Android VP Hugo Barra leaves Google, joins Chinese phone maker Xiaomi (updated)

Barely a month since he was flourishing Google's new Nexus 7 tablet, according to AllThingsD, Hugo Barra is departing to join Xiaomi. Part of Google since March 2008, as the Vice President of product management for Android he's been a regular face to anyone that's watched Google I/O events and Nexus product launches over the past few years. Barra follows Android creator Andy Rubin, who stepped away from the Android team three months earlier. It's a huge score for Xiaomi, a company that goes from strength to strength in China, with smartphones that run on a heavily customized (and customizable) Android ROM. The company's also dabbled in smart TV boxes, which could make for a very familiar role for a former Googler. We've reached out to Google to confirm.

Update: We have received a statement from Google that confirms Hugo Barra's departure:

"We wish Hugo Barra the best. We'll miss him at Google and we're excited that he is staying within the Android ecosystem."

And there's a subtle hint there that Xiaomi (an "Android ecosystem" customer) is the one that's poached him away.

Update 2: Barra's taken to Google+ to announce that he will indeed be joining Xiaomi as VP Global in a few weeks. We've added his blog post after the break and have updated the post to reflect the confirmation. Xiaomi has also confirmed the appointment.

Filed under: Cellphones, Home Entertainment, Tablets, HD, Mobile, Google

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Source: AllThingsD, Hugo Barra (Google+)