Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android boss, Andy Rubin, now reports directly to the company's new CEO, Larry Page, under a reorganization at the search giant that appears intended to streamline the company's decision-making process.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, Google's Rubin is among seven executives who received a promotion to senior vice president. Rubin was previously vice president of engineering and head of Android. Other executives scoring advancements include the head of YouTube and the director of Google's Chrome OS project. Chrome OS is Google's operating system for laptops that targets Microsoft Windows users.
The WSJ noted that five of the seven promoted executives are software engineers, like Page.
Rubin's new position likely reflects the importance Google now places on Android as users transfer their Internet activities to smartphones. Indeed, Gartner recently predicted Google's Android mobile operating system will power 49.2 percent of the global smartphone market by the end of 2012.
Rubin previously was the CEO of Danger, which developed the software for T-Mobile USA's now-defunct Sidekick device. He subsequently founded Android, which was acquired by Google in 2005 and formed the basis for Google's open-source Android operating system.
Interestingly, April appears to be a busy month for Rubin. Last week he took to Google's website to respond to a Bloomberg Businessweek report indicating operators and manufacturers must now seek Google's approval for all significant Android user interface tweaks.
Rubin wrote that Google remains "committed to fostering the development of an open platform for the mobile industry and beyond."
For more:
- see this WSJ article (sub. req.)
- see this Fool article
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