Android One

Android One is a Google project marketed at developing nations. Silicon Valley based Google is attempting to capture as much of the mobile market in developing countries as possible, noticing a movement away from traditional desktop and laptop computers and toward mobile computing devices. Currently, smartphone use remains stratified within the developed countries in the West and East Asia, although there is a quickly growing trend of the adoption of such devices across India, Pakistan, the Philippines and other countries. Google wants its Android One in the palms of as many of these new users as possible.

The key draw of the Android One is its low price of around $100. This budget computing smartphone allows the denizens of developed countries to actually buy the damn things, as Apple’s products and high-end Samsung phones can cost as much as $650 and are thus out of the price range of billions of the world’s emerging middle classes across Asia.

However, Google is not entering into a virgin market. There are already competitors like Lenovo and China’s Xiaomi which have trounced strong competition like Samsung in the low to middle range smartphone competition in East Asia. Lenovo and Xiaomi are offering high-end performance at a low-end prices on their phones while Samsung’s low-end devices are often sputtering and inconsistent. Clearly, Google has its work cut out for it if it wishes to do battle against these types of competitors.

However, we should never count Google out, as they are at the top of the heap in terms of software and services. They seem to understand the market well and will be able to capitalize off of the mistakes made by past companies in order to successfully market a device which carries its brand’s cache and integrated software. These draws could add to Google’s successes in the mobile market.