Following some public outings and financial calls, questions arose concerning Larry Page’s health. When listening to Page, he sounded terrible; his voice was raspy and coarse, pausing for breath between each sentence. To sum it up, the tech world was sincerely worried about Google’s CEO. 

Larry took to his Google+ page earlier this morning, explaining his condition. Apparently, some time ago, Larry suffered from a terrible cold. It affected his voice, but once the cold went away, his voice never came back. After searching for answers, they discovered he suffers from left vocal cord paralysis, a “nerve problem that causes your left vocal cord to not move properly.”

Fast forward to last summer, Larry became ill with another bad cold. The same weakness he felt in his left vocal cord had began in his opposite vocal cord. Doctors are still unable to find a true cause, but Larry has been able to pull together and is able to continue his duties at Google and at home.

It’s great to hear that Larry is not actually ill, but we still send our positive vibes that Larry feels well and continues to do what he loves.

Via: +Larry Page

Larry Page Talks About Health Concerns, Gives Word There is Nothing to Worry Over is a post from: Droid Life

In one line of a report by the Korea Times, the world is now jumping to the idea that Google has already pegged LG as the creator of the next Nexus phone. Since LG produced the Nexus 4, they could easily create the next Nexus. Hell, even Samsung produced two Nexus phones in a row in the Nexus S and Galaxy Nexus, so it’s not out of the realm of possibility. The report comes as Larry Page stopped off to meet with LG CEO Koo Bon-joon in Korea to talk business. The report mentions specifically that the two met under low profile circumstances because “LG Group is working with Internet-giant Google to make another Nexus-branded Google Android smartphone.” So are they? 

Other than this report, we have no other leads that point towards LG producing the next Nexus, which many have already dubbed “Nexus 5.” One thing you should keep in mind, is the fact that we likely won’t see another phone made by Google until the end of 2013. Google has released Nexus phones during the holiday quarter for three straight years, so by no means do we expect to see a new Nexus phone at Google I/O in two weeks or at another time this summer.

LG certainly makes sense, though. The Nexus 4 has been a success if you consider that Google underestimated demand for it during the first few months of its release, leading to weeks and weeks of delays and limited availability. LG has also set personal records in terms of the amounts of smartphones it has shipped over the last quarter or so, thanks to innovative features and form factors of devices that match up nicely to what Samsung has been pushing. While we have a ways to go before we’ll know for sure if LG is making the next Nexus, they should stick on the short list of potential companies.

The meeting between Koo and Page reportedly also featured conversations about TVs and Google Glass.

Thoughts on LG producing the next Nexus? We know you’d rather have it be made by Motorola, but who would be your second choice?

Via:  Korea Times

Cheers Brad!

Rumor and a Half: Larry Page Meets With LG to Talk Next Nexus Phone is a post from: Droid Life

After yesterday’s big news that Andy Rubin was stepping down from the Android team, it seemed that things were changing internally at Google. Today, more switches have been made by Larry Page, who announced that the Mapping and Commerce divisions are no longer working together under one person. Senior VP Jeff Huber is stepping down from his position overseeing the two divisions, which will then merge with other Google entities.

Maps is going to work with the Search division, while commerce is heading for a union with the marketing people. The moves make sense, considering search and maps go well together and what is advertising for other than making money? Jeff Huber’s new position will be moving over to work at Google X, Google’s top-secret lab division.

Big stuff going down in Mountain View this week.

Via: BGR

Google Continues Internal Shake Ups, Mapping and Commerce Division Split Up is a post from: Droid Life

This morning, Google’s CEO Larry Page, announced that Andy Rubin will no longer lead the Android team. Andy has been the head of the Android project since the beginning and has watched as it has grown to running on more than 750 million devices worldwide. Taking the lead on the project going forward is Google vet, Sundar Pichai, who currently leads Chrome as well. 

Unfortunately, Mr. Page did not got into detail as to why exactly Rubin is leaving the team, but did mention that he is going to start a new chapter at Google. At least we know this is not a bad split or anything of that nature. This could be Rubin saying he has basically created the world’s most popular mobile OS and it’s time to conquer something else. We shall see.

