One of the many significant announcements at the recent Google I/O developers conference was Android One. The program was formally unveiled with one central goal in mind, reaching the next 5 billion people in the world. These are the ones without a smartphone, mostly in emerging markets like India, China and so on. Google will be partnering with companies in the supply chain to provide a turnkey solution for many OEMs that are currently driving the budget smartphone segment in emerging markets. Android One involves a combination of affordable reference hardware, handpicked by Google, and stock Android software, with updates directly from Mountain View. The first three OEMs to sign up for this program are from India, which has familiar, but rather important, implications for the budget smartphone market.
For explaining how this will affect the market, lets first take a sample of it in its current form. Right now, OEMs like Lava, Karbonn, Xolo, Micromax and Spice often compete with very similar phones. They mostly all have the same set of specifications at the intersection of many price points, appropriate for that set of hardware, which leads us to believe certain things about them.
One, they are already buying reference hardware and modified software from many companies in China, all sporting either MediaTek, Qualcomm or Broadcom chipsets. They all come with near-stock software, but with small modifications in skinning which includes different styles or just icons. Taking the MediaTek example here, if there is one thing that’s standard, it’s the MediaTek camera app that’s on every phone out there running on the Taiwanese company’s own chipsets. This is a custom app written to support MediaTek’s own ISPs for imaging and video, and apart from the mild skinning treatment, it is literally the same on most phones, be it Micromax, Karbonn or Lava. This is the product of a combination of reference hardware from chip companies, and software, without Google’s intervention, and hence based on the Android open source project.
Two, there is business in App bundling. This industry has been a by product of Android’s famous advantage of flexibility. You could literally take AOSP, make modifications, add a few pre-loaded apps as a part of marketing-related deals, package it with the firmware for the reference hardware and ship. This is precisely what the current market looks like, at least from an outsider’s perspective. OEMs have the bundling business model mainly because of the low margins in hardware and the constant price wars with fellow OEMs. But accommodating bundling along with mostly non-updatable software from chip makers makes updates inconsistent for their phones, and in the end, users will be left behind in terms of catching up with Google.
Android One is a solution. By having influence over what hardware these OEMs use, Google can promise Android updates the same time it hits Nexus devices, by just slightly increasing the hardware support which already includes Google Play edition devices. This is a win for the user, but by handing control over software to Google, OEMs will be at a loss when it comes to app bundling. This is also somewhat a user facing problem as most bundled apps occupy space and non-removable from storage due to policies. So, Google is providing a solution for that too, through Play Store Auto Installs, which will automatically install the OEM-specified apps, but users will be able to uninstall them if they wish. Again, a win for the user.
Google has said that they are not subsidizing Android One devices, like they did with the Nexus, but will only be a guiding direction on reference hardware. This is much like the Play edition devices that HTC, Samsung and LG already partner with Google on. But this is also the first time that Google will be directly involved in the hardware business of Android OEMs, as it’s based on its partnership with MediaTek, reports Digitimes. Sundar Pichai showed a Micromax device off on stage, as a proof of concept. The device carried a dual SIM slot, stock Android software and SD card functionality, which along with a 4.5″ screen, makes its 100$ price tag look very impressive. Sundar also stressed the necessity of the OEMs to be able to make phones faster, which will be bolstered through help with reference designs. He also said that Google is working with carriers in the Indian market to provide affordable data connectivity to users. So, Google will be taking control over the AOSP based Smartphone market through Android One, making sure that even budget smartphones get the best user experience, as well as all the latest updates that Google will be pushing on the Android platform.
For us consumers, the budget smartphone segment just got even more exciting. Basically, every other OEM will be able to get the same access as, say, a Nexus or previously, a Motorola device. Updates will be consistent and proper, there will be an option to uninstall any pre-installed app we want, and there are murmurs that even the SD card app support issue has been fixed in Android L. From here on, we can expect a consistent Google experience on all Android devices, with no lack in updates and affordable hardware to go along with it. The OEMs on the other hand will still be able to continue their bundling business and even offer a better user experience, by focusing on after sales support, may be. Only time can tell if Android One takes off as Google wants it to, but until then, at least consumers can be assured of a better user experience in these upcoming devices.
What do you think of Android One? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.