MediaTek is hoping over two million Android One smartphones will be sold in India this year. The Taiwan based company has associated with Google for latter's ambitious Android One programme, aimed to deliver high quality smartphone experience on low cost devices for consumers, especially in emerging markets such as India.
"We expect 1.5-2 million Android One handsets to be sold this year in India," MediTek VP (US business development) Mohit Bhushan told PTI. He also pointed out that the mix of software and hardware on Android One will give good experience to users. It's notable first range of Android One devices are powered by MediaTek's MT6582 SoC.
There's a lot of expectations from Google's Android One phones, and many believe it to be as successful as the Nexus smartphone line up. Under the Android One initiative, Google has tighter control on the hardware, and provides stock on Android with a promise of future software upgrade. Read: Android One launch: All you need to know and Google Android One: First impressions & its potential impact in India
The first set of Android One phones were launched in partnership with Micromax, Karbonn and Spice with price starting at Rs. 6,399.
Praveen Bhadada, Director – Market Expansion, Zinnov, believes Google's initiative has the potential to help people switch from feature phones to
“Android One is a great new beginning and a sign of strategic importance that Google is giving to the Indian market for its mobile play. We believe that Google has got the strategy right by offering a low cost device with quality hardware specs, free data (for apps & YouTube etc.) and free content subscriptions for users. We expect AndroidOne to standardize the smartphone experience across users and drive millions of feature phone users to adopt smartphones in the near future. This opens up tremendous opportunities for device manufacturers, data service providers, app developers and technology retailers in India and other similar emerging markets.”
PwC India Leader (telecom) Mohammad Chowdhury is quoted as saying: "The festive season regularly sees an uptick in handset sales and we should expect this in the next few months. In particular there is hot competition in the segment priced from Rs 7,000 upwards."
Also read: Hands on: Android One phones from Micromax and Karbonn
Source: TimesofIndia