Google will not give up on its fledgling Android One platform, said Caesar Sengupta, vice president of product management. Android One is a project meant to bring very-low-cost Android handsets to emerging markets.
Speaking to the Economic Times, Sengupta indicated the company has learned several lessons during the initial launch. To start, it ran into distribution problems and the initial batch of devices were hurt by low visibility. Further, Google’s hardware partners have not provided system updates. Google admits it has shipped about 800,000 devices so far in a country of 1.25 billion. Sengupta insists its OEM partners have not given up, despite reports to the contrary.
Handset makers in India release a staggering 1,200 new phones per year. Google is looking to add more features to the platform and expects a new round of devices to reach the market in the months ahead.
