What is Android One? Google's new affordable smartphone platform.

According to Wikipedia, Android One is a line of consumer electronics devices that run the Android Operating System. It is a standard created by Google for Android systems, mainly targeted at people buying their first smartphone and customers in the developing world. High end android phones like Samsung S4 or HTC One will not present a perfect starting platform for a new android convert, he will definitely be overwhelmed, bemused and at sea. Android one was developed to help the older generation who are finding it difficult to integrate into the smartphone generation to experience a hitch free transition. Like speculated, android one is not “class sensitive”. 

Low-end Android smartphones used to be terrible, with poorly optimized software running on inadequate hardware, resulting in an unattractive prospect for any savvy consumer on a budget. Why spend the extra money on an “upgrade” from your feature phone when the replacement was worse in terms of build quality, speed, and usability? Such low-end Android phones also typically suffered from poor custom UIs and resource-hogging bloat ware from mobile networks and handset manufacturers.

With Android One, Google has worked out a set of low-end components that can be assembled at low cost by manufacturers, but which are guaranteed to run the Android platform well.

Android one was basically developed to deliver high end experience to the low budget population. Android unlike other smartphone operating systems like ios and Windows is trying to remove the class strata initiated by these high end android users by making high end android experience accessible to all and sundry, no matter how ‘low budget’ your android phone is. 

There’s an obvious next step, though: developing countries. Many countries throughout Africa, South America, and much of Asia tend to have high populations and growing economies, yet smartphone adoption is only just starting to take hold. This android platform was launched in Nigeria by Infinix Mobility in their latest Infinix Hot 2. 

For Google, android is a business strategy. If everyone owns an android phone, everyone will use Gmail, use Google search engines, Google maps and advertise on Google platforms. It’s a game-over for Apple, their closest competitors. Only iPhones use iOS, almost all phone makers in the world use android operating system for their smartphones. The last time I checked, iPhone is still an elite brand, mostly demanded in developed countries where people have so much money to spare. Android will definitely dominate the global market share by an embarrassing margin.

In short, we probably won’t see another period of phenomenal smartphone growth in developed markets. Put simply, it’s ready to explode. Whoever comes up with a compelling smartphone offering specific to the needs and budgets of these countries stands to make a fortune, as well as gain a foothold in these emerging markets.

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