The story surrounding Motorola and Google just continues on it seems, despite the fact that Google sold much of Motorola Mobility to Lenovo back in 2014. Recently, news surfaced that Motorola’s Rick Osterloh, who left the firm earlier this year, would return to Google to head up a new hardware division at the Internet giant. Osterloh was instrumental at the “new Motorola” under Google as a lead product developer for key launches like the Moto X and Moto G that helped put Motorola back on the map. Now, he’s headed to Google to manage a hardware division that hopes to bring all of Google’s disparate hardware ventures under one division, giving them a focus. One initiative that isn’t technically all Google’s is Android One, and now that is set to be thrown into the mix for Osterloh’s new division.
According to Google’s own Mike Hayes, Android One “has become a part of the broader hardware strategy, under which Motorola’s Rick Osterloh has joined Google recently.” This would put Android One under the control of someone who has experience creating products, including budget-minded options like the Moto E and Moto G, so it makes sense to put Android One under Osterloh’s purview. While Android One hasn’t become the runaway success that Google was surely hoping it to become, it has helped get Android into the hands of more people. Hayes was specifically talking about the Indian market in the interview, where he says that deals with local vendors in the country such as Karbonn, Micromax and Spice are still valid and more devices are definitely on their way to market.
Android One is the sort of thing that Google will use to cement Android in a region, by making sure that those looking for the cheapest devices out there can get something running Android, and for the most part, it’s working. The first-generation of devices however did have some limitations, and hopefully these, as well as other issues will be ironed out in future releases. With Rick Osterloh now having a say in Android One, it’s possible that these devices will start to offer even more value, as the Moto E and Moto G have been praised for their great balance between features and price for a long time now.