Andy Rubin steps down as head of Android

Rubin stepped aside as head of Android on eve of Samsung Galaxy IV launch.

18:05 14 March 2013

In a shocking revelation, Google has announced on Wednesday that Andy Rubin, the father of Android, is stepping down after a seven-year stint in the job. The announcement came on the eve of Samsung Galaxy IV launch in New York.

However, it seems that Rubin will remain with the company although his new position wasn’t revealed yet.

Sundar Pichai, the executive overseeing Chrome web browser and applications, was appointed by Google to take Andy Rubin’s place.

Google’s chief executive and co-founder announced Rubin’s action saying: "Having exceeded even the crazy ambitious goals we dreamed of for Android — and with a really strong leadership team in place — Andy's decided it's time to hand over the reins and start a new chapter at Google. Andy, more moonshots please!"

Experts in tech industry consider this change as extremely significant as they think that this could mean replacing Android OS with Chrome’s operating system.

Following the surprising news, the tech’s giant’s share price fell by $2.30 on Wednesday, closing at $825.31.