Micromax Planning To Enter Electric Vehicles Segment; Founders Register New Co. 'Micromax Mobility'

Homegrown smartphone maker Micromax is reportedly planning to enter the electric vehicles (EV) market, likely with two-wheelers, said a report by Techcrunch.

As per the regulatory filing, Micromax co-founders Vikas Jain, Rajesh Agarwal and Sumeet Kumar incorporated a company named "Micromax Mobility", signalling towards the company's next venture.

Citing two of its sources, privy to the development, the Techcrunch report said that Micromax is already renovating one of its offices in Gurugram to kick off work on the new venture.

In recent months, the company has seen layoffs of its top executives which was said to be in line to step in the EV manufacturing step. Co-founder Vikas Jain has also departed the firm who once replaced the Co-founder Rahul Sharma as Managing Director.

It is to be noted however that Micromax has not made any official announcement of any EV Venture though it is being speculated that the news of same might come in the upcoming days. For Micromax, it would be difficult to compete in over crowded segment of electric 2-Wheelers, where Ola Electric, Ather Energy, Ultraviolette, Tork Motors, Ampere, and other local EV companies as well as joint ventures already have a firm grip.

To recall, in 2019, Micromax's other co-founder Rahul Sharma’s electric two-wheeler startup Revolt Intellicorp had launched two electric motorcycles with what the it calls the first plan in India that offers motorcycle-as-a-service. In the same year, Micromax also participated in $2.2 Mn funding round of electric mobility service provider BlueSmart Mobility. 

Founded in 2019, by Rahul Sharma, Revolt Motors (formerly Revolt Intellicorp) is a next-gen mobility company that had introduced India's first Al-enabled motorcycle. The EV Startup has raised about $20 million in corporate funding, from RattanIndia Enterprises. 

Earlier, Chinese media outlets reported that Chinese smartphone maker Huawei might launch its "first pure electric sports sedan", Huawei Luxeed, featuring HarmonyOS 4, which will be released this quarter.

Micromax Unveils Its New Brand Avatar - ‘in’

focused on delivering disruptive products for performance seeking gamers and content creators, ‘in’ is set to represent India in the smartphone segment

Micromax Informatics Ltd., India’s very own consumer electronics brand, today unveiled a new sub brand- ‘in’, as it makes a comeback in the smartphone segment. The announcement comes on the heels of the PLI approvals sanctioned by the Government of India, moving a step closer to realising the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat. 

Mr. Rahul Sharma, Co-founder, Micromax launched the ‘in’ brand earlier today on the company’s digital handles. On the brand introduction of ‘in’, he said, “We are delighted to make a comeback in the India market with our sub brand ‘in’. When you have the word India or ‘in’ on you, it gives you a sense of responsibility.The weight of a billion hopes. But bigger than anything is the pride it gives. Our endeavour is to bring India on the global smartphone map again with 'in' mobiles. 

India is one the top five mobile gaming markets in the world, and with the ‘in’ brand we will provide a bona fide choice that will allow consumers to edge ahead with high performance oriented products, without infringing on their privacy.” 

The new avatar is inspired by the fun, bold and aspirational Indian millennials, who are looking for performance oriented products for their digital journey on the go and are set to drive India’s success story. The brand colour and overall visual identity is inspired by India’s blue colours - the blue that we are recognized by. With its brand promise to bring uncompromised performance and a secure user experience, Micromax plans to holistically build and grow the smartphone ecosystem, where Indian consumers can truly benefit.



To begin the strategic re-entry into the smartphone segment, Micromax plans to invest INR 500 crore and will build products from ground-up for the new-age Indian consumer. It will be introducing a new range of smartphones under the ‘in’ brand.

Micromax has state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities across 2 locations in India including Bhiwadi and Hyderabad. The brand has a capacity of producing over 2 million phones per month. Furthermore, the brand is working on strengthening its already established retail and distribution network. Currently it has a retail presence of more 10K+ outlets and over 1000+ service centres across India.

Micromax has many firsts to its credit including the Longest Battery Phone, Dual SIM Phone, Qwerty Device, Gaming Device, Women’s Line of Devices, Universal Remote Control Phone, MTV Phone, Dockable Bluetooth Device and Edutainment Tablet.

Micromax Invests in Gurgaon-based Chatbot App Startup 'One Labs' To Pre-Embed In Its Devices

India's mobile handset manufacturer Micromax has invested in an artificial intelligence-enabled Chatbot startup 'One Labs', which has developed chat bot like Apple's Siri and Google Assistant. The amount of investment has not been disclosed however.

With this, Micromax Informatics -- the world’s 10th largest handset maker -- will bring users closer to smarter user experiences. The move further highlights Micromax’s focus towards providing best in class services to its consumers, by strategically collaborating with top partners to provide customized offerings to its users. In the past, Micromax has partnered with and made investment in some of the leading technology startups like Ixigo, Healthifyme, IndusOS, Gaana.com and others, to develop strategically relevant deployments of software that leverage its consumer footprint. Notably, in early 2017 Micromax had setup a $100 million fund for investing in startups.

