Let's get the timeline on that quote right. In the linked video it's Vic Gundotra talking about starting work at Google, and the first day he met Andy Rubin at

Let's get the timeline on that quote right. In the linked video it's Vic Gundotra talking about starting work at Google, and the first day he met Andy Rubin at Google. According to his wiki "Gundotra joined Google in June 2007". That was well after iPhone was announced in Jan 07 and at most a month before it was released (also in June 07). As far as explaining the purpose of the Android project, it makes sense. It was the purpose of the project at the time, and not the reason Android was purchased: the "one man/company/device" would've been a legitimate concern at the time Rubin made that statement.