Andy Rubin hasn’t given anybody any leeway to say for completely certain just what he and his gaggle of tech superheroes are up to, but earlier reports that it’s something to do with the mobile world just gained some serious extra credence with the addition of Jason Mackenzie to Rubin’s crack team. Jason Mackenzie, for those who do not know, left HTC not too long ago after serving in various roles for over a decade, including executive vice president, and president of HTC’s American operations. Mackenzie took to Twitter to express his excitement at getting in on what is likely Rubin’s first untethered venture in the mobile sphere since his days as the founder of Danger, calling the secretive outfit the “Andy Rubin Stealth Startup”.
Mackenzie’s inclusion seems quite logical, given what evidence of Rubin’s activities has come to light thus far. It seems that they are creating a phone of some sort, and special, AI-first software to go with it, which may or may not be based on Google’s Android mobile operating system. The futuristic device is supposed to be unlike anything currently on the market. Beyond those tidbits, however, Rubin and his people have left the mobile-loving public very much in the dark regarding what they may be up to, what they’ll be doing alongside or after the phone, or what their endgame is.
Due to the mystery “Stealth Startup” confidently swaggering onto a crowded and high-intensity mobile scene, some are going as far as saying that Rubin and his crew may actually end up competing directly with Google and Apple for the mobile OS crown, though even knowing that alone is not a ton of information; Rubin himself has expressed a wide range of interests that could potentially translate into a successful business in the past, and is also the head of a venture funding house to help get ambitious startups in the tech sphere off the ground, known as Playground. The pieces are starting to come together as to just what Rubin may be up to, but a lot of information is still missing; thus far, we’re looking at a phone and matching ecosystem of some sort, heavily based around artificial intelligence, and that’s about all the concrete information anybody has.