6 months ago at Google I/O there was only one reference to his homeland that Sundar Pichai made and it was all about what the company he now has widespread influence over in various leadership roles is doing to make sure it stays dominant at a time when everyone from Samsung, Microsoft and homegrown companies are aligning themselves to take over. With the launch of the Android One program three months after that, Google has done just as Mr Pichai had stated and is now going full board with its plans to make Android One devices the go-to devices in emerging markets as it expands the program to neigbhouring Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal.
Bangladesh-based Symphony will launch the Roar A50 into the Bangladesh market while Android One launch partners Karbonn, Micromax and Spice will fill in the rest. This is happening immediately as the Karbonn Android One devices are said to be already available in online stores in the said countries.
Google is banking on Android One, a program that provides a “true” Android experience as envisaged by Google devoid of custom skins and additional bloat from manufacturers and vendors and with timely updates to the latest version of Android at an affordable price, to help it reach the next 5 billion mobile phone users. Android itself already surpassed the 1 billion mark with devices well over that number activated so far and it is the masses currently making the switch from dumb phones to smartphones that present an opportunity to grow since the smartphone market is saturated in traditional smartphone markets like the West. We expect Google to continue with its Android One push in Asia as it eyes Latin America and Africa next.
