Sundar Pichai to head Google Android, replaces Andy Rubin

Andy Rubin, the father of Google Android has stepped down, and is replaced by another Google veteran Sundar Pichai, who is currently VP for Google Chrome. Larry Page, CEO, Google wrote today on his blog post, "Andy's decided it's time to hand over the reins and start a new chapter at Google." Going forward, Sundar Pichai will lead Android, in addition to his existing work with Chrome and Apps. 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."

Global Indian

Sundar Pichai 41, a native of Chennai is an alumnus of IIT Khargpur. Post his IIT, Pichai, pursued his MS at Stanford University and picked up a MBA from Wharton as well. He joined Google in 2004, and was instrumental in creating the Chrome browser and OS and was also the key architect of Google Drive.

At Google, Indians are taking up key positions. Nikesh Arora is already part of the Google's top management as Senior Vice President and Chief Business Officer. And Sundar's elevation as Android head signals the growing recognition of Indian engineer's contribution to Google. Other Indians in key leadership roles at Google are Amit Singhal, Senior Vice President and Google Fellow and Sridhar Ramaswamy, Senior Vice President, Engineering.

Rubin's Legacy

Andy Rubin leaves behind a legacy. In more ways, it's Android that had redefined Google and it was able to compete on a level playing field on the mobility space. Writes Larry Page, "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.

Page further states, "Fast forward to today. 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. Having exceeded even the crazy ambitious goals we dreamed of for Android-and with a really strong leadership team in places."

In this backdrop, Pichai's appointment assume significance and lot of expectations out of him as well. The industry is also rife with speculation that Pichai will play an instrumental role in uniting Android and Chrome OS and will create a tightly meshed one OS yet retaining the typical Google eco-system based approach.