Below is the full post from Larry Page.

Sergey and I first heard about Android back in 2004, when Andy Rubin came to visit us at Google. He believed that aligning standards around an open-source operating system would drive innovation across the mobile industry. Most people thought he was nuts. But his insight immediately struck a chord because at the time it was extremely painful developing services for mobile devices. We had a closet full of more than 100 phones and were building our software pretty much device by device. It was nearly impossible for us to make truly great mobile experiences.

Fast forward to today. The pace of innovation has never been greater, and Android is the most used mobile operating system in the world: we have a global partnership of over 60 manufacturers; more than 750 million devices have been activated globally; and 25 billion apps have now been downloaded from Google Play. Pretty extraordinary progress for a decade’s work. 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!

Going forward, Sundar Pichai will lead Android, in addition to his existing work with Chrome and Apps. Sundar has a talent for creating products that are technically excellent yet easy to use—and he loves a big bet. Take Chrome, for example. In 2008, people asked whether the world really needed another browser. Today Chrome has hundreds of millions of happy users and is growing fast thanks to its speed, simplicity and security. So while Andy’s a really hard act to follow, I know Sundar will do a tremendous job doubling down on Android as we work to push the ecosystem forward.

Today we’re living in a new computing environment. People are really excited about technology and spending a lot of money on devices. This is driving faster adoption than we have ever seen before. The Nexus program—developed in conjunction with our partners Asus, HTC, LG and Samsung—has become a beacon of innovation for the industry, and services such as Google Now have the potential to really improve your life. We’re getting closer to a world where technology takes care of the hard work—discovery, organization, communication—so that you can get on with what makes you happiest… living and loving. It’s an exciting time to be at Google.

Posted by Larry Page, CEO

Via: Google

Andy Rubin Steps Away From Android Team, Sundar Pichai to Take Charge is a post from: Droid Life

Google CEO Larry Page sat down for a lengthy interview with Wired recently that covered a number of big, broad topics. As one would expect, Android, Motorola, Google+, and competitors like Apple and Facebook highlight the conversation. Page, who typically holds back a bit, unlike former CEO Eric Schmidt,, seemed to open up a bit and even take a few subtle shots at some of his company’s foes. 

Most importantly to us, he talked about Motorola, a company we still aren’t sure what to expect from almost a year after being acquired by Google. The original question touched on the purchase as being patent-driven, but Page quickly turned it towards the products that we may soon see. Their goal is to make disruptive products in a similar way to what Google has done for years. He sees plenty of room for innovation when it comes to phone hardware.

Here is Page’s quote on Motorola:

As we said when we acquired Motorola, we’re running it independently, and Dennis Woodside is in charge. But that’s very much what we want to do with Motorola and what Dennis wants to do. There’s a lot of room for innovation in hardware. The phones we use now have glass that everyone worries will break if they drop the device. Five or 10 years from now, that will be different. There’s going to be a lot of change.

When asked about Steve Jobs’ threat to wage a thermonuclear war against Android, Page responded simply with:

How well is that working?

To be fair to Apple, we can’t completely dismiss their tactics for war. They were able to force HTC into a licensing deal and have also completed the first few steps in a process to get Samsung into paying them around $1 billion. Google may not have felt the wrath of Apple, but the companies using their software certainly have.

Last, the interview moved towards Google’s biggest online competitor, Facebook. Page mentioned that they are a strong competitor, but that Google feels it is doing something different with Google+. He also pointed out that he doesn’t believe Facebook is releasing quality products. In fact, he called them “bad” and then mentioned their competitors copying some of the things they have introduced with Google+.

It’s not the way I think about it. We had real issues with how our users shared information, how they expressed their identity, and so on. And, yeah, they’re a company that’s strong in that space. But they’re also doing a really bad job on their products. For us to succeed, is it necessary for some other company to fail? No. We’re actually doing something different. I think it’s outrageous to say that there’s only space for one company in these areas…

…I’m very happy with how it has gone. We’re working on a lot of really cool stuff. A lot of it has been copied by our competitors, so I think we’re doing a good job.

You can read the full interview over at Wired if you’d like.

