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Hugo Barra

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Hugo Barra
Barra in 2013
Born
Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Other namesChinese: 虎哥 ("Tiger Brother")[1]
EducationColégio Pitágoras
Alma materMIT (M.Eng.) (B.S.)
UFMG
Occupation(s)Detect, CEO[2]
Years active1999–present
Known forVice President Android, Google
Vice President, Xiaomi
Vice President VR, Meta
Head of Oculus, Meta
AwardsFortune 40-Under-40[3]
Wired 100[4]

Hugo Barra is a Brazilian computer scientist,[5] technology executive and entrepreneur. From 2008 to 2013, he worked in a number of product management roles at Google, including vice president and product spokesperson of its Android division.[6] From 2013 to 2017, he worked at Xiaomi as vice president of global operations.[7] From 2017 to 2021, he worked as vice president of Virtual Reality and head of the Oculus division at Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook).[8] In May 2021, he left Meta[9] to join health technology startup Detect as CEO.[10]

Early life and education

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Barra attended primary and secondary schools at local Colégio Pitágoras in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, and in 1995 enrolled at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), majoring in Electrical Engineering.[11]

In 1996, Barra transferred to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), graduating with bachelor's degrees in electrical engineering & computer science (EECS), and management science, as well as a master's degree in electrical engineering & computer science.[5] He was class president of the Class of 2000 and student keynote speaker at MIT Commencement 2000.[12]

Career

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In 1999, Barra co-founded mobile software startup Lobby7 with other MIT classmates with investment from SoftBank Group. In 2003, the company was acquired by speech recognition technology company ScanSoft,[13] which subsequently became Nuance Communications.[14] While at Nuance from 2003 to 2007, Barra led a multi-year project alongside CTO Vlad Sejnoha to incorporate the company's flagship Dragon NaturallySpeaking speech-to-text dictation technology into Lobby7's cloud-based platform, which is rumored to have been the foundation to Apple Inc.'s Siri voice assistant.[15]

Google

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Barra with Eric Schmidt and Andy Rubin at the launch of the Nexus 7

Barra joined American technology company Google in London in March 2008 as Group Product Manager for the Google Mobile team.[16] In the Google Mobile team, Barra led the development of several early versions of Google's flagship mobile applications, such as Google Voice Search,[17] which became the technological foundation for the Google Assistant,[18] as well as Google Maps Navigation[19] with vector-based graphics, Google Translate with "conversation mode",[20] the Google Goggles visual recognition app, and several others.

In 2010 Barra joined the Android team as Director of Product Management.[21] From 2010 to 2013, Barra's role expanded to include product spokesperson for the Android team, speaking at press events and Google I/O, Google's annual developer-focused conference. Barra headlined the main keynote presentation at Google IO 2011,[22] Google IO 2012,[23] and Google IO 2013.[24] Barra's product leadership included the entire Android ecosystem of software and hardware, including Honeycomb,[25] Ice Cream Sandwich,[26] Jelly Bean and KitKat operating system launches, the Nexus 4 and Nexus 5 smartphones, the Nexus 7[27] and Nexus 10 tablets,[28] and other related products such as Google Now,[29] selected in 2013 as Popular Science's Innovation of the Year.[30] He was promoted to Vice President of Android Product Management in 2012. By September 2013, one billion Android devices had been activated globally.[31]

Xiaomi

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In September 2013, Barra left Google for Chinese electronics company Xiaomi, serving as Vice President of Global Operations based in Beijing, China.[32] The move was considered a ‘significant hire’ for Xiaomi, one of the fastest growing manufacturers in China, enhancing international legitimacy to the company by adding a key former Google Android executive to its senior management.[33]

In December 2013, Barra spoke at LeWeb tech conference in Paris, France about his impressions of the Chinese economy and the opportunity it represented for tech companies such as Xiaomi, citing China's 600 million internet users, high market caps of recent Chinese IPOs, the massive scale of the top Chinese apps' monthly active users, and the size of companies such as Alibaba's Taobao, a shopping site more than double the size of eBay and Amazon combined.[34][6]

