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Google confirms it'll launch the 'Nexus' of virtual phone networks
Google has just confirmed a rumor at Mobile World Congress that many thought unlikely: It'll launch its own "white label" MVNO cell network. That means it'll carry or resell wireless services from larger operators in one way or another, not unlike, say, Boost Mobile. However, Android head Sundar Pichai stressed that the service wouldn't operate on a large scale or compete head to head against carriers like AT&T or Verizon. Instead, he likened it to Google's Nexus devices, calling it a way to drive new technology in order to make cellular and WiFi services work together in a "seamless" fashion.
Google exec hints at Photos, Hangouts and G+ split
Rumors have long suggested that Google might separate the parts of Google+ that people have been most interested in -- photos and messaging / Hangouts -- away from the social network's main stream. Now it appears that Sundar Pichai agrees with that viewpoint, but unlike angry YouTube commenters, he can actually do something about it since he controls Google products like Plus, search, Chrome and Android. In a pre-Mobile World Congress interview with Forbes, Pichai said that going forward, we'll see the company deal with Hangouts, photos and the Google+ stream as three "important" areas, instead of one. While Google+ has apparently done the job of creating a common login and identity across products, he says the team is working on "next generation" ideas to create "more scale at what we do."
Sundar Pichai takes control of Google's crucial products
Well, we guess congratulations are in order. According to Re/code, Sundar Pichai, the senior vice president at Google who used to just be in charge of the Chrome, Android, and web apps teams now basically has control of almost every other Google product division of note. Search? Google+? Ads? Even the company's infrastructure? All of that has been apparently moved off of CEO Larry Page's plate and onto Pichai's -- not a huge surprise considering his heightened prominence within Mountain View over the past months. Pichai, a nine year Google veteran, was even rumored to be one of the leading choices for Microsoft's new CEO, though the role eventually went to longtime company insider Satya Nadella.
Google's Sundar Pichai rebuts accusation that Android is a "toxic hellstew" of vulnerabilities, likens Apple to Mercedes Benz
With Google's I/O conference set to get underway on Wednesday, Bloomberg Businessweek earlier today put up an interesting and sweeping profile of Sundar Pichai, the man Larry Page tapped to run Android following the departure of Andy Rubin. An extremely talented engineer seemingly beloved by many, Pichai isn't afraid to speak his mind, even if it means tossing a bit of praise towards Apple. When asked to comment on Apple CEO Tim Cook's WWDC comments regarding Android being a "toxic hellstew" (a phrase Cook referenced from a ZDNet article) as it pertains to malware and fragmentation, Pichai conveys what almost appears to be a bit of envy towards Apple's tried and true business strategy of vertical integration. It must be liberating [for Apple] to wake up and think about your device, your software, and hey, 'I can even call the chipset guys and say what the chip should be,'" he says. "I have to think about building a platform and bringing as many people along on this journey and getting it right. I believe that ultimately it's a more powerful approach, but it's a lot more stressful as well." In a separate interview, Pichai took some more time to address the issue of malware, apparently likening iOS to a Mercedes Benz in the process. You have to be careful when you make a $100,000 Mercedes car not to look at the rest of automotive industry and make comments on it. ... We serve the entire breadth of the market, globally across all form factors, et cetera. Android from the ground up is designed to be very, very secure. ... History shows typically that malware is also targeted at the more popular operating system. So you know there is that. Do we take security seriously? Yes. [In the Google Play app store,] we detect malware. If you are installing an app, we ask user's permission. If they say "yes," we scan it. Even if you are scanning anything outside of the Play store, we still detect and warn you if its malware. Every time I look at the data-across millions and millions of users' phones-the data is encouraging. While Pichai is absolutely correct in stating that malware is typically designed to target the more popular operating systems, available security data still raises a number of red flags regarding Android's safety as a platform compared to iOS. As a quick example, recall a 2012 memo from the US Department of Homeland Security and the US Department of Justice which showed that just .7% of malware threats targeted iOS. Meanwhile, the memo found that 79% of mobile malware threatened Android. More recently, a June 2013 report from Juniper Networks found that 92% of mobile malware was designed to target Android.
