Google's About-To-Launch Android One Smartphones Could Further Its Dominance In Emerging Markets

Google will reveal the first of its series of low-cost phones under the much-awaited Android One, an initiative through which it provides a key set of references for hardware to help device manufacturers make low-cost phones. The phones will be unveiled by Sundar Pichai, Google’s SVP of Android, Chrome & Apps in New Delhi on Sept 15.

India is a natural launching ground for the platform that Google eventually wants to take to other economies. The country is the world’s fastest-growing smartphone market where millions of users are making the transition from low-end feature phones to more sophisticated devices. This market opportunity in India and other emerging economies is widely referred to as the ‘next billion’.

Google collaborated with leading Indian device makers Micromax, Karbonn and Spice on the first of the Android One phones.

Most smartphones in India are sold at the lowest end of a wide price band while premium gadgets, such as Apple’s latest iPhone 6 which is to start selling in India next month, will garner a much smaller market share.

Pichai first divulged the details of Google’s Android One initiative in June this year at Google’s annual I/O conference as a move to take the platform to markets where low-priced phones with fewer features and less memory are in high demand. The new Android One phones could be priced around $100 price but Google indicated that it could work with mobile carriers to package the devices with inexpensive internet connectivity. That could turn out to be the real game-changer.

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Sundar Pichai speaking at the Google I/O conference in San Francisco on June 25, 2014

By customizing the operating system and other software and bundling it with Google’s own services such as its search engine, Android One will help scale up the market for Google (and provide it more opportunities to serve ads) through millions of such low-cost phones.

The race to make the cheapest smartphone packed with features is only going to get fiercer as newer platforms challenge Android’s supremacy. Last month, device maker Intex launched its first Mozilla Firefox-powered $35 smartphone through online retailer, Snapdeal.