Google To Launch Android One Devices At Fresh Price Points
BANGALORE: Google’s Android One to face some challenges in the market, despite the challenge Google is planning to launch android one device at fresh price points, reports Business Line.
Android One devices were the fastest to sell, around 5 lakh Android One devices had been sold by Micromax, Karbonn and Spice.
Now they have come up with plan to start a marketing campaign, to create an awareness programme and also started partnerships with new manufacturers.
Android can now run on devices even with relatively modest specifications and with KitKat, it is likely to be lightweight. Powerful hardware is not required to run HD videos, 3D games and your preferred apps smoothly.
Sandeep Menon, Director of Marketing at Google India, said: “We continue to get strong consumer demand. We track things like average number of people walking into stores and asking for Android One devices. From that perspective we are extremely happy.”
“Pricing and margins for retailers are in the hands of the OEM partners but we are constantly engaged with them. Our engineers are working with new suppliers in China to benefit OEM partners in terms of choice and availability,” Menon said.
“We don’t have Android One in all segments. In the segment that we have devices we have excellent numbers to show,” he said.
Prashant Bindal, CEO of Spice Mobility, said “That with affordable price points and a high-end experience, Android One will drive strong demand in this category.”
Spice has sold one lakh units in two months and expects bringing 1.5 lakh units to the market very shortly.
Menon said that to make Android One devices more attractive, Google would make sure that its users would be among the first to get the Lollipop Android update. And also to ensure that availability of devices improves in terms of the number of offline stores.
He also added “We don’t think it will be a success unless we make it successful across all channels. Just because we are an Internet company we don’t have a bias against offline trade. In fact, we are working with our partners to increase our offline coverage.”
Krishna Kumar, CEO, Spice Hotspot, said “There has been not a single complaint for the product till date from across the country. It has been one of the best-selling products in that price band at our stores across India,” said Kumar.
Shashin Devsare, Executive Director, Karbonn Mobiles, said: “We are highly optimistic about the growth of the project and are currently in the midst of finalising the roadmap for introducing the next wave of Android devices, with larger displays, early next year.”
Google is also creating awareness about Android One’s features through 30,000 brand ambassadors deployed at various retail outlets to create awareness about Android One’s features.
READ MORE: 5 Strong Reasons That Make iPhone 6 Plus Your Only Choice
