Android creator nears comeback

A customer sets up his new iPhone 7 Plus. The iPhone has created a stir since its launch.

A customer sets up his new iPhone 7 Plus. The iPhone has created a stir since its launch.

Published Jan 16, 2017

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San Francisco - Just over two years after leaving Google,

Andy Rubin is preparing to take on the smartphone industry he helped create.

Rubin, creator of the Android operating system, is

planning to marry his background in software with artificial intelligence in a

risky business: consumer hardware. Armed with about a 40-person team, filled

with recruits from Apple and Alphabet’s Google, Rubin is preparing to announce

a new company called Essential and serve as its CEO, according to people

familiar with the matter. 

A platform company designed to tie multiple devices

together, Essential is working on a suite of consumer hardware products,

including ones for the mobile and smart home markets, one of the people

said. 

The centerpiece of the system is a high-end smartphone

with a large edge-to-edge screen that lacks a surrounding bezel. At the

Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in early January, Rubin

discussed the smartphone with mobile carrier executives, including some

from Sprint Corp., people familiar with the talks said.

Rubin registered Essential Products Inc. with California regulators

in November 2015. In late 2016, the company registered "Essential"

with the US Patent and Trademark Office, listing smartphones, tablets,

accessories and "computer operating software for mobile phones" among

its goods and services. It's unclear if the devices will run on software based

on Android. 

While still in the prototyping stage, Rubin's phone

is aimed at the top of the market where Apple’s iPhone and Alphabet’s new Pixel

reside. It's expected to include high-end materials and the ability to gain new

hardware features over time, the people said. Representatives for Rubin

and Sprint declined to comment.

Read also:  How smart is Google's new digital assistant?

Rubin sold Android to Google in 2005. He spent eight

years at its helm at Google, turning the operating system from a tiny

project into the globe's most dominant software for running mobile devices. In

2013, he stepped down from Android to form Google's robotics unit before

leaving altogether in 2014. Rubin's next venture was a startup incubator called

Playground Global, which backs artificial intelligence, robotics, and augmented

reality projects. 

Rubin is convinced AI is the next big change to

ripple through the technology industry. "New computing platforms happen

every 10 to 12 years," he said at the Bloomberg Technology Conference in

June. "What’s the next platform?... It’s about data and people training AI

systems to learn."

Talks

Playground Global, which occupies a sprawling

warehouse in Silicon Valley, has raised at least $300 million from

big investors including Hewlett-Packard, Google, and Apple

supplier Hon Hai Precision Industry. The latter, known as Foxconn, is in

talks to manufacture Rubin's new smartphone, according to people familiar with

the matter. 

At least one prototype of Rubin's phone boasts a screen

larger than the iPhone 7 Plus's (5.5-inches) but has a smaller overall

footprint because of the lack of bezels, one of the people said. The

startup is experimenting with enabling the phone's screen to sense different

levels of pressure, similar to an iPhone, the person said. Rubin's team is

testing an industrial design with metal edges and a back made of ceramic, which

is more difficult to manufacture than typical smartphone materials, two of the

people said. 

Essential's engineers are developing a proprietary

connector that serves double duty for charging the battery and expanding the

phone's functionality over time, one person familiar with the planning said.

The magnetic connector would allow Essential or even third parties to create

hardware accessories that add features to the smartphone. For instance, Rubin’s

engineers are working on a sphere-shaped camera add-on that shoots

high-resolution 360 degree photographs, the person said.

Read also:  PICS: Google targets Apple with Pixel phone

Rubin is aiming to put the phone on sale around the

middle of this year for a price close to that of an iPhone 7 ($649), a person

familiar with the matter said, adding that all of the plans are still in flux.

Technology news website The Information earlier reported Rubin was working on a

phone. 

Helping run the project are former Google colleagues

and Apple managers, including Rebecca Zavin, Joe Tate, Linda Jiang, and Jason

Keats. Zavin, a former senior Google software manager, is running software for

Rubin. Keats and Tate are helping run hardware engineering, and Jiang is a key

designer for Essential, according to a person familiar with the startup. Kelly

Liang, a former business executive with the Google X lab, is managing business

development and Brian Wallace, a former Samsung and Magic Leap executive, is

leading marketing.

BLOOMBERG

 

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