(By Riddhi Mukherjee & Vikas SN) It looks like Google is planning a big marketing campaign for its Android One smartphone initiative, that was introduced in Google I/O last month. The company has told its potential partners that it would be spending closer to $1 billion dollars to promote these phones starting later this year, according to a source-based The Information report (subscription required). This will include subsidizing the smartphones to get them under the $100 price range. An The Economic Times report also cites sources to suggest that Google will be spending more than Rs 100 crore with its partners on advertising and marketing these Android One smartphones. It notes that these phones would be launched around Diwali period (October) in the country, when Google's Senior vice president (Android, Chrome & Apps) Sundar Pichai is expected to visit India. We had earlier anticipated an October launch since the handset sales are typically very strong during the Diwali period. Why Android One is significant for Google? This initiative will be very significant for Google to increase the penetration of Android smartphones in the country. As we stated earlier, this program has the potential to significantly change the existing handset market in India for good. While we do have sub-$100 smartphones in the market, these phones typically are lower-specced, hence providing users with a sub-par experience. With this initiative, one could expect decent entry-level smartphones (hopefully Moto E-like devices) at prices below Rs 5,000, which could significantly drive the smartphone penetration in the country. As per the latest IDC report, the smartphone penetration in India was only 10% in Q1 2014,…
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