Hiroshi Lockheimer, the chief of Google's mobile software, must both fend off Apple and fight Android "fragmentation." His modus operandi: Lighten up, everyone.
Walking through Google's campus on a warm February afternoon, Hiroshi Lockheimer pauses and points to two tourists smiling at their outstretched selfie stick. The world-famous Googleplex is always filled with tourists, who come to gawk and admire the sprawling headquarters in the heart of Silicon Valley.
"Ten years ago, I would have never imagined that," he says laughing, as we pass by.
But it's actually kind of his fault that they're even there. Lockheimer is a big part of the reason smartphones are everywhere. For the past decade, he's helped craft Google'sAndroid operating system, now the most popular mobile software on the planet. Five months ago, he became chief of Android, overseeing development and partnerships and strategizing on how to stay ahead of Apple's iOS software for the iPhone and iPad.
When Lockheimer joined Google in 2006, most of the world was still using feature phones that had little or no access to the Internet. The iPhone, unveiled a year later by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, definitely helped popularize the idea of smartphones. And even though Apple sold millions of iPhones in the first year, it wasn't until Android debuted in 2008 that smartphones really went mainstream.
Instead of tying its software to one flagship device (and one carrier, at first) like Apple, Google gave away its software for free. Handset makers including Samsung, HTC, Sony and LG lined up and began offering Android-powered phones that ranged, in price and functionality, from high to low. Suddenly, smartphones were affordable to wider swaths of the population.
The giveaway had a catch: Handset and tablet makers who wanted to use Android had to highlight Google services like search and maps on their phones, instead of their own apps.
Google's strategy has paid off. Now more than 2 billion people worldwide have smartphones, according to research firm eMarketer, and four out of five of them are powered by Android. That's over 1.6 billion people with the Internet, high-resolution cameras and, most importantly, Google's apps and services, in their pockets all day long.
That brings our conversation to selfie sticks, which are a direct result of all those pocket cameras. While phones cameras have gotten better, evolution has failed to make our arms long enough to neatly capture the Eiffel Tower, Mount Rushmore or a neon green Android statue in the frame without some extra help.
"Like, really? A stick that has an integrated..." Lockheimer says, launching into a discussion about the technical peculiarities of the low-tech wand before giving up trying to explain. (The selfie stick, by the way, may have been invented in the 1980s by another guy named Hiroshi.)
Lockheimer, 40, may not be a household name, but he's become one of the most important executives in technology today. Google put him in charge of Android in October. That was after co-founder Larry Page announced a radical restructuring that made Google a subsidiary of a newly created parent company called Alphabet. As part of the change, Page became CEO of Alphabet and Sundar Pichai, a trusted lieutenant to Page who was running Android and most of the company's other products, became CEO of Google. Soon after, Pichai promoted Lockheimer to senior vice president of Android. Lockheimer also oversees Chrome OS software for laptops and Chromecast, Google's devices for video and audio streaming.
According to colleagues and former Google employees, Lockheimer's approach to Android and its partners is breezy and lighthearted. It's all about trying to lessen the tension that comes with running the most intense and complicated web of designers, engineers, outside developers and hardware partners in technology -- with each side angling for its own best interest. It's also about figuring out how to get more Android users and hardware makers to adopt the latest version of the software.
The Android team circa December 2008. When they started, the team only had about 20 members, says Lockheimer.Courtesy Andy Rubin
Take it from Hugo Barra, who was Android's vice president of product until he left Google in 2013 to become vice president of global for Xiaomi, a Chinese phone maker with handsets that run Android. Now when he meets with Lockheimer, he's on the other side of the table.
"He's the exact opposite of every other technology leader out there," says Barra, referring to Lockheimer's low-key persona. "Sometimes you have to remind yourself that he's the key executive at Google these days."
The 1 percent
Android is key to Google's future success. It's fundamental to the company's virtual reality efforts and to Google's juggernaut search service, which needs to evolve as people spend less time on desktop computers and more time on their phones.
