Google’s Osterloh Looks to Get Jump on Apple With Earlier Launch

tech.hindustantimes.com:

With its hardware event on Tuesday, Alphabet Inc.'s Google is trying to outshine Apple's annual iPhone launch — and is letting longtime executive Rick Osterloh take center stage.

Osterloh, the former president of Motorola who joined Google in 2016, will helm the first major product launch after the company this year unified under his leadership the teams developing hardware and the Android operating system. The reorganization expanded Osterloh's influence in the company and signaled that Google intends to compete in hardware for the long term.

In a sign of a more aggressive push into consumer devices, Google moved up its annual flagship Pixel smartphone launch to August from October, preempting the next Apple Inc. iPhone debut and seizing attention during a typically quiet period for the industry.

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“For the first time, I feel Alphabet is taking its hardware and the smartphone side pretty seriously,” said Mandeep Singh, an analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence. “That is a reflection of Rick's leadership and what he has done.”

Google has invested heavily in its Pixel line, including designing its own chip, sponsoring NBA playoffs games and handing devices to superstar players like Giannis Antetokounmpo. And yet, it continues to trail Apple at the high end of the market. Android partner Samsung Electronics Co. has locked up much of the rest of that segment in the US, leaving little room for insurgents, even ones as influential as Google.

Tough competition hasn't slowed the rise of Osterloh's star within Google, and handing him unilateral control of the company's consumer offerings — at the expense of Hiroshi Lockheimer, who previously oversaw Android — may be a move to ensure Google can capitalize on the current push to monetize AI through devices.

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“The scope of Osterloh's role is considerable. It not only