Android One programme resurrected
SAN FRANCISCO/BANGALORE: Google is teaming up with China’s Xiaomi Corp to resurrect its Android One smartphone programme for India, revamping a stalled effort to showcase its mobile software for users in emerging markets.
Xiaomi’s Mi A1 dual-camera device went on sale on Tuesday for 14,999 rupees ($234) and will be its first under the Android One banner.
Alphabet Inc’s search giant started the project in India three years ago to get affordable phones in circulation sporting the latest features, a persistent weakness when compared with Apple Inc’s pricier and often beefier iPhones. But early partners, particularly in India, couldn’t sell enough of the devices and interest waned.
The Indian partnership marks a departure from Google’s earlier cheap-gadgets approach, and is intended to shore up their presence in the world’s fastest-growing smartphone market. The Mi A1 is a midrange phone that will be sold in countries from Indonesia and Vietnam to Russia and Mexico.
Xiaomi, now the No. 2 brand in India, is looking outside China to rejuvenate growth and arrest market share losses. Google wants more users while ultimately imposing order on a fragmented Android ecosystem.
“Google came to us in the fourth quarter of last year as they were seeking to evolve their Android One programme,” Xiaomi’s senior vice president Wang Xiang wrote in an email. “The Mi A1 is an entirely new type of device.”
“The all-aluminium smartphone is Xiaomi’s first with a dual camera to be launched in India, and comes with free unlimited storage of photos and videos,’’ he added. “Devices will be better optimised for Google’s digital voice-based Assistant.’’
Launched in India at the end of 2014, Android One was a signature project of chief executive officer Sundar Pichai, then Google’s Android head.
A native of the country, he pushed to get more people in emerging markets online and thus onto Google’s services. He also advocated fixes to Android’s fragmentation, where most phones with Google’s software run older, less secure versions of the operating system.
Android One — envisioned as a way to sell affordable devices with up-to-date software by collaborating with hardware vendors — aimed to hit both goals.
At the outset, Google said it was setting manufacturing reference points so partners could sell devices for near $100.
India’s three biggest phone makers — Micromax, Spice and Karbonn — released a bunch of models priced around that level, but sales were underwhelming. Then came a lull in launches as the programme seemed to falter.
Xiaomi’s new phone is aimed at the middle market, reaching fewer Indian buyers but avoiding the intensely competitive low end, where brand affiliation matters less and margins are thin.
Xiaomi wouldn’t share sales targets but said the device would be sold online and offline, via Mi.com, Mi Home stores as well as through e-commerce partners and brick & mortar retailers.