Google will show off the new 'L' version of Android tomorrow
You can move one more item into the confirmed list for tomorrow's Google I/O keynote: a new version of Android. Your guess is as good as ours as to which L-word treat (we assume, following KitKat and Jelly Bean) Google plans to name its next iteration of the mobile OS, but as part of a lengthy profile for Bloomberg, senior VP Sundar Pichai reveals he will offer a "preview" at the developer event. It's a new approach for Google, in publicly revealing the new version (which may have momentarily surfaced on its issue tracker yesterday) well ahead of its planned release later this year, but similar to the way Apple, for example, is rolling out iOS 8. Also confirmed is Android Wear, complete with manufacturing partners and new devices, while the plans for Android TV are still shrouded in rumor. [Image credit: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images]
The next version of Android could be truly business-friendly
Android has a lot of market share, but it doesn't have a big footprint in the corporate world; outside of special efforts like Samsung's Knox, the OS isn't well-suited to business demands. All that may change in the near future, though, as The Information's sources claim that the next major Android release will place a much stronger emphasis on office-grade security. The new OS will reportedly allow apps that require their own authentication (including biometrics), as well as data storage on secure chips. It should also offer better remote management controls. If the rumor is accurate, we may not have long to wait to see these suit-and-tie features -- Google could unveil them at its I/O conference in late June.
Google denies making a bid for WhatsApp
Rumors that Google engaged in a bidding war with Facebook over WhatsApp are false -- at least, if you ask Google's Sundar Pichai. The Senior VP tells The Telegraph that his company "never made an offer" to buy the messaging giant, and that any claims to the contrary are "simply untrue." We're inclined to believe him, although the denial suggests that Facebook may have paid $19 billion so that it wouldn't have to compete with Google (or anyone else) on yet another important acquisition.
Google teases Android 4.4 as 'KitKat,' passes one billion Android activations (video)
After "a whirlwind trip to Asia" visiting Android partners, Google's SVP Sundar Pichai has just confirmed -- by way of the above photo -- that the next version of his mobile OS is called KitKat aka Android 4.4. The exec shared this geeky nugget on both Google+ and Twitter, while his company has updated the Android developer site with a page chronicling Android's milestones so far. Details are light at the moment, and Google teases its upcoming release with just the following line: "It's our goal with Android KitKat to make an amazing Android experience available for everybody." Pichai also announced that there are now over one billion Android device activations, surpassing the 900 million mark back in May this year. This is well ahead of the end-of-year target that Chairman Eric Schmidt predicted back in April. Just to recap, here are all the previous dessert-based names that contributed to these figures: Cupcake (1.5), Donut (1.6), Eclair (2.0), Froyo (2.2), Gingerbread (2.3), Honeycomb (3.0), Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0), and Jelly Bean (4.1-4.3). Naturally, it's "K" after "J" now. More after the break (pun intended). Update: We've added Nestle's wacky promo video as well. Update 2: Go ahead and grab the kids, because you'll now find a short clip of the KitKat statue's unveiling. So... is anyone gonna break off a piece of that, or what?
Google's 'breakfast with Sundar' is today at noon ET, get your liveblog here!
We've been invited to a breakfast with Sundar Pichai, the man with the [Chrome and Android] plan, and we know what you're dying to find out: will we feast together on bran muffins or jelly donuts? Coffee or orange juice? Kidding aside, we imagine one of the biggest fellas on Google campus just wants to have us over for some tea, so we're going to be there with our liveblogging hats on, ready to get you all of the latest product announcements and other news at a second's notice. Perhaps Android 4.3 and the latest Nexus 7? Or is it something else entirely? Will there be dancing? Join us at noon EDT and hit up this link for the action! July 24, 2013 12:00:00 PM EDT
Google set to host press event July 24th featuring Sundar Pichai
Google's always cooking something up, and the company has our undivided attention when the press gets invited over for a breakfast featuring Sundar Pichai, the man in charge of Chrome and Android. While the invite doesn't indicate anything specific, we're expecting to hear some sort of announcement next Wednesday, when the event takes place. We'd love to get some more details on the elusive Android 4.3 or perhaps a new Nexus 7 (heck, a new Nexus anything would be just fine with us), but we'll just have to wait and see what Sundar has in store.
Android head Sundar Pichai is excited to try out iOS 7
Apple yesterday introduced iOS 7, the biggest change to iOS since the original iPhone launched back in 2007. The differences between iOS 7 and previous iterations of iOS are readily apparent and striking. Naturally, Apple's new flat-themed mobile OS has generated a lot of debate. While some think Apple is headed in the right direction, others think the OS lacks that unique Apple flair. Interestingly enough, one person who can't wait to try out iOS 7 is Sundar Pichai, the head of Android development over at Google. If you recall, Pichai was chosen to succeed Andy Rubin this past March. Excited to try out iOS7 beta, guess I need to register as a developer first:) - sundarpichai (@sundarpichai) June 11, 2013 The controversy surrounding iOS 7 aside, it is somewhat refreshing to hear someone in Pichai's position express what appears to be genuine excitement over a competing company's product. Can you imagine Phil Schiller, for example, ever tweeting that he's excited to use the latest version of Android? Of course, it's more probable that Schiller might tweet out that as an iPhone user, he's effectively been using pre-release versions of Android for years now.
