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Google needs to construct an ‘Android’ for India: Can it lastly win?

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Google needs to construct an ‘Android’ for India: Can it lastly win?


Android is perhaps the dominant OS within the Indian smartphone market, however Google thinks there’s extra to be carried out. Final week, it revealed that it has a devoted crew specializing in Android in India primarily based in Bengaluru and London. The important thing issues it needs to unravel: create Android ‘experiences’ for India customers and bridge the ‘affordability hole’ between smartphone and have telephone customers. The JioPhone Subsequent is the primary product of this new crew.

Whereas Google hasn’t detailed the way it plans to realize these targets, that is clearly not the search large’s first try at construct Android units for India.

In 2014, when Sundar Pichai was a Senior VP at Google and accountable for Chrome and Android, Google had launched its first set of ‘Android One’ telephones in partnership with Micromax, Karbonn and Spice Cell. All three telephones had been below Rs 6,500 and supposed to supply a ‘clear’ inventory Android expertise for finances telephone customers, one thing hardly ever seen on the value level on the time.

However, Android One didn’t fairly take off. One main drawback: All telephones had the identical set of specs and never a lot to distinguish then from the remainder of the market. Plus, knowledge was significantly costlier again then, and smartphone utilization was simply beginning to take off. That final bit although has modified drastically since 2016 and the entry of Jio.

Google tried once more with Xiaomi’s Mi A collection in 2017 with significantly better specs and a value level of Rs 14,999. Whereas the telephone acquired largely constructive critiques, Android One itself by no means fairly dominated the Indian smartphone market.

Nevertheless, with the JioPhone Subsequent, it appears Google goes past the traditional ‘slap on inventory Android and hope it sells strategy’ that it has tried previously. That is additionally why the JioPhone Subsequent comes with options that Google thinks first-time smartphone customers may worth in India — voice queries and native languages.

The telephone, operating the optimised PragatiOS model of Android, has the flexibility to translate all textual content, throughout all apps, into the consumer’s native language. It might additionally learn out the textual content within the consumer’s most popular language. The digital camera software program too has been tweaked to make sure higher photographs, typically a typical ache level on finances telephones. In fact, how all of this interprets into the precise consumer expertise is what is going to actually decide the JioPhone Subsequent’s success.

Nevertheless, Google appears to be wanting on the telephone as a chance to supply a extra tailor-made Android expertise going past specs. And whereas Google is correct about creating tailor-made experiences, ignoring specs is usually a dangerous proposition in India.

Specs do matter for many customers within the nation, particularly these selecting up their first machine, extra so if at a finances value. The notion that good specs are equal to a very good consumer expertise, {that a} machine with a greater processor will work easily for longer, is deeply entrenched within the minds of Indian customers.

That is additionally why manufacturers like Redmi, Realme have carried out so properly right here, providing specs one would sometimes see within the Rs 20,000-Rs 25,000 at a value of Rs 15,000 or decrease. The concept that software program alone could make for a clean expertise is but to see success right here.

There’s additionally no denying that this newest try at an Android expertise for India has a significantly better likelihood of success. Knowledge is far, less expensive within the nation now and the pandemic has made the demand for telephones explode. And, sure, extra Indians are utilizing voice to speak to their telephones. Now whether or not all of those elements be certain that the newest try at ‘Android for India’ fares higher than what it has carried out previously is what can be attention-grabbing to look at.

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