The homegrown mobile handset maker is seeking recognition beyond just a mobile handset manufacturer and thus with investments in new-age startups, aims to diversify its offerings. Since 2015, its trying to match up with brands like Apple and Samsung. In the same year, the company had also filed for four of hardware patents.

The funding will be used by the startup for further product development and have 200+ apps on the platform within the next 12 months by opening inOne to third party developers and making it an instant app platform. Combining 50+ apps in less than 10 Mb required a mammoth tech effort and the team has several patents in the pipeline on their technology.

One Labs was founded in 2015 by Rahul Gupta from IIT Kanpur/IIM Bangalore/Cornell University, Ankit Sharma from PEC Chandigarh and Aashish Gupta from PEC Chandigarh. They have raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding from Puneet Gupta of Executive Director at Goldman Sachs, Savio Joseph Director of UBS and Vinay Gupta Executive Director of DBS.

The flagship product of One Labs, ‘inOne’ is a a services conglomerate and transaction engine app. It can be used to get Movies, Shop, Groceries, Cabs, Home Services and more within a single app.



In addition, One Labs has also created an AI-enabled voice/chatbot solution called One Assistant which packages services provided on ‘inOne’ in a virtual assistant format. The company has released a short comparison on how the One Assistant outperforms Siri and Google Assistant in a variety of use cases.





Comparison of One Assistant with Google Assistant and Siri

Post this funding, ‘inOne’ will be pre-embedded in Micromax devices and will further augment the features available to users on its Around platform.

Vikas Jain, Co-Founder, Micromax Informatics said, “At Micromax our emphasis is to drive innovations through software and services that would add a layer to the device eco-system. A large chunk of our efforts are now concentrated on coming up with products and services which act as solutions to the needs of the fast-evolving consumers, empowering them with the latest technological innovations and eventually becoming an extension of their lifestyle. Given the fact that, artificial intelligence is the future of device ecosystem, we look forward to seeing how the partnership with One Labs will enable us to enhance user experience even further”.

Rahul Gupta, the CEO and Co-founder, One Labs said, “We are proud to be working Micromax to bring over 100 million Micromax consumers closer to our compelling platform. While phone hardware is getting smarter and more efficient, we wanted to make apps smarter. Like Mobiles replaced pagers, we forsee that in a few years all in one apps like inOne will replace the need to download separate apps for different use cases.”

inOne – The All in One App Platform

The inOne platform currently hosts 50+ apps, combined in a neat package of under 10mb and can be downloaded from the Google Play Store. Some of the apps accessible on the inOne platform are Zomato, Ola, Uber, Flipkart, Amazon, Snapdeal, Housejoy, Nearbuy, Urban Clap, ixigo and BookMyShow. By virtue of combining apps, inOne enables price comparison across categories. For instance, Shoppr and TabShop @inOne compares prices across Flipkart, Amazon, Snapdeal and Paytm. So whether it is buying a phone or camera or anything else -- the user gets the best price possible.

In addition, the low memory footprint of inOne drastically helps save space of upto 3GB and reduce background activity on your mobile device. This significantly improves the performance and battery life -- a core problem faced by all smartphone users.

Related Reading - Anatomy of Bots, Chatbots and Virtual Assistants

To recall, last July Freshworks (formerly Freshdesk) acquired a chatbot startup called Joe Hukum, which too was based out of Gurgaon. Later, in the same year, an another Gurgaon based AI chatbot startup iDelivr got acquired by Phonon Communications.

The year 2017 was dominated by various chatbot activities as Amazon launched chatbot tools for developers, to help them build chat features into their own app while Microsoft launched India-specific chatbot called Ruuh, which later got wind up by the company however.

According to a survey report by Oracle, it was revealed that about 80 per cent of the companies surveyed are interested in making use of chatbots within a period of next 4 years so as to take their customer service to another level.

Top-Most Image - L to R: Aashish Gupta, Ankit Sharma, Rahul Gupta (Co-Founders inOne), Vikas Jain (Co-Founder Micromax)

Micromax Invests in Gurgaon-based Chatbot App Startup 'One Labs' To Pre-Embed In Its Devices

India's mobile handset manufacturer Micromax has invested in an artificial intelligence-enabled Chatbot startup 'One Labs', which has developed chat bot like Apple's Siri and Google Assistant. The amount of investment has not been disclosed however.

With this, Micromax Informatics -- the world’s 10th largest handset maker -- will bring users closer to smarter user experiences. The move further highlights Micromax’s focus towards providing best in class services to its consumers, by strategically collaborating with top partners to provide customized offerings to its users. In the past, Micromax has partnered with and made investment in some of the leading technology startups like Ixigo, Healthifyme, IndusOS, Gaana.com and others, to develop strategically relevant deployments of software that leverage its consumer footprint. Notably, in early 2017 Micromax had setup a $100 million fund for investing in startups.

The homegrown mobile handset maker is seeking recognition beyond just a mobile handset manufacturer and thus with investments in new-age startups, aims to diversify its offerings. Since 2015, its trying to match up with brands like Apple and Samsung. In the same year, the company had also filed for four of hardware patents.

