Someone is coming back to Google. When Motorola was acquired by Lenovo, Rick Osterloh went with the new company but decided to quit only last month. We just learned that he has come back to Mountain View to join Google and head a new hardware division. That sounds like a big loss for Motorola-Lenovo and another win for the Internet giant.
The ex-Motorola Chief is being given another chance to lead a team in Google. It’s said to be a new hardware division that is expected to start new projects soon. If you’re not familiar with the guy, Motorola under Google’s wing became a success with his help. When Lenovo acquired Motorola, he moved to the new company as part of the deal. The acquisition was completed last month and then he decided to leave.
There’s no formal announcement yet by Google but Osterloh will be reporting to Google CEO Sundar Pichai as a new Senior Vice President. We’re guessing that Google execs are happy with this homecoming because finally, someone who knows his job will run the hardware division. Rick Osterloh was named as COO and President of Motorola Mobility last April 2014. We knew him as that guy who responded to the veiled criticism from Apple’s Jonny Ive last year. Earlier this 2016, he cleared up some branding changes for the company and said that Motorola Mobility will continue to exist as a company and will be part of the Lenovo phone business.
As part of his new job description, Osterloh will lead a hardware division that includes the Nexus, Chromecast, OnHub, consumer hardware like Chromebooks and Pixel C, Glass, and ATAP. The last group, Advanced Technology and Projects, includes the (still unfinished) Project Ara plus other experimental hardware lab projects. Osterloh will work with Android SVP Hiroshi Lockheimer on the Nexus. Meanwhile, OnHub will now be under Google moving from Alphabet’s Access company. As for the Glass, the Project Aura will now be headed by the new SVP, replacing Nest CEO’s Tony Fadell.
This shake-up in Google’s hardware division is huge. Rick Osterloh proved that his expertise in Motorola, what with the impressive Moto phones we’ve seen in the past few years. We know Google made the right decision to keep him, errr…get him back.
VIA: Re/Code
