We live in an age where cohesion between mobile and desktop operating systems is becoming increasingly common. Continuity on Yosemite has brought iOS and OS X closer together than ever before, and within the next few years, Windows Phone will be all but indistinguishable from Windows 10. Speaking with CNET, Google’s Android heads continued to downplay a similar progression for the world’s most popular mobile OS, but a few recent internal moves might suggest otherwise.
A little over a week ago, reports started to spread that Hiroshi Lockheimer, VP of engineering for Android, would begin to supervise engineering on Chrome OS as well. Last Friday, Google announced that senior VP Sundar Pichai would also expand his reach to include more of the company’s most important products and services.
It would make sense for this internal shuffling to be a sign of Google’s dedication to increased unity between its operating systems, but the company says otherwise.
“There’s no plans to change the way the products work,” said Brian Rakowski, VP of product management for Android. He goes on to confirm Lockheimer’s move, stating that “some of the Chrome OS teams are moving under Hiroshi. Turns out they’re solving similar problems.”
It sounds like Google is going to focus on Android 5.0 for the foreseeable future, but the pieces are in place for something bigger in the coming months.