Over the last several years, Google has polished Android by adding blockbuster features, including last year's Now On Tap, a service that anticipates what you might need based on your location or the time of day.
The rub: The vast majority of Android users can't use many of the software's newest features. That's because only 1.2 percent are using the latest version, Android 6.0, also known as Marshmallow. The majority of users, about 35 percent, use Android 4.4, called KitKat, which is about two-and-a-half years old. (Google always names its Android updates after sweets, but KitKat got its name because Lockheimer loves the chocolate bar, says Android co-founder Andy Rubin. "We proceeded to fill Hiroshi's office with a few thousand of them on launch day," he recalls.)
By comparison, iOS 9, released in September, is on 77 percent of Apple's gadgets. Apple frequently cites what it calls Android's "fragmentation" problem as the reason mobile app developers and customers should focus on the iPhone and iPad.
The slow uptake of Android updates "has been frustrating, to be honest," says Lockheimer, who has a boyish appearance, except for a streak of gray along the front of his otherwise jet-black hair. We're sitting in a conference room with walls splashed orange in Building 43, the main hub of Google's sprawling Mountain View, California, headquarters, about a 35-minute drive south of San Francisco.
The updates get stalled because they typically come courtesy of hardware makers and wireless carriers. Google provides the software, but partners like Samsung often add their own flourishes. Then wireless carriers test the software and are in charge of pushing out the upgrades to phone users.
"People don't update to the latest and greatest, so we as developers can't use the latest features," says Aakash Sareen, co-founder of CopperMobile, which makes enterprise software. That's why CopperMobile only takes advantage of features offered in 2011's Android 4.0, or Ice Cream Sandwich, or earlier.
Lockheimer understands the problem, which is why Google is putting more effort into its Nexus program -- the closest the company comes to making its own branded phone. Those phones use a version of Android's that not altered; it is the way Google intended the software to look and feel. Google works with a different phone maker each year to build the next Nexus and has a major hand in the design process. Last year, Lockheimer and his team worked with LG and China-based Huawei to build the Nexus 5X and 6P, which run Marshmallow.
There have been reports Google is trying to tighten its grip on the Nexus program, giving partners even less say in the design process. Lockheimer won't comment on that but does suggest that Google is ruling out making its own phones, top to bottom, like Apple does with the iPhone. (Google bought Motorola's phone business and decided to sell it to Lenovo two years later, after all.)
Google, says Lockheimer, decides to make only hardware that people can't really find elsewhere, like its Chromecast video-streaming device, which was pretty novel when it came out in 2013. By contrast, the market has phones covered, he says. "Phones are good."
Tokyo to the 'Plex
Lockheimer came to the US in 1993, when he was 18, and immediately missed home. Of mixed Japanese and German descent, he grew up in Tokyo and left to attend Rice University in Houston.
Texas was nothing like Tokyo and he wasn't happy. He went there to study architecture (buildings, not software), but didn't end up attending classes. Instead, he spent most of his time in the computer lab where he became enamored with a Unix workstation, which he'd never seen before. He dropped out of college after a few months and moved back to Japan to learn how to program on a Mac.
Eventually, he moved to California. Rubin had a startup called Danger, which created the Sidekick, the first smartphone that truly embraced the Internet. He hired Lockheimer.
Members of the Android team -- Mike Cleron, Rich Miner, Steve Horowitz, Ethan Beard, Hiroshi Lockheimer and Andy Rubin -- at an airport lounge in July 2006.Courtesy Andy Rubin
Rubin says Lockheimer, a college dropout and self-taught developer, intrigued him.
"It was really a combination of his background and engineering horsepower that led to us recruiting him," Rubin says. "He's smarter than anyone in the room."
In 2003, Rubin left Danger for his follow-up act, a little company called Android. Two years later, Google bought it for around $50 million. Rubin tapped Lockheimer shortly after and signed him on as Android's first hire after its co-founders.
