One of the famous four that brought the Android platform to life is looking to further his influence on the OS – how? By making his own smartphone. An engineer by occupation, Andy Rubin has been around; he’s graced Car Zeiss, Apple, MSN, Google and of course, Android Inc. Interestingly, a report from The Information has the long lost granddaddy of all things Android calling for a recruitment drive for individuals to join his revisited escapade.
A year plus after taking his leave from Google, it’s apparent that his brainchild Playground Global will finally start giving back to his own causes. The aforementioned start-up by Rubin serves as a tech hatchery of sorts; enabling those wanting to start their own thing but don’t have the resources, mentorship and funding to make it happen.
The Fund itself, managed to raise roughly US$ 300 million from investments by Google (no duh), Hewlett-Packard aka HP, Seagate and others. Leveraging on his venture capital experiences with Redpoint Ventures (where he is a partner), as for now, his cash flow has been streaming to artificial intelligence and smart home segments. Though the aforementioned report states that Rubin still sees the opportunity to enter the Android smartphone market.
Folks at the Verge seems to think that the dynamics of the low to midrange market is too volatile to enter, with manufactures popping up every now and then. Thus, maybe his best bet is to make a premium device that’ll hope to take a slice away from the Apple pie.
The inhibitors of Mountain View might have something to say about that, since Google themselves have been reported to be working on their own hardware; all the pieces seem to be lining up quite well for the former head of Android Inc. And a possible return to the smartphone scene might amount to a foreseeable re-entry at Google.
Jumping at any opportunity to make something great, Rubin has touched the lives of many, even if we fail to realise it. As the master of surprises and all things Android, should we expect anything less from him?