In February 2014, Barra announced the launch of the new Redmi and Mi 3 smartphones in Singapore. Global expansion outside of China into surrounding emerging markets was a key initiative for Xiaomi, given the company's business model to release high performance smartphone products at an affordable consumer price, generating revenue not only from the hardware itself, but the software and internet services provided to the consumer.[35] According to Xiaomi co-founder and CEO Lei Jun, it is "entirely Barra’s job to figure out which region that we should enter next and how."[36] Barra stated his intention to expand next into various countries.[37]

In March 2014, Barra visited Terry Gou at Foxconn in Shenzhen, a Taiwan-based global company with plants in Asia, Brazil and Mexico responsible for assembling products for various tech brands, indicating plans for Xiaomi to further expand into India, Indonesia and Latin America.[38] The partnership began to bear fruit in August 2015 when Barra, Foxconn and chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu jointly announced the launch of a manufacturing facility in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India, with support from the central government's Make in India program.[39]

Xiaomi fans gathering with Barra prior to the Redmi Note 3 launch event in New Delhi (February 2016)

In February 2016, Barra launched the Redmi Note 3 smartphone in India at a major press event in New Delhi's Talkatora Stadium with 8,000 fans in attendance[40] where the company announced the world's first smartphone to use the Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 chipset. Industry analysts and reviewers considered this product Xiaomi's biggest hit in the Indian market due to its unique combination of performance, high-quality display, large-capacity battery and affordable price.[41] Redmi Note 3 became India's best online selling phone with 2.3 million units sold through September 2016,[42] propelling Xiaomi to become the second largest smartphone brand in India by Q4 2016.[43]

Barra also led the expansion of Xiaomi into several other markets such as Southeast Asia (starting with Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines), Latin America (starting with his home country Brazil), Western Europe (starting with Spain), Russia, and even led a modest early entry into the U.S., developing and promoting not only Xiaomi smartphones but also products from its Mi Ecosystem of smart connected products, including wearables, TVs, home appliances, toys, and many others.[44]

In January 2017, Barra announced his departure from Xiaomi.[45] There are reports that quoted Barra saying that his resignation was prompted by family or health reasons and some analysts noted that the departure came amid Xiaomi's declining sales in China.[46][47] Around the time of his resignation, Xiaomi announced that it had exceeded US$1 billion in revenue from India alone[47] and went on to become the largest smartphone brand in India in Q3 2017, months after Barra left the company.[48] In Q1 2018, Xiaomi became the 4th largest smartphone brand in the world.[49]

In July 2018, Xiaomi launched its initial public offering in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, raising US$4.72 billion in capital, and valuing the company at US$54 billion, in the world's largest technology IPO since Alibaba went public in 2014.[50] Barra's stake in Xiaomi was rumored to have been worth over US$200 million at the time of the IPO.[51]

Facebook

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On 25 January 2017 Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on his Facebook page[52] that Barra would be joining Facebook as Vice President of Virtual Reality and Head of the Oculus division, including a photo of the two of them posing as avatars in a virtual scene.[53]

Barra demonstrating the Oculus Go at 2018's Facebook F8 conference

Barra's initial focus at Oculus was on the development of standalone VR headsets as well as social VR applications. On 11 October 2017 during the Oculus Connect 4 developer conference, Zuckerberg and Barra unveiled Oculus Go, the industry's first mass-market standalone VR headset, priced at $199.[54] This device was co-developed with Barra's former employer Xiaomi in partnership with Qualcomm, which Barra and Qualcomm President and fellow Brazilian Cristiano Amon jointly announced at the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

On 26 September 2018, Zuckerberg and Barra were back on stage at Oculus Connect 5 to announce Oculus Quest, the next major development in standalone VR technology. The headset was well received by industry experts[55] due to the high-quality spatial experience it was capable of delivering. Oculus Quest supported positional tracking with six degrees of freedom using internal sensors and an array of cameras in the front of the headset rather than external sensors like in the original Oculus Rift PC-connected headset. The cameras could also be used in "Passthrough" mode to enhance safety if the user exits their designated boundary area. The headset earned multiple industry awards and accolades.[56]

In September 2020, Barra announced on Twitter that Facebook and Ray-Ban were working on a partnership to co-develop smartglasses,[57] which officially launched on 9 September 2021 as Ray-Ban Stories[58][59] just a few months after Barra had left the company.

