Google May Introduce Android One in India on 15th September
During Google I/O this year, Google announced an initiative that will help bring better user experience in the lower end price bracket. It was called Android One. Now it seems Google is ready to kickstart the initiative and might launch it in India soon.
Google has sent out the invites for an event on Monday, September 15th which only talks about “an exciting announcement” from the company but doesn’t give out more details. It is speculated that it most probably will be the Android One announcement.
The Android One initiative was taken by Google to boost the smartphone adoption rate in emerging markets. This will also be helpful for Google to expand the user base of Android in India. It will also give a better user experience, close to what Android had hoped for and which got lost in a whole array of sub-standard hardware.
Through this initiative, Google will send out a standardized list for affordable phones to the mobile companies. The idea is to prevent heavy expenses for creating a new phone to smaller companies. Currently, Google is working with Micromax, Karbonn and Spice in India for these phones. The company intends to keep the cost of phones under this banner, under $100.
With Android One Google wants to bring a Standard User experience throughout Android Ecosystem
During his presentation at Google I/O, senior Vice President of Android, Sundar Pichai said, “I’ve been using this phone for a while, and it is really good,” Pichai said on stage. “When I go back home to India and other countries like that, it is exciting to see the impact phones have on people’s lives, but it’s disappointing that only less than 10 percent of the population has access to smartphones. We want to change that.”
This is a good initiative from Google especially at a time when companies like Intex and Spice are bringing in with the Firefox OS, which intends to bring the smartphone experience to the lowest mobile segment. Also, the Android market is extremely segmented, lot of phones running older versions of Android can be found in the market. With Android One, Google will be able to make devices that would be easily updatable. Even though, the initiative is inspired by business motives it will directly help a lot of folks to get connected to the information age. This is an appreciable step from Google.