In those early days, Android was a tiny company. The team was made up of about 20 people, who kept things very informal. During a meeting with Peter Chou, HTC's then-CEO, Rubin showed off a remote control helicopter and accidentally crashed it, Lockheimer remembers. And when the team first pitched consumer electronics giant Samsung on Android, they got a "lukewarm reaction," recalls Rubin.
Google won't say how big the Android team is now. A spokeswoman tells me that because their work touches several different parts of the company, it's hard to know exactly how many people are working on the software.
But what they do know is that growth has brought on some headaches. The European Union is investigating Android in an antitrust probe, asking if Google's business practices with its software partners are anti-competitive. Also, Apple sued Samsung over its use of Android and prompted Jobs to warn that he'd go "thermonuclear" on Android to take down what he saw as a copycat of Apple's software.
Lockheimer tells me he had the "pleasure" of testifying in the Samsung legal battle. As for Jobs' explosive threat, he's unwavering.
"I know what I know," Lockheimer says. "We were focused on our own products."
Jokes on jokes
Even though Lockheimer is technically the new Android boss, he's been calling the shots from the ground for a long time and has always handled relationships with most of Android's partners, says Barra.
The biggest boon in officially giving Lockheimer the top job is continuity. After Rubin left the Android team in 2013 to head Google's nascent robotics efforts, Pichai took over Android. (Rubin left Google altogether in 2014.) But day to day, Lockheimer ran the show, consulting with Pichai as needed, says one former Google employee who worked closely with him.
It also helps that Lockheimer is so well liked. When he was promoted to a vice president role in 2011, there was a lot of joy when the memo went around the office, says Barra.
"That email sent massive waves of cheering throughout Google," he recalls. "It was the most celebrated VP promotion I've ever seen."
That temperament helps in situations with short fuses. In 2012, the night before Google was set to debut Android Jelly Bean at its annual I/O conference for developers, the team met at San Francisco's Moscone Center to run through the keynote speech. But it was behind schedule and the team was anxious, recalls Barra.
Lockheimer, ever the diplomat, came in and helped rewrite the script without hurting anyone's feelings.
He plays the same role at meetings with partners, where the stakes are often high. "Those can get pretty intense," says Brian Rakowski, Android's vice president of product management. "He'll make a joke to lighten the mood."
Everyone I talked to for this story said you can't get through a meeting with Lockheimer without hearing at least one joke. I know firsthand they're right.
When I ask about his promotion, he says: "Well I'm actually the CEO. I just haven't told anyone yet."
On naming the next Android update, he quips: "I'm just starting rumors now. Last week I tweetedsomething about national Nutella day."
As for Android, Google has expanded it to power not just phones and tablets, but TVs, smartwatches and car dashboards. When I asked Rubin, the man who started it all, about the biggest challenges ahead for Android, he demurred. But he did say the software is in good hands.
"Wherever Hiroshi takes it," Rubin says, "he'll likely be right."
Every year toward December, Google releases a list of the best apps it recommends from the Play Store. It's a great way for Android newcomers to discover interesting apps they might want to install on their devices and for platform veterans to find apps that might have flown under their radar. This year's list is out, divided in 8 categories of 5 apps each, with a few added at the top, but the choices are if anything, a little weird.
You'll likely see different lists according to where you live. Some apps seem to be globally recommended like Skype, Google Photos, Twitch, and djay, while others will differ based on where you're consulting the list from. In some regions, there might even be a "Made in" category, like "Made in the USA" or "Made in Arabia."
