Google announces Android One program for emerging markets, starting from India

At the Google I/O event on Wednesday, the search engine giant announced a new initiative called Android One that is aimed to help in reducing the cost of smartphones making it affordable to develop and release the devices. This program will be focus on the OEMs that are involved in making smartphones in emerging markets, thereby helping Google to grab an even more significant market share with the Android phones.

Sundar Pichai, the Android head discussed the prevalence of the smartphones in emerging nations such as India. He claimed that only 10% of the users in such markets have a smartphone and hence, the program aimed towards the affordability of smartphones can help resolving this issue.

The first ever smartphone that will arrive as a part of this Android One program will be from Micromax, the leading India based smartphone manufacturer. Its upcoming Android One handset will pack the important features such as dual SIM support, FM Radio and microSD card besides being priced low. The sub $100 (approx. Rs 6,000) phone will be cheaper than the best selling Moto E smartphone. It is claimed to feature a 4.5 -inch display, however its resolution and other specifications remain unknown.

The Android One program guarantees that the smartphones that are a part of this initiative will run on the most recent Android release and Google will push the updates to these handsets just like how it does for Nexus and Google Play Edition devices.

The Google executive also announced that apart from Micromax other phone makers based in India such as Spice and Karbonn will also take part in the Android One program. Also, the firm is working with several wireless providers to reduce the cost of the wireless plans.