Google has cemented its bet on hardware by finalizing the deal to bring 2000 key HTC employees to the search giant.

Say what you will about their respective mobile strategies, but Microsoft at least has the class to make its own hardware.

Google is stealing away about 2,000 employees from struggling smartphone maker HTC for $1.1 billion in cash.

Google's Pixel lineup is to that company what Surface is to Microsoft. And Google has a lot of work to do to make its next Pixel handsets a more viable alternative to iPhone.

Alphabet/Google announced its quarterly earnings this week. But any mention of the new Pixel handsets was conspicuously absent from the discussion.

Google today announced that it now provides a group plan for its excellent Project Fi service: Now, up to six people can share a single Project Fi plan, along with all the management capabilities you'd expect.

Android fans who are suffering from iPhone envy will only have a few more weeks to compose themselves. On October 4, two weeks from today, Google will announce its next-generation Android flagships and a bunch of other new hardware.