Android One launch in India: Similar devices,different initiative!

India is one of the fastest growing smartphone market in the Asia Pacific region. There is a significant portion of mobile user base in India which is shifting from feature phones to smartphones. If we quantify this opportunity it runs in a billion of dollars for the players in Mobile ecosystem. Only those vendor who will provide a great device experience in the entry level smartphone market will be strongly positioned to grab a bigger pie of this feature phone to smartphone shift. Hence Google with its Android one launch in India today will leave no stone unturned to make best use of this opportunity in a country like India where its market share has already hit a plateau.

With close to 94% market share in India Smartphone market it knows the next level of growth will come from users who are data hungry and are entering the smartphone ecosystem. After going through the entire launch, I can make out the below points which might work in Google’s favor:

• Improved User experience: Defining standard hardware and software will ensure that Google will provide better device experience to the existing and first time smartphone users with later being the most critical.

• Google services :Deeper Integration and wider reach of Google services to fist time smartphone users

• Overcoming language barriers: Support for seven regional languages will ensure that it can adjust to the regional variation of device preferences in India.

• Operator Support: The partnership with network operators like Airtel and Reliance communications to offer bundled data packs and free data for App and software downloads will surely grab some interest from end consumers.

• Aggressive Pricing: Although today launches by Micromax, Karbonn and Spice lies between 6k-7k price band which won’t give these vendors immediate price advantage but Google has hinted that going forward it will launch devices both above and below this price band.

Though majority of the points might not act as a key differentiator for Android one devices but Google’s services and support along with improved user experience can be a master stroke going forward.

But then it’s not just Google sensing the opportunity arising out of featurephone to smartphone shift

Competition Perspective: Lately we have seen the entry of Mozilla’s Firefox mobile OS in India promising to empower millions of Indians wanting to buy their first smartphone and Individual Chinese vendors like Xiaomi disrupting the price vs spec benchmarks with the entry level smartphone like Redmi 1S.Apart from this Microsoft with its newly aligned strategy is also aiming to breach lower price points.

From the devices perspective the benchmarks in India smartphone market is changing not over a quarter but almost after every smartphone launch. Post Moto G launch in India we have seen existing and new smartphone entrants in India breaching lower price points. This has ensured that even Tier One brands like Samsung, Nokia, and Motorola etc. are ready to sacrifice device margins and bring their offerings to lower price points to compete with existing India and Chinese handset vendors. As a result of it the Sub 6k India smartphone market has become the most competitive among all price segments.

Below is a quick comparison of Android one with existing popular devices in India:

A quick glance shows that Android one phone haven’t exactly surpassed the competition in specs benchmarks and the price vs spec war is only going to be more intense in coming times. To conclude I believe Android one is a good initiative by Google especially at a time when festive season is around the corner but going forward it needs to breach lower price points faster as compared to its competitors and set benchmarks rather than chasing them.