Google’s flagship Nexus One mobile handset will be redesigned for India. The handset will be a simplified cousin of the one that was launched in USA in January and will also be priced more economically, according to Digital Inspiration. Is this Google’s way of taking on Nokia, which has a market share of 55.9 percent in the handset market in India (according to IDC)? It’ll have to do more.
Why Dumb Down A Smart Phone?
We wonder if this stripping down of features is strictly necessary – there is a market for high end smartphones in India too. Google might want to appeal to the majority of the 500 million mobile users in India who use low end handsets, but it need not have to adopt such an either-or strategy. Why not develop another phone designed for the masses and call it the Google Indi Nexus One or something appropriate?
What We Think Might Change
The NexusOne currently has a 5 megapixel camera with LED flash, which can be trimmed. Since Google believes that India is still not a smartphone friendly country, they might do away with Wi-Fi and HSDPA, HSUPA. So power requirements come down drastically, and battery type might change. Hopefully not.
The Google Nexus One is expected to arrive in India sometime in the fourth quarter of 2010. Incidentally, that’s when Microsoft’s Windows Phone Series 7 will also be launched. Exciting times ahead.
We learnt of this news, via Labnol, from tweets by CNBC-TV18 anchor and producer Ankit Vengurlekar, who was talking to Shailesh Rao, MD of Google India, a few days ago.
Related
- African Mi-Fone Launches In India
- MWC 2010: Android & Microsoft Windows 7 Series
- Mobile India 2010: No Innovation In VAS; Why G1, Nexus One Weren’t Launched In India
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3 Comments until now.
I'd much prefer a cheaper Android phone, than an obsolete Windows Phone. At least Android has a viable software market with new titles coming all the time. Android is also a modern operating system designed for touch interface.
What Microsoft is doing is worse. Microsoft has superceded Windows Mobile Phones, by introducing its next phone platform known as WP7S, or 7-Series. However, Microsoft is hoping to sell the older obsolete Windows Phones in India, which use the obsolete Windows Mobile operating system.
We need a cheaper dumbed down Google!
The Google as it is, is just way too smart for us.
very bad idea google. smarter idea is to launch both. apple only entered the high-end market in india and was forced to exit, red-faced. two products at two endpoints will cover the entire broad range of users for a start.
i for one, want the original, nexus one, and not in Q4, 2010, but Q2, 2010. the scenario will change even more dramatically by the fourth quarter.