We’re live at AllThingsD‘s D11 Conference where newly appointed head of Android (formerly head of Chrome and Apps) Sundar Pichai will be interviewed. You can follow our complete live blog below at 8:30 AM Pacific/11:30 AM Eastern:
– Android VP Hugo Barra is in the first row.
Walt: Why are you now in charge of Android?
Sundar: Andy deciding to step-back is why the changes were set in motion. The ability to bring Chrome and Android closer was a good opportunity for integrating user-expierience.
Walt: Would you ever combine the two OSs?
Sundar: I see a huge opportunity ahead. We feel fortunate to have two platforms doing well. For now, we’re sticking to both platforms.
Walt: Asking about Android’s out of the box experience with fragmentation.
<a href="https://twitter.com/joannastern/status/340132646053097472">Image taken by Joanna Stern</a>
Sundar: We’re going to work further with these other software makers for Android. The Galaxy S4 with stock Android is a step in this direction. Pichai just announced stock-Android HTC One. Unlocked via Google Play. $599. June 26th alongside S4.
Walt: I think that Andy probably imagined Android as successful, and the idea would be that a bunch of hardware partners would be successful. But now, Samsung is taking most of the Android hardware profits.
Sundar: Samsung is a very close partner, we owe a lot of our success in Android to them. Samsung has been hugely successful in mobile… most of their phones are Android-based. The relationship is symbiotic.
Sundar: I think a lot of the reasons why Google is so successful is because of our cloud services like Maps and YouTube. We’re working hard on newer services like that. Like Google Now, Gmail, etc. Innovation lies in scaling the cloud services well.
Walt: I find it interesting that you do many services for iOS.
Sundar: Part of our mission is to make our products universal. We want to make sure our products and services on all platforms. Google Play Music coming to iOS in a few weeks.
Walt: What will we see at D16? Will it all be wearables?
Sundar: I think of computing becoming pervasive… cars, wearables, etc. It is pretty obvious that there will be computing around people in homes, for example. We’re only scratching the surface with sensors. Could impact health with bio-sensors. We intend to be in the software area for this. But we still want to drive innovation in hardware.
Walt: Motorola?
Sundar: I’m excited about the next 12 months including the Moto X. Motorola is a partner just like Samsung, even though they are owned by Google.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Comments