Elijah Ketchum
Today Robert Scoble, a very tech-engaged icon who never shies away from a good rumor, posted an update on his Google+ that claimed that Andy Rubin, the founder of Android, would be leaving Google. Yes, Google I/O is just a few days away, and yes, Rubin leaving would mean a huge overhaul of I/O and likely result in an event no one would have predicted, but Scoble posted it nonetheless. Scoble claimed that Andy would be leaving to take charge of a startup called CloudCar that Rubin is closely tied to, but this has been proved to be false. Rubin did give CloudCar space in his startup incubator, but that is as far as the relationship goes at this point. Now, maybe Rubin wouldn’t have left before I/O, and it’s likely that such a parting would take place after Google’s key annual event, but still this news would have sent shock waves through the foundation of the Android/Google community.
However, posting his eleventh tweet since joining Twitter, today Rubin announced that he had “no plans to leave Google” after all. Rubin didn’t stop there though, no, his eleventh tweet had to have more substance–more pizazz. He also dropped the 900,000 number for Android activations per day, a number which is higher than the previous 850,000 that was revealed at MWC. This not only proves that Android’s growth is still climbing, but it also gives us an understanding of something else Rubin may have been trying to imply. Why would he leave Android now, at its peak. Well, maybe because of the famous “what goes up has got to come down” logic, but Apple has definitely proved that wrong thus far. Either way, Rubin is here to stay…for now, that is.