In May 2021, Barra left Meta and immediately joined Detect, a health technology startup he was involved in co-founding.[60]

Detect

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Since March 2020, Barra has been involved in various roles with Detect, a health technology startup he co-founded with scientist and entrepreneur Jonathan Rothberg to develop consumer-grade molecular diagnostics products. The company's first product is an FDA-cleared Covid-19 molecular at-home test.[61][62]

Personal

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Barra is married with two children and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Lists

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In 2011, Barra was ranked #23 in Wired Magazine's Wired 100.[63] In 2013, Business Insider's Silicon Valley 100 included Barra at #92.[64] Brazil's Época magazine ranked Barra among the most influential Brazilians in both 2011[65] and 2013.[66] In 2015, Barra was ranked #14 in the 40-Under-40 list by Fortune Magazine.[67] Barra is a member of the World Economic Forum Young Global Leaders (YGL) Class of 2015.[68]

References

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  1. ^ "小米虎哥：手机在线购买在新兴市场日益流行". hk.on.cc (in Chinese). 30 July 2015. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
  2. ^ [1].TheVerge.2021-12-22.[2021-12-22].
  3. ^ "Hugo Barra". Fortune.com. Retrieved 10 February 2022.
  4. ^ "2nd annual Wired 100: Positions 29-11". Wired.co.uk. Retrieved 10 February 2022.
  5. ^ a b "Hugo Barra". 15 September 2017. MIT .. computer science
  6. ^ a b "This Famous Google Exec Quit His Job To Work In China — And He's Been Totally Blown Away By What He Found". Business Insider.
  7. ^ Pfanner, Eric (29 August 2013). "Chinese Smartphone Maker Hires Google Executive". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 23 January 2022.
  8. ^ Seetharaman, Deepa (26 January 2017). "Hugo Barra to Join Facebook After Leaving Xiaomi". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 23 January 2022.
  9. ^ Lyons, Kim (17 May 2021). "Hugo Barra is leaving Facebook". The Verge. Retrieved 23 January 2022.
  10. ^ "Facebook, Google Veteran Hugo Barra to Lead Covid Testing Startup". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 10 February 2022.
  11. ^ "The Brazilian who runs Android". Época. Archived from the original on 13 October 2014. Retrieved 9 June 2014.
  12. ^ "Students and speakers gear up for Commencement 2000". MIT News.
  13. ^ "Scansofts Spree Continues with its Lobby 7 Acquisition". Bizjournals.com. Retrieved 10 February 2022.
  14. ^ Cowley, Stacy (10 May 2005). "ScanSoft to buy Nuance for $220M". Computerworld. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
  15. ^ Kay, Roger. "Behind Apple's Siri Lies Nuance's Speech Recognition". Forbes. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
  16. ^ "Hugo Barra". The Guardian. 11 December 2009.
  17. ^ "Google Mobile App for iPhone, now with Voice Search". Retrieved 23 January 2022 – via YouTube.
  18. ^ "Google's Answer to Siri Thinks Ahead". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  19. ^ "Google Redefines GPS Navigation Landscape: Google Maps Navigation For Android 2.0". TechCrunch. Retrieved 23 January 2022.
  20. ^ June, Laura (13 October 2011). "Google Translate app for Android now has speech to speech translations in 14 languages". The Verge. Retrieved 23 January 2022.
  21. ^ "Speaker Bios". Google. Archived from the original on 27 July 2013.
  22. ^ "Google I/O 2011: Keynote Day One". Retrieved 24 January 2022 – via YouTube.
  23. ^ "Google I/O 2012 - Keynote Day 1". Retrieved 24 January 2022 – via YouTube.
  24. ^ "Google I/O 2013: Keynote". Retrieved 24 January 2022 – via YouTube.
  25. ^ "Android Event 02-02-2011". Retrieved 24 January 2022 – via YouTube.
  26. ^ "Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich Official Presentation and Demo". Retrieved 24 January 2022 – via YouTube.
  27. ^ McCracken, Harry (24 July 2013). "Google Unveils a New, Nicer, Pricier Nexus 7 Tablet". Time.
  28. ^ "Hugo Barra: where are the Android tablets of HTC One-like quality?". Android Authority. 29 July 2013. Archived from the original on 12 July 2015. Retrieved 9 June 2014.
