Android co-founder Andy Rubin exits Google for startup land

Andy Rubin, who created Google's Android mobile OS, has resigned.

Rubin's departure, which has been confirmed by Google, was first reported by The Wall Street Journal and The Information. According to both websites, he will be moving on to create an incubator for hardware startups.

Rubin, who was until now head of the company's robotics division, joined Google in 2005 to work on Android. Under his stewardship, the mobile OS division grew from a startup project into the behemoth it is today.

In December last year, he left his role as head of Android to focus on the company's nascent robotics business and was replaced by Sundar Pichai, who is reported to be Google's new CEO.

Rubin began his engineering career working in robotics and, according to The New York Times has "a well-known passion for building intelligent machines".

In a statement, Google's co-founder and CEO, Larry Page, said: "I want to wish Andy all the best with what's next. With Android he created something truly remarkable-with a billion plus happy users. Thank you."

Both The Wall Street Journal and The Information have said James Kuffner, currently a research scientist at Google, will be taking over from Rubin, although the company hasn't confirmed this.

This article originally appeared at pcpro.co.uk