Via:  Wired

Larry Page Talks Motorola’s Future Disruptive Products, Scoffs at Apple’s Thermonuclear War is a post from: Droid Life

We don’t see Larry Page, the Google CEO as much as we would like. He seems like a great guy, but he is rather shy when it comes to the media. I suppose we are far too accustomed to Eric Schmidt and all of the fantastic one liners he dishes out from time-to-time on the competition.

In a recent interview with Fortune, Larry Page was asked a plethora of questions that we as Android users and heavy Google users would find interesting. Everything from Google’s self-driving cars, a possible Motorola Nexus device, and the bets they have made with “Google X.” 

Below, we will cherry pick a few of the questions and his replies.

When you’re thinking about the next bet you’re going to make, how do you pick? 

That’s something we’ve been thinking about a lot. Unfortunately, there’s not a perfect science to that. Partly I feel that Google is in uncharted territory in the sense that I don’t think there’s an example from history I can take and say: “Why don’t we just do that?” We’re at a pretty big scale. We’re doing a lot of different things. We want to be a different kind of company.

You look at self-driving cars. You know a lot of people die, and there’s a lot of wasted labor. The better transportation you have, the more choice in jobs. And that’s social good. That’s probably an economic good. I like it when we’re picking problems like that: big things where technology can have a really big impact.

If we have automated cars, or even if we have some fraction of automated cars, we’ll save hundreds of millions of dollars on parking, just at Google. When you think about your experience, the car can drop you at the front door to the building you work at and then it goes and parks itself. Whenever you need it, your phone notices that you’re walking out of the building, and your car’s there immediately by the time you get downstairs.

I don’t know if this is unique at this time in this industry, but there are companies that are clearly competing with each other [Google, Apple, and Amazon], with completely different business models. 

I actually view that as a shame when you think about it that way. All the big technology companies are big because they did something great. I’d like to see more cooperation on the user side. The Internet was made in universities and it was designed to interoperate. And as we’ve commercialized it, we’ve added more of an island-like approach to it, which I think is a somewhat a shame for users.

So in light of that, Apple’s still a partner. It’s a competitor. You and Steve Jobs were friendly.
At times.

At times. You said that whole thing about Android and them being angry about it, that it was for show. 
I didn’t say that entirely. I said partly.

[Apple did it] partly for show, to get the troops to rally.
By the way, that’s something I try not to do. I don’t like to rally my company in that way because I think that if you’re looking at somebody else, you’re looking at what they do now, and that’s not how again you stay two or three steps ahead.

For a long time, Google was organized on a 70-20-10 model, with 70 percent of effort going to search and ads, 20 to apps, [and 10 to completely new projects]. Does that still apply?
Yeah. We still think about that. I think we’re in a bit of a unique point in the history of Google, where we have a number of things that are kind of in the 20 on the way to the 70. So where would you put Android? It’s probably in the 70 in terms of impact — the monetization is at an early stage.

What [else is] in the 20? 
It’s question of how you really measure it. I don’t think about exactly what we put in the 20, so I can’t come up with an example offhand.

There are some great products out of Motorola, but none of them are your signature Nexus line. Will you partner with Motorola for these sort of signature devices? How will you decide when to partner with them? And despite all your assurances to the other [Android] partners that you’re going to be neutral, aren’t they going to freak out [when you build a Motorola Nexus]?

First of all, I don’t think there’s any physical way we could have released a Nexus Motorola device in that sense. I mean, we haven’t owned the company long enough.

How will you decide when to do a Motorola Nexus device, and what do you tell Samsung and LG? 

I think there’s a lot of complexity in that question. Maybe I’ll talk more generally about that area. The right way to think about it is how do we get amazing products into users’ hands in the most cost-effective, highest quality way possible and to the most people. That’s what we do as a business, and that’s what we’ve done with Android.

Part of the reason why we’ve done Nexus devices in the past is that we want to build an amazing device that kind of showcases what’s possible on Android, gives a way for the programmers to get early builds, does a whole bunch of things that are important. Exactly what we do, which devices we do, what the timing is, how we release the software with them, all those things have been changing.

