We’re in a Sundar Pichai moment.
It’s the week of Google’s big annual I/O conference and at its center is the man in charge of the vast Android platform and the increasingly powerful Chrome division, whose browser is the world leader. He’s on the cover of Bloomberg Business Week and The Information is touting him as next in Google’s line of CEO succession, a characterization he took pains to dismiss. He was the ringmaster of a keynote presentation that unveiled the “L” release of the Android phone platform; Android variants for television, auto, wearables and fitness; new services for enterprise; a design for a $100 phone to be sold in emerging countries; and improvements in Google’s web hosting system demonstrated by a deep-in-the-weeds coding tutorial. (The 2.5-hour filibuster was interrupted twice by protestors. They were quickly removed, as if Google was now accustomed to such outbursts.)
The scope of the announcements emphasized the wide domain of the 42-year-old, India-born engineer who arrived at Google a decade ago and now is Larry Page’s key lieutenant, if not his designated successor. The day after the keynote, Pichai took questions about the I/O announcements, Android strategy, the integration of Nest into Google, Google’s relationship with Samsung, and his own CEO ambitions.
__WIRED: __Your keynote was full of announcements—TV’s, autos, watches, phones. What’s the glue binding all those different things together?
Pichai: There’s been a big evolution since the days of personal computing. People had a concept of one computing device per family or maybe per person. We've clearly evolved to computing devices becoming more personal. People increasingly have a lot of those in their lives. So to us, the thing was, how do you build a computing platform and an experience which spans all those screens? How do you get it all working for users in a cohesive way? We need to bring Android and Chrome to every screen that matters for users, which is why we focused on phone, wearables, car, television, laptops, and even your workplace. Also, we wanted to do things in a way in which they were really contextually aware. A major theme was this notion of your phone being at the center of this connected experience –voice enabled, with Google Now cards accessible.
__WIRED: __A couple of years ago the message was that Google + was the company core. These days it seems that Google Now is driving the company.
Pichai: Google is all about information. So the notion of using and presenting information in the right point at the right time to users is what in essence describes Google.
__WIRED: __One aspect of a very unified, cross device, multi-screen platform like you’re building is a lock-in effect. You and Apple and Microsoft are like gangs—once you join one, you’re in-- but there’s a penalty for veering out of the neighborhood. The Android wearable platform almost certainly won’t work with something Apple introduces later this year. This limits my choices. Will the phone I use determine what car I buy, what TV I buy?
Pichai: It's a good question. We do take a more open approach in these things. For example, you can plug a Chromecast into your television and still continue to use your iPhone or an iPad. We do take a horizontal approach--we want many things to work together. But, sure, there are other players who build end-to-end systems where they think through every piece of it. We do envision a world where having an iOS or an Android device it doesn't preclude you from buying a certain car.
WIRED: How about a TV?
Pichai: TVs will still have standard HDMI interfaces and you can hook a box into them. So I think TVs would still support other boxes. But I you're right in the sense that for certain things people will have to think about what [system they use].
__WIRED: __You just held your wrist when you said that—implying that in the case of wearables your phone will determines which product.
Pichai: In that case, probably. But in general, we take more of an open approach.
__WIRED: __You have taken great pains to integrate Android across devices. But if I’m using a phone or other gadget that isn’t a full Android implementation, do I lose that value?
Pichai: Sure, if it doesn't do the things which we are expecting it to. This is why when we ship an Android phone we have compatibility tests. We ship Google Play services across these devices so developers have API consistency and things do work together. We don't want users to worry about which devices they're buying.
__WIRED: __Do you consider the Amazon Fire phone an Android phone?
Pichai: It’s a variant of Android but it's not compatible and consistent the way we would like it to be.
__WIRED: __So it’s not an Android phone?
Pichai: From a user experience standpoint, I don't view those as Android devices.
__WIRED: __Since Google doesn’t charge manufacturers for Android, presumably the value you get is that such devices work well with Google products. But what’s the benefit when people change the Android platform so that you don’t get that value?
Pichai: We run Android as a fully open source project. We have a sense that if we invest here for the long term we will be better off. It’s a great thing for users, developers, and Google does well on top of Android too. Google Play is very successful for us. In addition, Android does drive Google services, too. And so it's a virtuous cycle. So far we like the way it's working.
__WIRED: __In China, Android phones don't have the Google search engine or Google Now. That’s a big market not to get value back.
Pichai: We think about that category differently. Android phones in China are more “Android open source” rather than Android in the way we are all used to here. So a lot of phones don't have Google Play, etc.