But from the looks of it, it seems that these lists where generated based on downloads, ratings, and popularity in their respective category. It doesn't look like any apps were carefully curated at all. In the US, Twitter gets recommended as one of the best communication apps of 2015 and we all know that the official client's interface, although functional, is nothing to write about. In Lebanon, I see Telegram in the list, which is a much more interesting app to highlight in my opinion. However, most of the tools and productivity choices in Lebanon are emoji keyboard apps — a far cry from productivity. Backgrounds HD somehow makes it into the personalization category both in the US and in Lebanon, but despite the huge choice of wallpapers available in it, it's nowhere near the best app among the competition. Papuh and Backdrops (among others) would certainly be more intriguing if someone did their homework diligently, Backgrounds HD is just popular because it's been on Android for years and has always stayed toward the top of the downloads list in its category.
Peruse the list in your locale and you'll see some apps with very basic Material Design implementations (not that MD is the be-all end-all of design, but there are much better apps with excellent MD that would have been worth recommending), some with rather bad design choices that don't even approach MD or anything, and some clients for very specific services. There's very little to discover and even less to enjoy.
All in all, I doubt you'd find anything really out of the ordinary in the Best of 2015 list, just popular apps getting more time in the spotlight instead of interesting and unknown choices. I remember when Google picked SeriesGuide a few years ago and everyone was astonished because it was an underground app, but SeriesGuide was awesome and it deserved it. Those times seem to be long gone.
Google wants more mobile game developers to create versions of their apps for TVs, and today the company released a free tool for developers using the Unity game engine to do that without having to design separate software. The Google Cast Remote Display plugin, as it's called, will make the process of streaming a game from a mobile device to a TV easier via the company's inexpensive Chromecast device. This way, developers only have to configure the game for a larger screen and players should be able to "cast" it to the big screen the same way one would stream a Netflix show.
It makes sense for Google to cater to Unity developers. Unity is far and away the most widely used game design toolkit in the world due mostly to its ease of use for creating and running mobile games. But Google has a few words of advice on game design. For instance, developers should create TV experiences that don't require the user to look back and forth between screens too often, Google says. It also urges developers to think about how to smartly map control schemes — like letting a mobile device become a motion controller — so users can more comfortably play. The company released a set of design guidelines today to ensure developers take these rules into account and use the Remote Display plugin in a consistent manner.
Use of app indexing will send searchers from Google into the Facebook app, but only on Android and not for all Facebook content.
Facebook has long opened up some of its walled garden to Google, in order to gain Google traffic. Now Facebook is stepping up its search engine optimization game by implementing Google App Indexing to ensure it continues to get that traffic as the shift to mobile continues.
Facebook Loves Google Traffic
Facebook has allowed Google to index some of its content going back to at least 2007, whenFacebook profile pages were opened up to Google and other search engines. “Indexing” means that Google can read all the content on these pages. In turn, when people search, these pages might appear in Google’s search results.
This indexing — known so well to search engine optimization (SEO) professionals — has benefits to both Google and Facebook. Google has more content that might satisfy what people are searching for. Facebook gets traffic from Google for free.
Over time, Facebook has opened up more of the content is has to Google, such as Facebook Comments in 2011. The news today about Google App Indexing support doesn’t add more content but is aimed to ensure that those finding existing content from Facebook within Google have a better mobile experience.
App Indexing Means Loading Facebook, Not The Browser
The Wall Street Journal broke the news on this today, saying that Facebook began allowing Google App Indexing as of Friday, according to Google. Facebook also confirmed the same directly to Search Engine Land.
With Google App Indexing, Google is able to jump people from a web page listing directly into a publisher’s app, where the same content loads.
In the case of Facebook, this means that when someone clicks on a Facebook listing in Google search, rather than load a web page with that content, in some cases Google instead understands how to open up the Facebook app and load the same content within that.
This only happens for that content that Facebook has already opened up to Google, such as public profiles, Facebook pages, groups and events (assuming they haven’t themselves been blocked by Facebook account holders, such as if they are private in nature).
One notable class of pages that haven’t gotten Google App Indexing are personal posts or status updates that are open to the public. Google is able to index these now. They’ll also show up when people do mobile searches on Google. But Facebook hasn’t implemented the Google App Indexing code for them, that I can see, which means they’ll still load in the browser rather than the Facebook app.
