobile operating systems.
Page praised Rubin, while not delineating a specific role for him in Google's future:
Sergey and I first heard about Android back in 2004, when Andy Rubin came to visit us at Google. He believed that aligning standards around an open-source operating system would drive innovation across the mobile industry. 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. 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.
Android is the "most used mobile operating system in the world," Page goes on to say, with over 750 million activated devices, and more than 60 manufacturer partners. He continues:
Having exceeded even the crazy ambitious goals we dreamed of for Android -- and with a really strong leadership team in place -- Andy's decided it's time to hand over the reins and start a new chapter at Google. Andy, more moonshots please!
Android's 750 million Android activations is up from 500 million in September. Android was the top mobile operating system in 2012, with 70 percent of the market, according to Gartner. Second-place iOS had 21 percent.
It's an open question how Google will change with Pichai in charge of several of its strategic platforms and products. What do you think?
As you know, IBM's Software business eats Microsoft's entire business. At some stage, Microsoft will run out of its' nine lives and figure out whether it will be around or not.
The beauty of it now is that one does not have to remember it--I do sometimes miss ti frankly. That's why the evolution is such fun to be a part of. :-)
I would humbly suggest that it was MSFT's lack of openness that forced it to fall behind. A sense of arrogance did befall it as Ray Ozzie noted in the memo that I actually re-read and have noted it here for all:
Although the death of MSFT is a bit exagurated, for the moment, they can't afford to have things like Surface and Windows 8. There is only so much Goodwill that is left--and as Ray Ozzie noted, you can't just rely on your installed base. Sun survived for a while until it was taken out of its' misery by Oracle...Digital only survived for a while thanks to its' service install business until it was taken out of its' misery by Compaq. Will mSFT see the light? what is that light? There is the Billion Dollar Question--and this is as Google and others march on w/Google Glass, The Driveless Car/etc/etc/etc/etc.. :-)
Yeah, I keep meaning to brush up on my command-line commands. The Mac has a Terminal commands; it's one of the reasons programmers prefer it. I think I only know remember three or four command line commands at this point.
Did openness harm Microsoft? Or, more precisely, was MSFT's lack of openness damaging to Microsoft?
Or was it the case that Microsoft failed itself -- its products ceased to deliver what its users wanted. Windows 7 and Office are bloated, and Windows 7 was buggy as well. And it was late with a competitive smartphone platform -- so late that, when its latest Windows phones finally arrived, and pretty good too, it was too late.
@mitch wagner: Tough is an understaement--I loved it though..despite its' toughness, once one got to understand it, it was fantastic and fun to be a part of. I think all of us owe a huge debt of gratitude for the advent and evolution of UNIX that has sprung its' children..:-)
@ Mitch Wagner: I am w/you there. But, as "geeks" we have to understand and recognize the very evolution towards openness. Isn't that the reason why MSFT did not recognize until late as it has scrambled to catch up? The need to be flexible is key...I do want to educate myself on Tizen..and hope to do so Soon..although there is so much "time in the day" :-)
mpouraryan - Unix was tough for the mainstream end-user. But now it has become Mac OS, iOS, and Android -- all very popular with mainstream end-users and easy to use.
mpouraryan - What are the advantages of tizen, other than the advantage to Samsung of being independent of Google? I have to admit I'm not following tizen as closely as perhaps I should be.
The ThinkerNet does not reflect the views of TechWeb. The ThinkerNet is an informal means of communication to members and visitors of the Internet Evolution site. Individual authors are chosen by Internet Evolution to blog. Neither Internet Evolution nor TechWeb assume responsibility for comments, claims, or opinions made by authors and ThinkerNet bloggers. They are no substitute for your own research and should not be relied upon for trading or any other purpose.
The Memorial Day weekend begins with Geek Pride Day on Saturday. Kick off your holiday with nine news tidbits that are perfect for sharing at backyard BBQs and poolside get-togethers.
