An interesting development has occurred at the Android headquarters. Top executive Hugo Barra announced this morning that he is officially leaving the Google owned mobile developer and heading to China to work with Xiaomi.
Not only will he be joining the Chinese mobile phone developer, but he is set to take over as Vice President and will be responsible for international business development and Android strategic partnerships.
Barra posted a farewell letter on Google+, saying goodbye to his colleagues as he embarks on a new journey in his professional life.
“After nearly 5½ years at Google and almost 3 years as a member of the Android team — the most amazing group of people I’ve ever worked with in my life — I have decided to start a new career chapter,” he said.
“In a few weeks, I’ll be joining the Xiaomi team in China to help them expand their incredible product portfolio and business globally — as Vice President, Xiaomi Global.”
It is quite the news, especially given China’s encouragement to companies to produce their own smartphone market that will separate itself from Google’s dominance in the region. Just yesterday we covered a story about HTC developing their own operating system. Could Xiaomi’s poaching of Barra be a sign of similar ambitions?
While this is an exciting opportunity for the now former-exec to take on a slowly growing, demand heavy market, it spells bad news for Google. They had already lost Android creator Andy Rubin just a few months ago. Some big names are jumping ship, though at least it isn’t due to company sinking. Android is stronger than ever, even in the wake of Apple’s primary share of sales in the US.
But what does this mean for the technology behemoth? That they are losing one of their best talents to a competitor, for one. Maybe they will take the chance to put a new head in that will shake up the company a bit.
Whatever they choose to do, Google doesn’t appear to have any hard feelings towards Barra for his decision. Sundar Pichai gave his best wishes on behalf of the whole Android team.
“Congratulations to Hugo on his exciting new adventure. We’ll miss him at Google but we’re thrilled that he’s sticking with Android. Best wishes Hugo!”
Awh, that’s nice.
Source: All Things D
