Hugo Barra, vice president of Android product management at Google, has left the company to join the Chinese smartphone and applications developer Xiaomi as vice president of Xiaomi Global.
Confirming Barra’s departure, Google spokesman in a statement said: "We’ll miss him at Google and we’re excited that he is staying within the Android ecosystem."
Barra, who has been with Google since 2008, commenting on his departure on Google+ said: "After nearly five and a half years at Google and almost three years as a member of the Android team – the most amazing group of people I’ve ever worked with in my life – I have decided to start a new career chapter."
"In a few weeks, I’ll be joining the Xiaomi team in China to help them expand their incredible product portfolio and business globally – as Vice President, Xiaomi Global. I’m really looking forward to this new challenge, and am particularly excited about the opportunity to continue to help drive the Android ecosystem."
Xiaomi, best known as China’s Apple, launched its first handset in 2011 and is currently valued at $10bn. Barra’s experience is expected to help Xiaomi in launching new products.
However, industry critics say that most of the Xiaomi products are similar in features of Apple and Samsung.
