Andy Rubin reportedly looking to start a smartphone company

BY Rajesh Pandey

Published 3 Dec 2015

Andy_Rubin

Andy Rubin, the co-founder of Android, is reportedly looking to start a company that makes Android smartphones. It is, however, unclear as of now whether Rubin will himself be leading the company or simply looking to fund one.

Android was co-founded by Andy Rubin, Nick Sears and Chris White in October 2003. It was ultimately sold to Google in 2005, with Rubin leading the charge from the front inside the company. He left the company in 2014 and founded Playground Global, a hardware-focused incubator.

Rubin will be using funds from Playground Fund, part of Playground Global, a hardware startup incubator he founded after leaving Google last year to fund this company. Since its inception, Playground has raised around $300 million.

Thanks to the commoditization of smartphone components, it has become relatively easy for companies to enter into the smartphone market. However, with the fierce competition, most OEMs end up competing with each other on the price front that ultimately leads to their demise.

[Via The Information]