Hugo Barra, the Google Android executive who went out with Amanda Rosenberg before she became Sergei Brin's girlfriend, is to join joined fast-growing Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi Tech
Lei Jun, the Xiaomi founder, said on his Weibo feed that Mr Barra, who led product development for Google's industry-leading Android mobile software, will join in October as head of international business development.
"Barra will be responsible for Xiaomi's global business expansion," he said late on Wednesday on Weibo, a Twitter-like Chinese service.
Xiaomi is known for portraying itself as China's answer to Apple, an image its billionaire founder has fostered since he started the company in 2010. Mr Lei often dresses in the black tops, jeans and sneakers favoured by the late Steve Jobs.
The company's latest smartphone, the Hongmi, sells for $130, much less than the $770 iPhone 5 or the $470 for the latest Samsung Galaxy model, the market leader in China.
Xiaomi sold more smartphones than Apple in the second quarter in China, the world's biggest smartphone market, according to IT consultancy Canalys.
( via telegraph )
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