Google's Android VP Is Poached By Chinese Firm


Bangalore: Google has lost a top executive from its Android management team to the fast-rising Chinese Smartphone maker Xiaomi. Hugo Barra, vice-president for Android product management, has tended his resignation after a five years stint at Google in favor of Chinese firm for his position as vice president of Xioami's global operations, reports Tech Hub.

Barra joined Google in March of 2008, and rose through the company’s ranks, going from group product manager to vice president of Android product management, leading Android product team, overseeing development of the operating system and the Google apps that run on it.

He has been one of the more public faces at Google press events and at its annual I/O developer conference. It was Barra who showed off the Nexus 7 tablet at its recent launch in San Francisco.

 Xiaomi, a lower-cost rival to Samsung Electronics and Apple, makes Smartphones that run a customized version of the Android. Its Smartphones are priced as low as $130, is one of the leading Smartphone makers in China, where the lower-end devices has been booming. Often compared to Apple for its ability to build hype around its brand, it has ambitions to expand further into digital services, such as games.

Sundar Pichai, the Android chief, congratulated Barra on his new job on Google+ post, while Barra posted that he would be join the Xioami team in China "in a few weeks" to help expand its “product portfolio and business globally” as the vice president of Xioami's global operations.

Barra's resignation is rumored to be because of breaking relationship with a Google employee who is said to be dating the company's co-founder, Sergey Brin, According to All Things D.

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