Google says Nexus device series 'will continue'
With all this talk of stock Android on your favorite smartphones, we'd be forgiven for thinking it might be the end of the road of Google's Nexus brand of tablets and phones. But at today's D11 conference, Google's SVP of Android, Chrome and Apps, Sundar Pichai, has said that it will continue to make them and that, "the goal behind Nexus was to guide the ecosystem. But that will continue as well." So that's stock Android on Samsung's Galaxy S 4 and the HTC One, the Moto X and more Nexus devices. The company's keeping busy.
HTC One with stock Android coming June 26th for $599 (updated)
Speaking to Walt Mossberg at D11 this morning, Google's Sundar Pichai offered glorious news for anyone who loves the HTC One but craves an untouched Android experience: he confirmed that there is indeed a stock Android 4.2.2 version of the flagship device One coming, and it will be fully unlocked for T-Mobile and AT&T at the solid price of $599. It'll go on sale in the Google Play Store on June 26th, the same date as its $649 counterpart, the Samsung Galaxy S 4 stock edition. The new version of the device -- which will be sold in the US initially -- will come SIM-unlocked, with an unlocked bootloader and 32GB storage. In terms of radios, it will offer quadband LTE (700/850/AWS/1900), triband HSPA+ (850/1900/2100) and the usual quadband GSM / EDGE. This means that while T-Mobile users will enjoy refarmed 1900MHz 3G coverage, anyone currently stuck in an AWS HSPA+ area will be out of luck until the network makes the switch in spectrum. There is some give and take involved with such a device, of course; since it's pure stock, Sense-specific features (BlinkFeed, Zoe and so on) won't be included, since they aren't optimized to work on vanilla Android. Still, we're quite excited to see companies like HTC and Samsung embrace the "Nexus experience" and offer choice to its users, and we're hoping this is just the beginning of a new trend. Update: HTC confirmed to us that the Google Edition will retain the same two-button setup, and they'll have the same functions as before: short press of Home for Home, long press for Google Now and double tap for Recent Apps. The back button will also remain the same, and the black menu bar that plagues third-party apps that haven't complied with Google's design specifications isn't going anywhere. We were also told that Beats Audio will still be integrated into the device as a hardware optimization, but the visual indicator -- currently found in the status bar on the original One -- won't be there.
Google's Sundar Pichai, SVP of Android, Chrome and Apps, live at D11
Sundar Pichai has taken on quite the role expansion since he sat in the famed red chair during last year's D10 conference here in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. Back in March, he took over the Android duties from Andy Rubin, and led a significant portion of the keynote during this year's Google I/O conference. Today, he'll sit down with hosts Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg in order to discuss the future of Chrome, Android, apps and perhaps the universe as we know it. Join us after the break as we cover every... last... word.
Android chief says Google I/O will focus on devs, not new products
Sundar Pichai, Andy Rubin's replacement as Android chief, has been talking to Wired about his new job. He poured ice water on the idea that we'll see a raft of new hardware at Google I/O, the company's annual developer conference. Instead, he said that this year's show will focus on "all of the kinds of things we're doing for developers, so that they can write better things" for Android and Chrome OS. He also let slip that his daily driver is a Galaxy S 4, but that he's never even used the flagship's much-hyped eye-tracking feature -- an admission which'll surely go down well with HTC One fans.
Andy Rubin no longer leading Android, replaced by Chrome exec Sundar Pichai (update: memo)
There's a big upheaval afoot at Google -- Android lead Andy Rubin is stepping down from his position to "start a new chapter" at the company. Sundar Pichai, who currently oversees the Apps and Chrome projects, will take over the top spot in mobile. Neither the company nor Rubin have explained the reasoning for the management change so far, although it's safe to say that Rubin is going out on a high note when most smartphones sold today use the OS he helped create. CEO Larry Page mentions 750 million Android device activations as of Rubin's move, and over 25 billion cumulative Google Play app downloads. Update: The Wall Street Journal has posted a memo from Rubin to partners. If you're looking for deep insight into why he's stepping down from his definitive role, you won't find it: Andy mostly reiterates that he's staying with Google and is an "entrepreneur at heart," which suggests that the change may be spurred more by personal interest than corporate maneuvering.
