Google hires the man behind Amazon Kindle hardware

David Foster, the man behind the development of Amazon’s hardware devices, is now Google’s vice president of product engineering, according to The Information. 

We all know that Google is shaking things up a bit. With the announcement of Pixel phones, Google not only confirmed that the Nexus brand is dead, but that the company will now be directly involved in manufacturing Google-branded phones. With the new focus on hardware, it makes sense that Google needs someone with a lot of experience in that field of expertise.

Well, it seems like Google thinks David Foster might just be that someone. According to The Information, Foster has joined Google as the vice president of product engineering in its hardware group as of Monday, and Foster will be leading hardware development for Google’s new line of smartphones. It is said that Foster will report directly to Rick Osterloh, the former president of Motorola who is now in charge of Google’s hardware projects.

Foster brings years of experience to the table: he previously worked as Amazon’s vice president of hardware engineering, overseeing device development teams. Most notably, Foster’s teams were responsible for all hardware devices such as Kindle, Kindle Fire, Echo, Dash, and the list goes on. He has also spent around five years at Microsoft, managing device development as well as at Apple as a senior director.

Although we will have to wait to see what this means for Google’s smartphone future, one thing is for sure: Google’s software-only era is coming to an end. The Pixel and the Pixel XL are only the beginning of the search giant’s push into new hardware items, it seems.

What are your thoughts on David Foster’s joining Google’s smartphone development team? Do you think we will see elements of Kindle in Google? Let us know by leaving a comment down below!