Google is changing in big ways with its Pixel and Android teams set to merge. With Artificial Intelligence (AI) taking over at the Alphabet-owned company, CEO Sundar Pichai announced that there will be a substantial internal reorganisation.
He even sent a memo highlighting that the teams working on Android, Chrome and Chrome OS will be merged with the group responsible for Pixel hardware and Nest devices. As per 9to5Google, this is what the memo reads – “To truly drive computing forward, we need to do it at the intersection of hardware, software and AI. So we are formalizing the collaboration between DSPA and P&E and bringing the teams together in a new PA called Platforms & Devices”.
Sundar Pichai believes that this merger will likely result in the development of higher-quality products. The newly formed team at Google will be spearheaded by Rick Osterloh, previously the SVP of Devices and Services. On the other hand, the company’s longtime head of Android, Chrome and ChromeOS Hiroshi Lockheimer will take charge of other projects within Google and Alphabet.
Speaking exclusively to The Verge, both Rick Osterloh and Hiroshi Lockheimer cleared up the air about potential internal conflicts that might have led to these massive changes. They talked about how they had been friends and colleagues for decades.
Osterloh and Lockheimer further revealed that both of them had proposed the idea of a merger to Sundar Pichai two years ago and it felt like now was the ideal time to carry forward their proposal.
https://www.theverge.com/2024/
In the same interview, Rick Osterloh highlighted how Google had studiously separated its hardware efforts from the broader Android ecosystem to prevent additional privileges for the company’s devices or complicate relationships with tech brands like Samsung. “We have always kept distinct teams between Android and our ecosystem and partners, and our partners”, he said. However, Osterloh believes this reorganisation within Google will likely signal an end of the firewall between Pixel and Android.
Speaking further to The Verge, Rick Osterloh also highlighted that AI was the primary reason behind this massive shake-up. “This is not a secret, right?…[Consolidating teams] helps us to be able to do full-stack innovation when that’s necessary”, he said. Osterloh further used the example of the Pixel camera to elaborate his point. “I think that hardware/software/AI integration really showed how AI could totally transform a user experience”, he concluded.
Concluding the interview, Rick Osterloh said that his priorities hadn’t changed. According to him, the plan is to just make everything faster. This includes updating Google’s devices more often as the AI model improves. He also aims for the company to nimbly launch new products instead of miring everything in process and bureaucracy.
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