Invites for a Google event to be held in India on September 15 have started winging their way to some folks and it’s been guessed that Android One will be unveiled to the press on the said date. Android One as we all know, is the program which has Google dictating the reference design that will let companies manufacture inexpensive devices running on the upcoming OS.
This is identical to what Mozilla is doing with its Firefox OS, though none of the Android One handsets may come close to being as cheap as the Intex Cloud FX. Google had added Celkon and Intex to the list after revealing Karbonn, Spice and Micromax as the partner OEMs appointed to bring the OS to India.
Today’s invitation sent by Google is practically a teaser which says ‘More details closer to the date!’ and nothing apart from that. But expectations are high and a lot of folks are hoping to see something tangible like actual Android One handsets at the event. One big attraction the OS may hold according to many, is its insistence on the stock version of Android.
Related post: Spice to reveal Android One device and a Firefox OS handset in India before Diwali
After all, there are dozens of Android handsets even cheaper than the minimum $99 price point Google is aiming for with its forthcoming release. What the company really wants here is to micromanage the consumer experience and push out software updates to as many gadgets as possible simultaneously, the way Apple does with its iOS upgrades.
Just like Mozilla did with Spreadtrum, Google has apparently signed a deal with MediaTek which will see the chip manufacturer’s cost-effective processors being used in Android One smartphones. With the hardware and software bit of it being resolved in the form of reference designs, bringing Android to the ‘next 5 billion people,’ shouldn’t be too challenging.
Sundar Pichai, Senior VP of Chrome and Apps at Google, may be present at the Android One event on September 15, predicts NDTV Gadgets.