Every day we kind of evaluate how do we help our partners out the right way, how do we produce amazing innovative devices, and how do we get those out, and how do we get that innovation into the ecosystem and into the hands of as many people as possible, and how do we keep our partners happy. I think we’ve done a pretty good job of that so far.

If you like what you read, you should go check out the full interview by following the via.

Via: Fortune

Cheers Jason!

Google CEO Discusses Android, Apple, and a Motorola Nexus Device During Interview is a post from: Droid Life

After the shock of last week’s verdict against Samsung in the case against Apple, the Android scene as a whole has been a little uneasy. No one wants the same outcome to happen to their favored company and everyone seems to be waiting to see what happens next. Reports from Reuters however say that Apple and Google have been having talks behind the scenes, maybe making headway in the stand off we are at now. 

Google CEO Larry Page and Apple CEO Tim Cook picked up the phone last week and are discussing things relating to patents. According to this report, in-person meetings are potentially in the works, between the two giants. For now, neither company will comment on these rumors, but this could be big if the two companies did come to some sort of agreement.

Is it too good to be true?

Via: Reuters

Cheers everyone who sent this in!

Google’s Larry Page and Apple’s Tim Cook Talking Nuclear Patent Disarmament? is a post from: Droid Life

Recently at Zeitgeist 2012, Google CEO Larry Page gave a nice talk about Google, Android, and of course, those funky looking glasses he’s sporting. Page said he was really happy to be wearing a working pair of Google Glasses and that there is still a lot of work to be done on Project Glass. To see Larry and the Glasses in action, check out the full video down below – it’s actually quite the listen. 

Click here to view the embedded video.

Via: Android Community

Video: Larry Page Rocks Google Glasses at Zeitgeist 2012, Says “Android is on Fire” is a post from: Droid Life

While most of us hate the litany of lawsuits that have become commonplace in the tech industry, one positive result has been revelations from emails, recorded transcripts, and testimonies that would have undoubtedly remained under wraps. Without the Skyhook lawsuit we wouldn’t have nearly as many details about the Android device approval process. Apple and Samsung’s lawsuit pressured Apple to reveal that despite Steve Jobs’ nuclear reaction to Android as a product, he was willing to offer a licensing deal to Samsung (probably because Samsung provides so many parts for Apple).

Like the legal battles that preceded it, the Google/Oracle lawsuit has revealed more details about both companies. For example, apparently Oracle considered entering the smartphone race by buying RIM or Palm. The more troubling revelation to come out of this lawsuit came from none other than Google’s CEO, Larry Page: “I believe Android was very important for Google. I wouldn’t say it was critical.”

Page was responding to the question of whether or not Android was critical to Google’s strategy in 2010. While Page might have a different response for Android’s importance in 2012, it’s hard to believe that Google’s CEO does not think Android was critical to Google’s success two years ago. By 2010 Android had become one of the dominant mobile operating systems on the market. Page certainly knew that having a successful mobile strategy is essential to controlling the future of the company, so why would he think that Android was not critical? In what world would Google’s future be secure without Android?

The idea that Android was not a critical asset to Google in 2010 raises the question of Android’s importance to Google in 2012. The implication is that Page believed Google could still be successful if Android wasn’t on the market. Obviously since 98% of Google’s revenues come from search advertisements, Google’s immediate financial future will be secure for some time. Google would have been able to remain profitable without Android on the market, but it wouldn’t be able to secure control of their products’ future in the mobile market without their own mobile operating system.

Earlier this month Page tried to soften the enmity between Google and Apple by claiming that Steve Jobs didn’t really hate Android and was only trying to rally Apple around a common enemy. Having read Jobs’ biography and his biographer’s response to Page’s claim, I have serious doubts about Page’s version of the story. This, coupled with his more recent statements, however, leads me to believe that Page is trying to downplay Android’s importance to Google’s future in order to defend it. If Page can convince people that Android isn’t important to Google, its competitors may be more inclined to ignore it. It’s totally possible that Android is still more akin to a hobby at Google, but surely Page doesn’t believe Chrome OS is the future of the company.

