Google's Top Mobile Executive to Visit Taiwan's Handset Makers

Taipei, Nov. 13, 2008 (CENS)--Andy Rubin, Director of Google's Mobile Platforms, will visit Taiwan's mobile-phone makers this week, a move seen to drum up more Taiwanese manufacturers' supports for Google Android mobile platform.

Rubin will call on mobile-phone makers including Asustek Computer and HTC Corp. Also, he is expected to visit some perspective partners.

Rubin is OS designer and project leader of Android platform. The upcoming visit is his second to Taiwan in five months, and his first visit, aimed at promoting Android platform, was made in June this year. Taiwanese industry watchers think his visit highlights the importance of Taiwanese handset makers to Google's mobile business.

HTC's Android-based G1 phones has made a big splash in the United States, inspiring other Taiwanese industry peers to join the manufacturing. Introducing Window-based phones, HTC has also been considered as the engineer behind the Microsoft's No.4 rating in global market of mobile phone software.

G1 phone is challenging Apple iPhone, Motorola RAZR and RIM BlackBerry in global smart-phone market. HTC has recently teamed up with service provider AT&T to promote its Fuze-brand phone.

Some assume that Rubin's main purpose of the coming visit is to promote the imminent Chinese version of Android OS, which is scheduled to hit the market in the first quarter of 2009.

However, Google Taiwan's executives said Rubin's visit itinerary has yet to be finalized.