In his inaugural letter, Google CEO Sundar Pichai wrote how the concept of ‘device’ will fade away. But that doesn’t seem to be happening anytime soon, since the tech giant is making a significant leap from software to devices.
The search engine’s parent company, Alphabet has created a new division within Google to design hardware devices, reported Re/code.
Who will be the new boss?
Google has roped in the former Motorola president and CEO Rick Osterloh to lead the new hardware division. He had departed Google when it sold Motorola to Lenovo. And now Osterloh will join the company as senior vice president and will report to CEO Sundar Pichai.
Why this restructuring?
The ultimate purpose is to bring and consolidate all of Google’s various, disparate hardware initiatives under one roof. The move is also said to be prompted by the departure of one of its hardware chiefs, Regina Dugan (who ran its Advanced Technology and Project group ), who joined Facebook.
The new division will include:
- Will include Nexus, the company’s Android phone division, the streaming television device Chromecast, and other consumer devices such as Chromebook laptops and the Pixel C.
- The new division will take over Google’s Advanced Technologies and Projects (ATAP) lab. ATAP had previously been responsible for developing some of the company’s more experimental projects such as Project Ara (modular mobile phones) and Project Tango.
- The new hardware department will also be responsible for developing OnHub, Google’s wireless home router, and the wearable tech platform Google Glass.
Virtual reality will continue to act as a separate unit and will absorb some of the projects that had been under development by ATAP.