BARCELONA — Android is growing at “break-neck speed” with 850,000 new devices activated every day, Google’s mobile head Andy Rubin announced in a blog post today. The mobile operating system’s year-over-year growth is now at 250 percent, he added, surpassing 300 million total devices to date.

Today, more than a billion apps are downloaded every month, Rubin continued. And in the 54 weeks that have passed since last year’s Mobile World Congress, the number of apps in the Android Market have tripled to more than 450,000.

The first Android-powered device was released in late October 2008. Since then, more than 800 devices have been launched on the platform. Google’s Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt will no doubt elaborate on this tremendous growth trajectory when he returns to the MWC stage tomorrow evening.

**As published in RCR Wireless News**

Google Inc.’s (GOOG) latest earnings were overshadowed by an executive shake-up at the highest level of the company.

Eric Schmidt is stepping down as CEO on April 4 to take on the title of executive chairman where he will focus on external deals, partnerships and government outreach.

Co-founder Larry Page will take over as CEO to lead product development and technology strategy while co-founder Sergey Brin will focus on strategic projects, particularly new products. Read more

**As published in RCR Wireless News**

BARCELONA – As the second day of Mobile World Congress came to a close, the chairman and CEO of the seemingly dark horse not-so-long ago, Google, presented his thesis for why he thinks the ecosystem supporting mobility is coalescing around a point that will be “fundamental to human existence.”

Eric Schmidt outlined three factors – computing, connectivity and the cloud – that will be paramount to delivering a richer, more dynamic and personally fulfilling experience on mobile.

“It’s like magic. All of a sudden there are things you can do that you never thought were possible,” he said. Read more