In a surprise, Google shook up the executive leadership running Android last week.
Android founder Andy Rubin is out, moving to other projects in Google, while Chrome leader Sundar Pichai is now in charge.
Android is Google's mobile software. Chrome is Google's desktop software. Now Pichai runs both.
Pichai has a tough act to follow. Under Rubin, Android went from being a funky open source project to the world's biggest mobile operating system with 70 percent of the market, according to research firm Gartner.
In the simplest of terms, Pichai's main job is to not screw things up. But, in a market as dynamic and quickly evolving as the mobile market, it's not so easy to simply not screw up.
Pichai has to confront a bunch of issues gnawing at Android as well as figure out what's next.
We're going to walk through all the big issues we see with Android as Pichai takes the reins.
Samsung is getting very powerful
This has become one of the biggest cliches in the mobile space, but it doesn't mean it's not true: Samsung is eating the Android brand alive. At its last launch event Samsung didn't mention Google once. And why would it? Samsung's smartphone business is more profitable than all of Google.
Right now, Samsung is a friend. It could quickly turn into a frenemy, and then a foe. Pichai needs to make a decision about what he thinks of Samsung and how to handle it from here on in.
Make a decision on Google branded hardware
Google has released one Nexus phone a year. And last year it did two Nexus tablets. Pichai leads Chrome, which just made its own laptop. Does he want to go deeper with hardware? Or does he want to ease back and let Motorola do Google's hardware? If he wants to do Google hardware, how does it square with Motorola, or Samsung for that matter?
When does Android start making real money?
Google says Android is profitable. It's never been very specific about what that means, but we sense it's not making a lot of money as a standalone product. It's on 750 million devices around the world. At some point, Android should be making big profits for Google. Pichai has to figure it out.
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