WIRED: Is China lost to Google?
Pichai: No, I don't think so. There's a lot of interest in China for Android to work better. By us playing a stronger role I think users will be better off in terms of having a cohesive app store, security, etc. A lot of OEMs reached out to us. Time will tell.
__WIRED: __A standard talking point in Apple events recently is that despite Android having huge market share, people actually use iOS devices more. In your keynote you quoted statistics that indicated you’ve closed that gap. What happened?
Pichai: It's a platform of scale. Android tends to work differently because it happens across different countries, different demographic segments. The usage patterns tend to be different, and it takes time to play out. What excites us is that all indicators we see are in the right direction.
__WIRED: __You didn't mention Samsung much in your keynote.
__Pichai: __I talked about their Gear Live watches. To be very clear, when we announced Android Wear, Samsung wasn't there at that moment, but they joined us in the journey. They are a big partner for us in Chromebooks.
__WIRED: __But not TV.
__Pichai: __No, not yet. Android TV is just getting underway.
__WIRED: __How much is Samsung friend and how much enemy?
Pichai: Samsung and us are in this together for a very long run because it makes sense for us to be in it together to win. I view us as fellow travelers. We realize unless we coordinate, we won't be able to produce a great user experience. A lot gets said about the relationship, but the reality is the teams work incredibly hard and incredibly close together on a daily basis.
__WIRED: __When was the last time you were in Korea?
Pichai: We go back and forth. I'm due to go there in the next two to three weeks.
__WIRED: __Do you look forward to those visits?
Pichai: Yeah. I have a very good relationship with [co-CEO] J.K .Shin and so I cherish that. I get thrilled at the pace at which Samsung executes. When I go there, they share the roadmaps. These are good meetings.
__WIRED: __At the keynote you unveiled a scheme to run Android apps on a Chromebook.
So why not just make a Android laptop?
Pichai: There are many ways you can approach this. They way Chromebooks are built provides a set of advantages around simplicity and security. We want to preserve all those aspects but Android apps are playing a huge role for consumers' lives. So we wanted to bring that onto Chromebooks to enhance the experience.
__WIRED: __You didn't roll out a lot of Google hardware at I/O.
Pichai: Our hardware, first of all, is almost always around Nexus products [which didn’t happen to be timed for this season.] I prefer how we did I/O this year--I view I/O to be for developers.
__WIRED: __I sat through that keynote. It was for developers.
Pichai: ____Sorry for the coding session in the middle.
__WIRED: __One publication reported that that you've turned hardware over to Nest CEO Tony Fadell, now that Nest is part of Google.
Pichai: No. Tony and team are running Nest independently. We bought the company because they had a strong vision for a smarter connected home. I think all we did is part of the acquisition. We are talking about one or two smaller scale projects.
__WIRED: __On the other hand, you want Android to be parts of many domains. The home is a key area. As the leader of Android, at what point do you say, “Hey, the home is part of our world. We'd like to have the closer integration”?
Pichai: We are deeply committed to supporting a smarter connected home from an Android standpoint. And we'll do it thoughtfully with Nest. We'll have a lot more to say about it later this year. We will also support our partners for building home based solutions too.
__WIRED: __Your presentation was interrupted a couple times by protestors, and this wasn’t unique for Google. I know that you and other Google people think you’re doing good. How do you square that belief with the fact that some people think the opposite?
Pichai: The issues here are pretty complex. Technology is incredibly useful to peoples' lives. It's clearly disruptive too. We have had a lot of growth and change, especially locally. San Francisco has a rich tradition of protest. So it's not surprising that it impacts Google because Google plays an important role. It's a way for the protesters to get more attention too. I think it's good that there is debate about it. At Google, we spend time in the management meetings talking about how we can give back more to the city, what we can do locally. We have started a lot of initiatives recently. Most people would agree that what not just Google, but a lot of other, what technology companies are doing things that benefit people a lot.
__WIRED: __You’ve already clarified this week that you are not gunning for Larry's job. Is that right?
Pichai: Definitely. Larry is very committed for the very, very long run, yeah.
__WIRED: __So let’s talk about other companies. Were you approached for the Microsoft CEO job?
Pichai: I would rather not comment on that.
__WIRED: I__f you were the CEO of Microsoft, what would you do?
Pichai: I don't think it's my place to comment on it. Microsoft plays a huge important role in computing. They have important questions ahead --do they view themselves as an operating system provider or a services provider, which is intended to work across platforms, across all systems. That's a big question for them to answer. Like, do they bring Office to Android?