App Indexing Doesn’t Gather New Information
Facebook is not providing any new information through app indexing that Google doesn’t already get, Facebook confirmed to me directly. So when the WSJ wrote this, it wasn’t quite right:
Google’s search engine is dominant on the Web, but its computers can’t automatically “crawl” and categorize the information inside apps, where smartphone users spend the majority of their time. So it must persuade app developers to let it peer inside.
In many cases, it’s not that apps contain information that Google can’t index — and most cases, if you’re talking apps from those with major web sites. Apps often pull information from the same source to power both their web sites and apps. Yelp, TripAdvisor and Facebook are examples of publishers like this, where Google knows very well what’s inside their apps because what’s inside their apps is also what’s inside their websites.
Rather, Google App Indexing today is much more about making a better experience for the searcher, jumping them directly into an app instead of a browser, rather than somehow magically finding information that’s only in the app.
Only For Android, Not Apple Or Bing
I can see Google App Indexing code live now, such as on our own Search Engine Land page at Facebook. However, my test searches when using an Android Nexus 6P are not jumping me from Google’s search results into the Facebook app that I have installed, as they should.
I’m checking with Google on this, but chances are Google simply hasn’t updated many of the new Facebook pages to see the new code. When those pages are reindexed over the coming days, this should work.
This only will work for Android. Facebook has not implemented similar mechanisms from Apple or Bing, so mobile searches on iOS (either in Safari or Chrome) or for those using Windows Mobile will not launch the Facebook app. Facebook said it had no comment on why these were omitted.
Why Do It?
Why was it Google confirmed the news of this to the WSJ, rather than Facebook. It’s not like there was any special agreement that needed to be put in place. As it turns out, Google told us it was part of a general discussion about how companies are making use of app indexing.
It is a big win, so to speak, for Google App Indexing. Facebook’s move may encourage more publishers to make use of it, which can mean a better experience for Google’s mobile users.
But it’s also right in line with SEO best practices. That is, this is exactly what you’d expect any organization to do if they care about SEO. Google has been rewarding apps over the browser within its search result to a degree that, at times, it’s arguably worse for users. But for publishers, it makes plenty of sense to ride the app indexing train, especially for potential ranking boosts.
As for Facebook, it told us that it implemented Google App Indexing as part of a desire to improve the experience for those who use its app.
You take a lot of pictures with your smartphone. Whether it’s a top-of-the-line shooter like the Galaxy S6 or a middle-of-the-road device it’s always at the ready for that photogenic moment.
Of course, that means you probably have tons of photos. Too many for any human to manage, unless you have hours of free time and lots of patience.
This is why you need an Android camera roll app that goes beyond just displaying your images. Your phone probably came with an app called something like "Gallery," and Goole's Photos app may be there, but you can probably do better. Several third-party apps will help you pare down your collection and better organize your photos do you’re not swiping endlessly on your phone the next time you want to show your friends the latest cute baby pic.
MyRoll surprises you with best moments
If you want your photo gallery to do some of the heavy lifting for you and surprise you with what it thinks are the best images then check out MyRoll.
It’s classic camera roll layout and a grid of image previews make it easy to navigate. But what separates it from other apps is the way it organizes groups of photos into Moments, which are pictures you take together in a batch around the same time or at the same location.
It’s great for vacation photos or when you’ve taken a bunch of pictures of a cute baby (pictured). Machine learning isn’t perfect—I’ve been notified of a cool new batch of pictures, only to find it was a group of 10 screenshots.
Though MyRoll does have a solution to this problem in the form of its companion app: Gallery Doctor.
It analyzes your photos and recommends “bad” images to delete, such as screenshots or those of poor quality. You get to sign off on which ones it dispenses with so it doesn’t accidently delete your wedding pictures. It does a pretty good job, however, at sorting them out. I’m obviously an outlier for how many screenshots I take, but it will help you cut down on all those poorly captured images you’re probably never had time to delete.