Page knows that mobile is the future, which means that Android is Google’s ticket to relevancy in the next ten years. If people keep seeing Google’s dependence on Android, Google competitors will continue to attack it. Oracle decided to just sue Google instead of buying RIM or Palm to actually compete. Apple is suing Google’s partners instead of trusting that the market will let the best product win. There’s a reason why companies like Oracle and Apple are suing Google over Android: they know that the future is mobile, so by taking down Android they can take down Google.

I’m not sure why Page has decided that he needs to put Android on the defensive by trying to minimize its importance, but maybe that sort of deception will work on most people. Maybe Google’s competitors will believe that Android isn’t absolutely essential to Google’s strategy in a world that is constantly continuing its march towards mobile computing. I think Google’s competitors will see right through Page’s rhetoric. Page would do better to acknowledge that Android has been and continues to be more than a critical asset to the company – it is the company’s future. Pretending that Android isn’t critical to Google isn’t fooling anyone.

Android is Google’s Future [Opinion] is a post from: Droid Life

During Google’s Q1 2012 earnings call that just wrapped up this afternoon, CEO Larry Page was asked a number of questions about Android and tablets. His answer to one in particular could be a bit of foreshadowing for what we will see from them in the future. As you all know, rumors of a $199 Google branded tablet have dominated the rumor mill over the last month, and Page essentially echoed the feeling that it would be incredibly successful if done right. 

He said:

There has been a lot of success on some lower priced tablets that run Android. Maybe not the full Google version of Android, but we definitely have a belief that there is going to be a lot of success at the lower end of the market as well, with lower priced products that will be very significant. And it’s definitely an area we think is important and are quite focused on.

While he didn’t specifically mention that they have a product in the works, he did say that they are expecting there to be “significant” players coming along. Is he referring to the $199 tablet we mentioned above that has reportedly been delayed until July?

Larry Page: We are “Quite Focused” on the Lower Priced Tablet Market is a post from: Droid Life

“Thermonuclear war.” I believe that was the quoted distance Steve Jobs was willing to go to “right this (Android) wrong.” As it may turn out, the late Steve Job’s hate for Google’s operating system could have simply been for show. In an interview with Bloomberg’s Business Week, Google’s CEO Larry Page discussed his relationship with the late Jobs before he passed away:

I think the Android differences were actually for show. I had a relationship with Steve. I wouldn’t say I spent a lot of time with him over the years, but I saw him periodically. Curiously enough, actually, he requested that meeting. He sent me an e-mail and said: “Hey, you want to get together and chat?” I said, “Sure, I’ll come over.” And we had a very nice talk. We always did when we had a discussion generally.

He was quite sick. I took it as an honor that he wanted to spend some time with me. I figured he wanted to spend time with his family at that point. He had a lot of interesting insights about how to run a company and that was pretty much what we discussed.

We can imagine Steve being quite worked up over something like Android in the beginning, but I think near the end, Jobs had more important things on his mind besides blowing all of Apple’s cash on destroying Android. Now that Apple has a new healthy and fearless leader in Tim Cook, we can look forward to future lawsuits and drama surrounding these two tech giants.

What is your take on it? Could Jobs’ hate for the Android OS been partially exaggerated to sell some books?

Via: Bloomberg

Google CEO Larry Page: Steve Job’s Differences With Android Were For Show is a post from: Droid Life

Moments ago on Google’s Q3 earnings call, CEO Larry Page dropped a quote that should spark an entertaining conversation in the comments. He said, “You won’t believe what we managed to get done in this release.“ While we have seen parts of Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) through a couple of leaked videos, you get the feeling that the Android team is going to surprise the hell out of us with something.

Care to take a guess at what he is referring to? We know that ICS will bring a Honeycomb-like UI to phones that lacks physical buttons, but what else are you expecting to see? Full Google+ integration? New features built into the stock camera app? A better voice-to-talk app like Apple’s Siri? A built-in bloody mary machine?

It will all become official next Tuesday night, but we would love to hear your thoughts now.

Larry Page: “You won’t believe what we managed to get done in this release [Ice Cream Sandwich]“ is a post from: Droid Life