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| Google is paying some attention to the Android tablet sector |
Rich Miner, one of the founders of Android, worked on Android tablets, a fact that was recently revealed in a ComputerWorld report that examines Google's tablet history.
The miners' LinkedIn page seems to confirm this. His current position as CEO of Android Tablets is listed. She said he has held the position since March 2021.
According to Google, Miner's specific role is to lead the development of large-screen Android software across platform and ecosystem teams.
Since the main characters in the history of Android are now working on tablets, Google has published job postings. It's clear that the company can do something interesting with Android beyond phones and foldable devices.
Miners were developing Android when it was created by a company called Android, which was later acquired by Google. Miner did many things at the time (including helping Google decide which startups to invest in). But now it looks like it's back in Android, focusing on improving it for tablets.
The role of the miner is not just to show the search giant once again that it is focused on devices with large screens. The highly anticipated Android 12L update is currently in beta and is focused on improving the tablet and foldable experience.
The job posting for the Director of App Experience Engineering for Android tablets also shows that Google believes that the future of computing is shifting toward more powerful and capable tablets.
An Android co-founder is now leading the Google team
This is a shift for the company, which said in 2019 that its hardware team was no longer focused on tablets, but exclusively on laptops.
After the Pixel Slate, the Android and Chrome OS team committed to a full, long-term collaboration with tablet partners, according to a Google Gear team leader.
So it's hard to get excited about the future of Google-powered tablets. But with Google and dates working on the Pixel foldable phone, it appears the company is planning to get back into the tablet business somehow.
Google said it would not comment on whether it would reconsider developing a tablet. But Miner himself made some comments on Twitter. Miner retweeted a ComputerWorld report and commented that there are finally signs of hope.
While the iPad is at the center of the tablet discussions, Apple doesn't completely dominate the market.
According to market research firm IDC. Apple ranked first in tablet sales in the third quarter of 2021 with a market share of 34%.
But that leaves plenty of room for competitors like Samsung (the second largest with a market share of about 18% as of Q3 2021), Amazon, and others.
While Google likely plans to focus on its relationships with tablet makers, the Pixel tablet is worth going further, especially for those who have fond memories of the Nexus 7.