Andrew E. "Andy" Rubin (born 1963) is an American computer programmer, engineer, entrepreneur, and venture capitalist. He is the founder and CEO of tech startup incubator Playground Global and a partner at venture capital firm Redpoint Ventures. He is the co-founder and former CEO of both Danger Inc. and Android Inc. He was Senior Vice President of Mobile and Digital Content at Google until March 2013, where he oversaw development of Android, an open-source operating system for smartphones. Rubin has seventeen patents for his inventions.
On 13 March 2013, Larry Page announced in a blog post that Andy Rubin had moved from the Android division to take on new projects at Google. He was replaced by Sundar Pichai, who now serves as Google's CEO. In December 2013, Rubin was called to manage the robotics division of Google (which includes companies bought by Google, such as Boston Dynamics). On 30 October 2014 he left Google after nine years at the company to start an incubator for hardware startups.
Playground Global is a tech incubator that provides resources, mentorship and funding to startups making hardware devices. Rubin founded the company in 2015 along with Peter Barrett, Matt Hershenson and Bruce Leak. Playground Global has raised $48 million from investors including Google, Hewlett-Packard Co., electronics manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Tencent Holdings Ltd., Redpoint Ventures, and Seagate Technology PLC.
Rubin, born in 1962, grew up in Chappaqua, New York, the son of a psychologist who later founded his own direct-marketing firm. His father's firm created photographs of the latest electronic gadgets to be sent with credit card bills. Rubin ran a computer bulletin board system in his youth.
Horace Greeley High School in Chappaqua, New York 1977–1981.
Utica College, Utica, New York Bachelor of Science degree in computer science 1981–1986.
Carl Zeiss AG, robotics engineer, 1986–1989.
Apple Inc., manufacturing engineer, 1989–1992.
General Magic, engineer, 1992–1995. An Apple spin-off where he participated in developing Magic Cap, an operating system and interface for hand-held mobile devices.
MSN TV, engineer, 1995–1999. When Magic Cap failed, Rubin joined Artemis Research, founded by Steve Perlman, which became WebTV and was eventually acquired by Microsoft.
Danger Inc., co-founder, 1999–2003. Founded with Matt Hershenson and Joe Britt. The firm is most notable for the Danger Hiptop, branded for T-Mobile as the Sidekick, which is a phone with PDA-like abilities. The firm was later acquired by Microsoft in February 2008.
Android Inc., co-founder 2003–2005.
Google, 2005–2014: Senior Vice President in charge of Android for most of his tenure. Since December 2013, managing the robotics division of Google (which includes companies bought by Google, such as Boston Dynamics).
Playground Global, 2014 - present: Founder.
Redpoint Ventures, 2015 - present: Partner.
Andrew Rubin (or as Andrew E. Rubin or Andy Rubin) is named as an inventor in seventeen U.S. Patents:
U.S. Patent 6,701,522, Apparatus and method for portal device authentication, 2000 Apr 7, Assignee: Danger Inc.
U.S. Patent 6,735,624, Method for configuring and authenticating newly delivered portal device, 2000 Apr 7, Assignee: Danger Inc.
U.S. Patent 6,721,804, Portal system for converting requested data into a bytecode format based on..., 2000 Nov 15, Assignee: Danger Inc.
U.S. Patent 8,099,144, Electronic device with hinge mechanism, 2007 Aug 20, Assignee: Google Inc.
U.S. Patent 8,065,508, Activating applications based on accelerometer data, 2008 Nov 10, Assignee: Google Inc.
U.S. Patent 8,271,413, Providing digital content based on expected user behavior, 2008 Nov 25, Assignee: Google Inc.
U.S. Patent 8,260,998, Wireless communication with a dock, 2010 Oct 28, Assignee: Google Inc.
U.S. Patent 8,179,095, Estimating remaining use time of a mobile device, 2011 Jun 10, Assignee: Google Inc.
U.S. Patent 7,960,945, Estimating remaining use time of a mobile device, 2011 Jun 14, Assignee: Google Inc.
U.S. Patent 8,260,999, Wireless communication with a dock, 2011 Sep 30, Assignee: Google Inc.
U.S. Patent 8,464,036, Activating applications based on accelerometer data, 2011 Oct 20, Assignee: Google Inc.
U.S. Patent 8,438,373, Activating applications based on accelerometer data, 2011 Oct 21, Assignee: Google Inc.
U.S. Patent 8,285,250, Mobile device-based bandwidth throttling, 2011 Oct 27, Assignee: Google Inc.
U.S. Patent 8,488,778, Electronic device with hinge mechanism, 2012 Jan 3, Assignee: Google Inc.
U.S. Patent 8,437,738, Mobile device-based bandwidth throttling, 2012 Jun 7, Assignee: Google Inc.
U.S. Patent 8,442,484, Mobile device-based bandwidth throttling, 2012 Sep 13, Assignee: Google Inc.
U.S. Patent 8,437,736, Mobile device-based bandwidth throttling, 2012 Sep 13, Assignee: Google Inc.