Google's Sundar Pichai confirms that offline Google Drive 'coming in five weeks,' hints at ad-supported Chromebook
During the closing session here at D10 in California, Google's on Senior Vice President of Chrome & Apps Sundar Pichai was joined by Susan Wojcicki (SVP of Advertising at Google) at Walt Mossberg. Sundar was able to drive the majority of the conversation in the realm of Chrome and Chrome OS, and quite a few interesting nuggets were dropped. For one, he made an offhand comment that "offline Google Drive [is] coming in five weeks," a clue that it'll be revealed and launched in full at Google I/O next month. On the topic of Chrome's browser market share, he reckoned that around a third of the world's desktop browser use is now done on Chrome, noting that percentages are far, far higher in the consumer realm as compared to enterprise, where lots of companies mandate that employees still use Internet Explorer at work. Oh, and Sundar also stated that it's "not lost on [Google] that it can use advertising to provide better value propositions [for Chromebooks] as well. In other words, Google's at least evaluating an ad-supported Chromebook. Looking for more? A fair amount of the back-and-forth is transcribed after the break.
Chrome OS and Google Drive to get intimate in version 20
When Google finally announced its shiny new cloud-based Drive service, many people will have been glad to see an extra bit of storage tacked onto their daily gadget lives. Some, however, spin out a generally more nebular existence, and that'd be the Chrome OS faithful. If you find yourself amongst their number, you'll be pleased to know that Sundar Pichai, SVP for Chrome, revealed in an interview with Wired that the next iteration of its slight operating system will come with Drive tightly sewn into the fabric. The idea is that the service will operate as the local file system, and all the core OS functionality will use Drive for storing data. Third party apps like VMware are already baking in Drive functionality, and expect more to follow when it lands in version 20.
Google refocuses under Larry Page; Eric Schmidt says Microsoft is bigger competition than Facebook
Now that the dust has settled from the Google CEO shuffle that will see Larry Page take the top spot from Eric Schmidt in April, it's time for the profiles of the company to hit -- and Bloomberg BusinessWeek is up first with a piece that examines the company's past and future challenges, as well the key leaders of what it calls "Google 3.0": Vic Gundotra, who's heading up a now-not-so-secret social networking initiative called Google +1, Android chief Andy Rubin, YouTube head Salar Kamangar, advertising lead Susan Wojcicki, Chrome head Sundar Pichai, and search leads Udi Manber and Amit Singhal. It's all very fascinating, and it includes some great anecdotes, like Vic Gundotra and Phil Schiller getting into an argument about user location-tracking so heated that Eric Schmidt and Steve Jobs had to intervene. Yeah, it's like that. Speaking of Eric Schmidt, he was in Davos this week, and he had some choice words for reporters on Google's competition -- and it's not Facebook. "Microsoft has more cash, more engineers, more global reach. We see competition from Microsoft every day," says Eric, while Facebook "has clearly stated they don't want to get into the search business. Facebook users tend to use Google search." As for Apple, he gave the usual line about both partnering with and competing with Cupertino, while taking a moment to laud Steve Jobs as "the most successful CEO in the world anywhere," who's built an "elegant, scalable, closed system" while "Google is attempting to do something with a completely different approach." Spoken like a true frenemy, we suppose. Check out the source links to read both pieces.
Google: Chrome OS laptops won't dual boot with Windows, live customer support for Cr-48 owners
We know there's a lot to digest after Google's Chrome OS event today, but following the shindig we caught a few minutes with Google VP of Product Management Sundar Pichai. While he wouldn't answer our questions about upcoming Chrome OS laptops -- you know, the ones coming from partners such as Acer and Samsung in mid-2011 -- he did tell us that those Atom-powered laptops won't dual boot Windows. In fact, he told us that "certified" Chrome OS laptops won't support dual boot environments at all. Of course, the Cr-48 has a root feature so it will likely be able to run Windows (assuming there's enough flash storage), but it's clear that major manufacturers won't be shipping laptops with Google and Microsoft operating systems living side by side. With that said, we asked Sundar about one of the major concerns we've had about Chrome OS: customer support. (Some history here -- we've heard from a few laptop manufacturers that Google's lack of customer service for the computer OS is a major issue and a legitimate reservation). Sundar said that it's a valid concern, but that the OS is incredibly simple and that Google doesn't expect to have many confused or troubled customers when it's ready for primetime. Nevertheless, Google will provide live support for those that receive a Cr-48 and help with any and all issues. No word on if that aid will continue past this limited pilot program, but we're sure there will be more much more to come on all of this next year.
