According to reports, Google is set to relaunch its Android cut-price smartphone project in India with a goal of delivering an efficient Android device at an approximate rate of $50 (Rs.3,187 approx.). Android One is a set of specifications that helps manufacturers make cheap and good quality smartphones. This project launched in New Delhi last September, but has struggled since.
Mr Anandan, the managing director in India and Southeast Asia, has reportedly attributed this to supply chain issues that are imported from China, however, the plans for a reboot are said to be revealed in “the next few weeks”. The Android One phones, when launched last year, were priced at about $100 (Rs. 6376 approx.) but, it has been reported that the company would like to target the cost-conscious smartphone users in India and price the phones at $31 to $47, that is around Rs.2000 and Rs.3000.
Over the new few years Google aims “to bring to market high-quality, even more affordable devices… from 6,000 rupees to 5,000 rupees, 4,000 rupees to 3,000 rupees”, he added.
However, there are certain problems that Google faces in India, one of them being – the small size of the local market for digital advertising accompanied by India’s slow bandwidth that hampers their apps such as YouTube and maps; both of which require fast internet connections.
Their response to this, is to fend off local competitors by developing products that are suitable for Indian customers with slow data connections. And an example of this, would be their recently launched offline versions of YouTube and Maps.
It is yet to be seen whether this Google initiative will catch up with the Indian market, and 10 years from now, which big company will dominate India’s ever growing online population.
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