To: pyslent who wrote (27244 ) 9/15/2013 7:17:18 PM From: sylvester80 Respond to Hugo Barra discusses his move to Xiaomi, and why he left Google Nate Swanner on September 12, 2013 2:02 pmandroidauthority.com a recent interview with Kara Swisher of All Things D, Hugo Barra was candid about his involvement with Xiaomi, and his reasons for leaving Google. Barra discussed all kinds of things from why the Chinese device manufacturer is so impressive, to his transparent exit strategy from Google.Xiaomi, was a Googler himself. Barra met him while in Beijing for a strategy summit, when both worked for Google. Barra was working on Google’s mobile efforts in Europe, and Lin ran mobile engineering in China for the Mountain View powerhouse. As Barra moved to Mountian View to join the Android team, he found himself particularly interested in what Xiaomi was up to. “I had a keen interest in what they were doing, and what they were doing was pretty phenomenal.” “At first, their questions were, ‘How do you think we should go about expanding internationally?’ And that evolved into, ‘Maybe you should come help us,’” recalled Barra. Lin wanted someone to lead their global expansion, and who better than the guy who had become the face of the Android device market?working with Bin at Xiaomi, too. He felt they had a “similar DNA”, and a team he was already familiar with. While Google was understandably sad to see him go, but Barra notes “I think it came down to, if you’re going to lose someone from the team, you might as well lose them to a friend.”“If I do my job right, in a few years, the world will be talking about Xiaomi in the same way that they talk about Google and Apple today.”
