The tech company’s branch has fired the entire team behind the Android Nova launcher. Only Kevin Barry, the original creator of the launcher, and one other employee remain. In total, more than a hundred employees at the branch have been laid off.
Developer Rob Wainwright shares news of layoffs On X And on Official Discord Server From Nova Launcher. The team consists of about a dozen employees, but Branch now continues on his own with Barry and an unnamed employee. “Nova still has one full-time employee and a developer, who split their time between Nova and other projects,” says Wainwright. “However, those two are very busy with the code, hundreds of emails, the community, PR, etc.”
“On August 7, Branch laid off over a hundred employees in a company-wide mass layoff. Rob, I, and many others are devastated. I have been at Nova for over 8.5 years, since November 2015. It has been an amazing and fun journey that I wouldn’t miss for the world,” community manager Cliff Wade wrote in a message on the Discord server.
Nova Launcher allows users to customize the layout and functionality of Android to their own liking. The app has been downloaded over 50 million times via the Google Play Store. Nova Launcher was acquired by Branch two years ago. According to Barry, Branch primarily wanted to use the launcher to test his own products.
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