Essential founder and grandfather of Android, Andy Rubin, took a personal leave from his own company beginning in November. Now, Rubin is back at the office, inside two weeks after his absence was reported.
Rubin’s personal leave was shared with employees on November 27 and followed a breaking story that an internal investigation had entailed Rubin in an “inappropriate relationship with a subordinate” whilst working as a top executive for Google. His leave from the Essential office was for “personal reasons,” according to people familiar.
With Rubin back at the office, this could quell worries in the market about the future of Essential, Rubin’s latest business venture. Essential launched a small portfolio of products including the Essential PH-1 earlier this year. Although the Essential PH-1 has not been an outright sales success, this was never the intentional objective of Essential with the device. Instead, the handset is designed to pique interest in the brand and its other products, and help generate interest in subsequent follow-up devices.
Neither Rubin nor Essential are willing to comment on the situation, and hopefully this will draw a line under the story. Essential, along with several other relatively new members to the global smartphone club, have generated considerable interest in alternative devices to the established Apple and Samsung handsets. The Essential PH-1 was delayed going on sale, and early versions of the software have contained some bugs and glitches, which the company has been working hard to resolve.
SOURCE [Recode]
VIA [Android Authority]
