Google Bets on Cheap Smartphones for India
NEW DELHI—Google Inc. is pushing to become a significant player in India's huge wireless industry as a range of little-known Indian handset makers release low-cost devices that include the tech giant's Android operating system in coming months.
Context & Ripple Effects
Android arrives in India on a steep 2010 curve: Gartner ranked it the world's third most popular smartphone operating system in August and the number-one platform in the US the same month, while Quantcast measured it at 25% of American mobile web browsing against iOS — together, per the September reporting, evidence of a shift in the smartphone balance of power toward Google's platform.
This move extends that momentum downmarket and abroad. Rather than chasing premium hardware, Google is enlisting little-known Indian handset makers to ship low-cost Android devices in coming months, positioning the company as a significant player in India's huge wireless industry at exactly the price tier where unit volumes are made.
First-order effects
- Indian handset makers shipping these devices gain a globally competitive smartphone OS for the low end of the market, while Google gets its software preloaded on phones aimed at first-time smartphone buyers.
- Rival operating systems competing for India's entry-level handset segment now face a platform backed by the company holding the top US smartphone position since August 2010.
Second-order effects
- Developers follow the installed base: a wave of low-cost Android devices expands the addressable market for the Android Marketplace, where a June report already found about 20% of 48,000 apps allowing third-party access to sensitive or private information — meaning security practices will face mass-market scrutiny as the base widens beyond the US.
- Indian wireless operators gain a cheaper smartphone supply line to attach service plans to, deepening Google's stake in the wireless industry itself rather than just the handset layer.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, smartphone OS competition settles increasingly at the entry-price tier of emerging markets: whoever local manufacturers preload captures the volume, compounding the shift in platform power toward Android that 2010's US and global rankings already register.
The trend: Smartphone platforms are winning share by moving downmarket through local manufacturers, making emerging-market volume rather than premium hardware the decisive battleground for mobile OS share.