A+ Gallery is best for Facebook addicts
If Facebook is your go-to service for sharing photos then A+ Gallery might be the best option. It can connect with Facebook’s photo backup service so your pictures are right there for sharing; something you usually have to do within the social network’s app.
A+ also has an interesting feature that lets you search for photos by color. It’s a little odd and not something that I would use all the time, but perhaps others will feel differently.
In general it has a clean look, making it a great alternative if your default gallery app isn’t all that nice, which unfortunately sometimes is the case with phone manufacturers.
Quickpic is the king of tying in to backup services
Quickpic can show you all your photos if you use a variety of different cloud storage accounts. Google Drive/Photos, Dropbox, OneDrive, Amazon, Box, and others are all supported. You can also share a photo directly with another device via Wi-Fi, though I’d recommend Bluetooth or Android Beam for this.
You can also glance at your images as a stack, grid, list, or organize it into folders. The interface has a lot of Material Design elements, such as the navigation bar and slide-out menu, so it’s easy to use and great to look at.
Piktures offers a clean and clever interface
Piktures: This is one of the best-looking gallery apps out there. You navigate the app by swiping through the different sections, which put your photos in several key categories on different screens. You can then swipe to see your albums, photos grouped by location, or a calendar view that peeks at featured images across different days.
You can add a little splash by selecting one image to be the featured photo for a folder. It adds a little eye candy and makes it easier to get an idea of what might be inside the folder.
Don’t ignore Google’s photo ambitions
While all of these apps are admirable implementations, it’s worth keeping an eye on Google’s evolving efforts in the photos space. Most manufacturers don’t make it default, but Google+ Photos will come on your device as a companion to Google+. Google is unbundling it from its social network and in the process of moving the main storage hub to Google Drive.
This means you can check out your gallery inside either app; the main advantage to the standalone photos is that it does Auto Awesome and automatic image adjustments. It also has light editing capabilities, many of them borrowed from Google’s purchase of Snapseed.
Pictures are a big deal with smartphones—think of all the emphasis that Samsung put on the camera with its Galaxy S6, and LG with the G4. This means the applications that manage your pictures need to keep improving if they want to stay installed on your phone.
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In just a few weeks, two to be exact, Google's main developer conference will be taking place. And to prepare attendees as well as interested onlookers, the company has launched a couple of tools, the last bit being the annual Google I/O app. Both a virtual ticket to the I/O world as well as a reference for app designers, this I/O 2015 incarnation lets you draw up your own schedule for the two-day event, mix and match sessions, and even review the highlights of the previous years.
All the strappings of usual I/O app can be found here. On first launch, the app asks if you will be attending in person or through virtual channels and will change the sessions and information available to match the case. The schedule you tailor to your own tastes and time will be synced with the I/O 2015 web app as well as your Google Calendar if you so wish.
The app already lists the sessions that are already scheduled, though not all of them give the fine details of what's in store. Obviously, there will be Android-related talks, revolving particularly on wearables, cars, and the TV.
We've seen some references to Android for Work and we might very well hear about Android M, too. Gaming seems also to be a big thing this year, both on the small and the large with Android TV and Google Cast. Google seems to be making some room for virtual reality but has none for Google Glass. No hints of Project Ara either, though there is plenty of room for surprises.
As before, the Google users the I/O app to also showcase best practices in Android app development, with source code to the app released later on for developers to dissect and study. Aside from the latest Material Design guidelines, this year's app also focus on a Google Now resemblance, with information cards that collect similar content together. Somewhat ironically, there is no direct way to search through all available content, leaving users to fiddle with filters, at least in places where they are available.
Google I/O 2015 takes place May 28 to 29 in San Francisco. Some sessions will be streamed live, which will be indicated in the mobile app for those not attending in person.
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