Google Inc has appointed Sundar Pichai the chief of its Android division, replacing Andy Rubin as the overseer of a software platform that in just a few years has supplanted the platform of Apple Inc to become the world's most-used mobile software.

"Going forward, Sundar Pichai will lead Android, in addition to his existing work with Chrome and Apps. Sundar has a talent for creating products that are technically excellent yet easy to use—and he loves a big bet," Chief Executive Officer Larry Page wrote in a Wednesday blogpost.

Rubin, who built Android into a software platform used by most of the world's largest handset manufacturers from Samsung Electronics Co Ltd to HTC Corp, will "start a new chapter at Google", Page wrote without elaborating.

(Reporting by Edwin Chan; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick)