Andy Rubin, co-founder of the Android mobile business and head of its robotics effort is leaving Google.
According to a statement from Google, Rubin will start a company to support startups interested in building technology-hardware products.
It is possible that Rubin is getting a little bored. Last year, Google’s browser and applications chief Sundar Pichai replaced Rubin as head of the Android division, bringing the firm’s mobile software, applications and Chrome browser under one roof.
Android was pretty much Rubin’s baby having built it into a free, open-source software platform now used by most of the world’s largest handset manufacturers. He switched from that role to lead a series of robotics acquisitions for Google in 2013.
Word on the street is that Rubin likes to run his own show and was facing constraints on his activities at Google. However, Rubin himself has said that he did not really have any problems with independence at Google and left because he wanted to do something new on his own.
