Google's Rubin touts 900K daily Android activations

Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) Vice President of Mobile Andy Rubin, the architect of the Android operating system, announced that the company now activates more than 900,000 Android devices each day, up from the 850,000 daily activations he announced in late February.

Rubin's update on Android's continued growth follows days after research firm comScore reported that Android powered 50.8 percent of U.S. smartphones in April 2012, down from 51 percent the previous month but up from 48.6 percent in January. Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iOS follows at 31.4 percent, trailed by Research In Motion's (NASDAQ:RIMM) BlackBerry at 11.6 percent and Microsoft's Windows platform at 4.4 percent.

The origins of the open-source Android operating system date back to Android Inc., a startup co-founded by Rubin in late 2003. Google acquired the firm in mid-2005, installing Rubin to lead continued development of the Android platform. The HTC Dream, the first retail smartphone running Android, followed in October 2008.

Rubin revealed the latest Android activation numbers in a Twitter post squashing reports he plans to leave Google. Blogger Robert Scoble floated the rumor of Rubin's pending departure in a Google+ post published Sunday. Scoble said Rubin would join CloudCar, a startup led by alums from WebTV, where Rubin worked before co-founding Danger Inc., the mobile computing firm acquired by Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) in 2008.

Rubin denied the rumor Sunday afternoon, tweeting "No plans to leave Google."

For more:
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