Friday, May 6, 2016

Google to launch new Android One Smartphones in India



Android One so far may not have gone as Google had hoped for, but the search giant doesn’t seem to be ready to give up just yet. In an interview with ET, Mike Hayes, director of business development for Android and Chrome partnerships, had some interesting revelations about Google’s smartphone program. Besides the fact that the Android One program now falling under the purview of the returning Rick Osterloh, Hayes also confirmed that new Android One smartphones are incoming.

“Android One has become a part of the broader hardware strategy, under which Motorola’s Rick Osterloh has joined Google recently. Google is taking a broader view of its hardware business. So, you should expect to see a position around what we are doing on low-end devices all the way through,” Hayes said.

Hayes also confirmed that a number of companies continue to show interest in the Android One program. Google, he says, also continues to be in touch with its early Android One partners like Micromax, Karbonn and Spice.

We still have interest from a number of OEMs wanting to work with us on programmes like the Android One. The program is about mass market low-end devices, more affordability and to drive services into the market, and the premium things that we are working on with a number of OEMs.

The executive also talked about carrier billing, which was enabled for Idea Cellular subscribers earlier this week. Google is currently in talks with other carriers to bring the feature to more customers in the country. This lets Idea subscribers to buy any apps, e-books, games or in-app features from Google Play, and the money will be deducted from their prepaid account or will be added to their postpaid bill.

In line with earlier reports, Hayes also says that Android One partners will now have more freedom to ‘decide everything in terms of specification, pricing and when to launch’. Google will instead focus on the software and services bit.

Lava’s second-generation Android One smartphone Pixel V1 was criticized for its price (Rs 11,350), and lack of 4G support and specs that seemed like a compromise in comparison to its immediate rivals. With more freedom though, Android One partners will be able to offer competitive specs at an equally competitive price.

We are actively engaging with other major carriers. I can't give a specific date but we expect that in the short term, there will be several announcements that we would announcing with them. We have learnt a lot and are able to talk intelligibly what those opportunities are with the carriers.



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