Knowledge is a game changer. I’ve long been
inspired by the Internet and how it opens the
doors to opportunity. It provides access to
knowledge, no matter who you are or where
you are. For instance, it doesn’t matter if
you’re a Nobel Laureate at a world-class
research center or a young student at a rural
school in Indonesia, with Google Search, you
have the same information at your fingertips
as anyone else.
If we look at how people are getting online
and accessing information today, increasingly
it’s through a smartphone. While 1.75 billion
people around the world already have a
smartphone, the vast majority of the world’s
population—over five billion more—do not.
That means most people are only able to
make simple voice calls, rather than connect
with family through a live video chat, use
mapping apps to find the closest hospital, or
simply search the web. We want to bring
these experiences to more people.
That’s where Android One comes in. At I/O,
we first talked about this initiative to make
high-quality smartphones accessible to as
many people as possible. And today we’re
introducing the first family of Android One
phones in India .
Addressing key barriers—hardware,
software and connectivity
There are three big reasons why it’s hard for
people in countries such as India, Indonesia
or the Philippines to get their hands on a
high-quality smartphone. First, is the
hardware itself. Even entry-level smartphones
still remain out of reach for many (bear in
mind that in some of these countries the
average monthly income is around $250).
Second, many people in these markets do not
have access to the latest Android software and
popular applications. Finally, even where 3G
and 4G networks are available, not enough
people have phones that can support data and
the plans can be expensive.
Android One aims to help tackle these
challenges. By working closely with phone and
silicon chip makers to share reference designs
and select components, we’re making it easier
for our partners to build phones that are not
just great to use, but also affordable. They
have lots of processing power, so you can get
information quickly. They have high-quality
front- and rear-facing cameras. And for all
those pictures, along with your apps and
videos, Android One phones will have
expandable storage. We also added features
that people in India will find particularly
useful, like dual SIM cards, a replaceable
battery and built-in FM radio.
To help ensure a consistent experience,
Android One devices will receive the latest
versions of Android directly from Google. So
you’ll get all the latest features, up-to-date
security patches, and peace of mind knowing
your stuff is always backed up. It also means
Android One devices will be some of the first
to be updated to the Android L release later
this year. For our hardware partners, they’ll
be able to create customized experiences and
differentiate their devices without having to
change the core software.
In an effort to reduce data costs, if you have
an Airtel SIM card, you’ll get these software
updates for free for the first six months. As
part of this same Airtel offer, you’ll also be
able to download up to 200MB per month
worth of your favorite apps (that’s about 50
apps overall) from Google Play—all without
counting toward your mobile data usage.
More to come
This is just the beginning of the Android One
journey. The first phones, from our hardware
partners Micromax, Karbonn, Spice and
chipmaker MediaTek, are available starting
today in India from leading retailers starting
at Rs 6,399 . We’re also excited to welcome
more partners to the program, including
phone manufacturers Acer, Alcatel Onetouch,
ASUS, HTC, Intex, Lava, Lenovo, Panasonic,
Xolo, and chipmaker Qualcomm. We expect to
see even more high-quality, affordable
devices with different screen sizes, colors,
hardware configurations and customized
software experiences. Finally, we plan to
expand the Android One program to
Indonesia, the Philippines and South Asia
(Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka)
by the end of the year, with more countries to
follow in 2015.
Access for access’s sake is not enough. With
Android One, we not only want to help people
get online, we want to make sure that when
they get there, they can tap into the wealth of
information and knowledge the web holds for
everyone.
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