At the IBM Smarter Commerce Global Summit here in Nashville, I'm hearing many stories about how businesses have adapted their IT strategies in response to this rapidly changing, pressurized, data-driven commercial world.
Neal Stephenson is best known as the author of science fiction novels such as SnowCrash and Anathem. But he does other things as well. Among them: He's assembled a team of scientists and engineers to figure out how to build a 20-kilometer-tall tower to use as a platform for launching rockets into space.
While interstellar travel presents huge challenges, it's "almost inevitable," according to a speaker at the Starship Century symposium here in San Diego.
Microsoft's buy of Skype could revitalize Phone 7, give Microsoft a social, gaming, and collaborative strategy, and spell the end for old-fashioned telco voice. It will also certainly give Google a headache in its Voice, Chat, and even Android strategy!
Google included a number of consumer-based applications in its latest release of Google Apps, illustrating that the lines between enterprise applications and consumer apps are fading.
Analysts, writers, and – most recently – Steve Jobs have been condemning cellular phone fragmentation. Alan says, "Phooey! Fragmentation is a good thing!"
Techies are going crazy over the possibility that Google might design and sell its own Android phone. Some writers say it's a very big deal. Reiter questions whether it will happen and, if it does, whether it even matters.
Some thoughts on new tools that use the cloud for synchronization rather than storage, and how they might signal a shift in strategy for at least one software giant.
New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority is conducting a pilot test of digital kiosks to guide subway users to where they want to go more efficiently and at lower cost.
Subsidized handsets, rather than locked handsets, should be the focus of regulators. We're not getting good deals, not fostering innovation, and weakening our power as buyers.
New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority is conducting a pilot test of digital kiosks to guide subway users to where they want to go more efficiently and at lower cost.
The whole Amazon.reader debate is a double-stupid. It's stupid to think that there's any e-book buyer who doesn't know Amazon's URL, and it was stupider to let ICANN launch the whole free-form TLD initiative to start with.
While NFC's original goal was to enhance mobile commerce applications, it is finding its way into a number of other uses, which is creating both opportunity as well as challenges for IT departments.
Enterprises would like to move to cloud computing but are hesitant because they are concerned about providers’ ability to secure company data. Here are some tips that help to ensure that if breaches occur, the business is not left holding the bag.
Edmunds separates customers into segments based on the info it collects on its site and from partners, and uses that to push out custom content, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
The automotive website uses propensity modeling to target ads and customer registration forms, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
Expert Integrated Systems: Changing the Experience & Economics of IT In this e-book, we take an in-depth look at these expert integrated systems -- what they are, how they work, and how they have the potential to help CIOs achieve dramatic savings while restoring IT's role as business innovator. READ THIS eBOOK
your weekly update of news, analysis, and
opinion from Internet Evolution - FREE! REGISTER HERE
Wanted! Site Moderators Internet Evolution is looking for a handful of readers to help moderate the message boards on our site – as well as engaging in high-IQ conversation with the industry mavens on our thinkerNet blogosphere. The job comes with various perks, bags of kudos, and GIANT bragging rights. Interested?
To save this item to your list of favorite Internet Evolution content so you can find it later in your Profile page, click the "Save It" button next to the item.
M2M: Rise of the Machines? Not Yet David Weldon In the 1970 science fiction thriller Colossus: The Forbin Project, two giant supercomputers from the United States and Soviet Union secretly join forces to take control of the collective nuclear might of the two countries. In the film, the two machines discover each other's existence, communicate back-and-forth, share their collective data, and cut their human creators out of the process. It is the ultimate example of machine-to-machine communications, or M2M. CLICK FOR MORE
M2M: Rise of the Machines? Not Yet David Weldon In the 1970 science fiction thriller Colossus: The Forbin Project, two giant supercomputers from the United States and Soviet Union secretly join forces to take control of the collective nuclear might of the two countries. In the film, the two machines discover each other's existence, communicate back-and-forth, share their collective data, and cut their human creators out of the process. It is the ultimate example of machine-to-machine communications, or M2M. CLICK FOR MORE
Email This
