Google is set to take its low-cost smartphone initiative Android One to yet another level with its plans to launch sub $50 smartphones for the emerging markets.
While not giving way too many details, the search engine giant’s Southeast Asia managing director, Rajan Anandan, revealed that the new wave of Android One smartphones will cost as low as USD50, and a new plan in this direction will be unveiled in the next few weeks.
Launched last year, Android One is a platform that was meant to standardize the low cost smartphone market by bringing decent hardware and latest software to the average user of the developing world. However, the initiative has only met with lukewarm response. So far, less than a million Android One devices have been sold in India by local players such as Micromax, Karbonn and Spice collectively. The project has faced similar disappointment in the other six countries it was launched in.
But Anandan reiterated Google’s commitment to the initiate despite it having “not delivered to expectations.” In addition to significantly reduce the prices of Android One handsets, Google is also working on new apps and services designed to specifically cater to the Indian market. Google has been working on making its services like Google Search, YouTube and Google Maps friendlier for low-bandwidth environments like India for some time now.
Source: Financial Times
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