  29. ^ "Android Director: 'We Have the Most Accurate, Conversational, Synthesized Voice in the World'". Wired.
  30. ^ "Innovation Of The Year: Google Now". Popular Science. Archived from the original on 23 February 2014. Retrieved 9 June 2014.
  31. ^ "Gundotra, Vic. "Just back from a whirlwind trip to Asia visiting our…"". Google+. September 2013. Archived from the original on 3 October 2013.
  32. ^ "Exclusive: Hugo Barra Talks About His Future at Xiaomi and Why He Really Left Google". All Things D.
  33. ^ "Xiaomi confirms it has hired Google's Hugo Barra, who will take up VP Global role from October". The Next Web. 29 August 2013.
  34. ^ "Everything you need to know about Chinese tech in one 30-minute video". Quartz.com.
  35. ^ "Here's why you should care about rising Chinese smartphone firm Xiaomi". The Next Web. 6 September 2013.
  36. ^ "Xiaomi co-founder on why ex-Google exec Barra and its own firmware are key to international success". The Next Web. 9 September 2013.
  37. ^ "Xiaomi's Hugo Barra: True world phones in 2 years, Android all the way". CNET.
  38. ^ "Hugo Barra visits Foxconn, teases Xiaomi launches across Latin America". Tech in Asia.
  39. ^ "Xiaomi makes itself at home in India with first 'made in India' phone". Tech in Asia.
  40. ^ "Xiaomi's Redmi Note 3 launch in India is so big, it is being hosted in a stadium". Yahoo! Finance.
  41. ^ "Review: Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 is a genuine charmer". Mint.
  42. ^ "Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 becomes a bestseller in India". GSMArena.
  43. ^ "Samsung and Chinese brands utterly dominated India's smartphone market in Q4 2016". TechCrunch.
  44. ^ "How Xiaomi Redefined What It Means to Be a Platform". Harvard Business Review.
  45. ^ "Hugo Barra is leaving Xiaomi". The Verge.
  46. ^ Horwitz, Josh (26 January 2017). "Hugo Barra is leaving Xiaomi to lead Facebook's virtual reality division". Quartz. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  47. ^ a b Soo, Zen (23 January 2017). "Hugo Barra to leave Xiaomi, return to Silicon Valley from Beijing". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  48. ^ "Xiaomi beats Samsung to become top smartphone vendor in India". Canalys.
  49. ^ "Xiaomi Becomes 4th Largest Smartphone OEM In The World". Android Headlines.
  50. ^ "China's Xiaomi raises $4.72 billion after pricing HK IPO at bottom of range: sources". Reuters. 29 June 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  51. ^ "Xiaomi's former head of international Hugo Barra lands IPO windfall". TechCrunch. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  52. ^ "Mark Zuckerberg post on Facebook about Barra joining as Head of Oculus". Facebook.
  53. ^ "Mark Zuckerberg and Hugo Barra posing together as virtual avatars". Facebook.
  54. ^ "Facebook announces $199 'Oculus Go' standalone VR headset". Techcrunch.
  55. ^ "Review: The Oculus Quest Is Virtual Reality's Best Bet Yet". Time.
  56. ^ "Oculus Quest review: Facebook's newest VR headset is the best thing I've tried this year". CNET.
  57. ^ "Hugo Barra post on Twitter about Ray-Ban partnership". Twitter.
  58. ^ "Facebook on your face". The Verge.
  59. ^ "Hugo Barra post on Twitter about Ray-Ban Stories launch". Twitter.
  60. ^ Matney, Lucas (19 May 2021). "Facebook VR exec Hugo Barra is leaving". TechCrunch. Retrieved 27 December 2021.
  61. ^ "Facebook, Google Veteran Hugo Barra to Lead Covid Testing Startup". Bloomberg.
  62. ^ "Detect CEO Hugo Barra on how its Covid test differs from a rapid antigen test". CNBC.
  63. ^ "2nd annual Wired 100". Wired.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2 April 2016. Retrieved 31 August 2017.
  64. ^ "The 100 Biggest Stars In Silicon Valley". Business Insider.
  65. ^ "Época Magazine: the 100 most influential Brazilians in 2011". Época Magazine. Archived from the original on 16 February 2017. Retrieved 9 June 2014.
  66. ^ "Época Magazine: the 100 most influential Brazilians in 2013". Época Magazine.
  67. ^ "Hugo Barra". Fortune. Retrieved 23 January 2022.
  68. ^ "Meet the 2015 class of Young Global Leaders". World Economic Forum. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
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