Android boss leaves Google

San Francisco - Google on Thursday confirmed that an executive behind leading mobile device software Android is leaving the company to create an incubator for hardware start-ups.

Andy Rubin became a Google executive in 2005 when the internet titan bought Android, which was then a small start-up that Rubin co-founded two years earlier.

Rubin led the Android team at Google until 2013, by which time Android was the most widely used smartphone operating system in the world.

Rubin switched to managing the robotics team at Google.

"I want to wish Andy all the best with what's next," Google CEO Larry Page said in a statement.

"With Android he created something truly remarkable - with a billion plus happy users. Thank you."