Pixel chief says not having a billion installs is actually an advantage

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Pixel chief says not having a billion installs is actually an advantage
Ric Osterloh, the former Motorola executive who is now in charge of Google's Pixel division, was interviewed by Stratechery following Tuesday's successful "Made by Google" event. Many are saying that the event showed how far ahead Google is in AI compared to Apple. It also put immense pressure on Apple to fix up Siri with Apple Intelligence or else Gemini Live, like Google Assistant before it, will leave iPhone users with a second-rate virtual assistant once again.

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For phone nerds, the interview is fun to read especially since Osterloh has been with major players at key moments. He was with Motorola when the Moto X (2014) was released in 2015 and at the time he called it, "the best Android smartphone in the world" (although our review of the phone at the time certainly didn't agree!). In 2016, Osterloh had joined Google to run the hardware unit.


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The executive repeated an interesting anecdote about what happened right after he joined Google. He asked to meet the Pixel hardware team and discovered that it was just two guys. He also brings out an interesting point which is that Google's relationship with Samsung is very important to the company and that Android has to be able to work on more than just Pixel devices. Google even rolled out Gemini Live to Samsung devices alongside Pixel handsets before Tuesday's event.

Trying to take the Pixel line from a proof-of-concept for Android to a flagship smartphone line that competes with Apple and Samsung is still a work in progress. The Pixel line does not make the top five global smartphone brands. Osterloh was asked whether Pixel buyers are coming over over from Samsung and he surprisingly said that very few are switching to a Pixel from a Galaxy device.


He did say that it is easier not to have to work on a product with a large install base which includes the Pixel. "Well, I think, generically, it has both pros and cons to be a challenger and a new entrant versus someone that has a really large install base and has to be careful," Osterloh stated. "Various aspects of Google have this dynamic too. It’s very, very difficult to change things at a billion-user scale versus a much smaller scale for our newer products."

This means that the Pixel team can deliver more innovations and changes every year without having to worry that these changes are affecting a billion users who are used to using their phones in a certain way.

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