The funding will be used by the startup for further product development and have 200+ apps on the platform within the next 12 months by opening inOne to third party developers and making it an instant app platform. Combining 50+ apps in less than 10 Mb required a mammoth tech effort and the team has several patents in the pipeline on their technology.

One Labs was founded in 2015 by Rahul Gupta from IIT Kanpur/IIM Bangalore/Cornell University, Ankit Sharma from PEC Chandigarh and Aashish Gupta from PEC Chandigarh. They have raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding from Puneet Gupta of Executive Director at Goldman Sachs, Savio Joseph Director of UBS and Vinay Gupta Executive Director of DBS.

The flagship product of One Labs, ‘inOne’ is a a services conglomerate and transaction engine app. It can be used to get Movies, Shop, Groceries, Cabs, Home Services and more within a single app.



In addition, One Labs has also created an AI-enabled voice/chatbot solution called One Assistant which packages services provided on ‘inOne’ in a virtual assistant format. The company has released a short comparison on how the One Assistant outperforms Siri and Google Assistant in a variety of use cases.





Comparison of One Assistant with Google Assistant and Siri

Post this funding, ‘inOne’ will be pre-embedded in Micromax devices and will further augment the features available to users on its Around platform.

Vikas Jain, Co-Founder, Micromax Informatics said, “At Micromax our emphasis is to drive innovations through software and services that would add a layer to the device eco-system. A large chunk of our efforts are now concentrated on coming up with products and services which act as solutions to the needs of the fast-evolving consumers, empowering them with the latest technological innovations and eventually becoming an extension of their lifestyle. Given the fact that, artificial intelligence is the future of device ecosystem, we look forward to seeing how the partnership with One Labs will enable us to enhance user experience even further”.

Rahul Gupta, the CEO and Co-founder, One Labs said, “We are proud to be working Micromax to bring over 100 million Micromax consumers closer to our compelling platform. While phone hardware is getting smarter and more efficient, we wanted to make apps smarter. Like Mobiles replaced pagers, we forsee that in a few years all in one apps like inOne will replace the need to download separate apps for different use cases.”

inOne – The All in One App Platform

The inOne platform currently hosts 50+ apps, combined in a neat package of under 10mb and can be downloaded from the Google Play Store. Some of the apps accessible on the inOne platform are Zomato, Ola, Uber, Flipkart, Amazon, Snapdeal, Housejoy, Nearbuy, Urban Clap, ixigo and BookMyShow. By virtue of combining apps, inOne enables price comparison across categories. For instance, Shoppr and TabShop @inOne compares prices across Flipkart, Amazon, Snapdeal and Paytm. So whether it is buying a phone or camera or anything else -- the user gets the best price possible.

In addition, the low memory footprint of inOne drastically helps save space of upto 3GB and reduce background activity on your mobile device. This significantly improves the performance and battery life -- a core problem faced by all smartphone users.

Related Reading - Anatomy of Bots, Chatbots and Virtual Assistants

To recall, last July Freshworks (formerly Freshdesk) acquired a chatbot startup called Joe Hukum, which too was based out of Gurgaon. Later, in the same year, an another Gurgaon based AI chatbot startup iDelivr got acquired by Phonon Communications.

The year 2017 was dominated by various chatbot activities as Amazon launched chatbot tools for developers, to help them build chat features into their own app while Microsoft launched India-specific chatbot called Ruuh, which later got wind up by the company however.

According to a survey report by Oracle, it was revealed that about 80 per cent of the companies surveyed are interested in making use of chatbots within a period of next 4 years so as to take their customer service to another level.

Top-Most Image - L to R: Aashish Gupta, Ankit Sharma, Rahul Gupta (Co-Founders inOne), Vikas Jain (Co-Founder Micromax)

BSNL To Offer Low-Cost Smartphones Bundled With Low Tariff Plans

Indian state-owned telecommunications company Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) after completing 17 years of its services has plans to offer low cost smartphones to its customers in the form bundled offers. Although in 2014 too BSNL had launched low cost smartphones & tablets called BSNL Penta Bharat however it didn't succeed and failed miserably in front of other private low cost smartphone manufacturers such as Micromax and Spice.

This time, the news from The Hindu reveals that BSNL has tied up with Micromax and Lava, two local smartphone manufacturers that will offer some low cost handsets to the operator.

The nationwide launch will follow shortly as the operator is in the process of signing the deals with Micromax and Lava from whom BSNL will source smartphones.

While the pricing of the devices have not been fixed, the operator expects the devices to be priced in the range of "Rs 2,500 or less." Principal general manager- Hyderabad telecom district, K, Ramchand told The Hindu that the final cost is still being worked out, but the devices will be affordable.

BSNL has also chosen local manufacturers as part of the Make in India initiative.

Earlier in November 2013 BSNL has already launched earlier version of 'Bharat Phone' at price of Rs.1799 and it was India's first internet access ready phone at this price now the latest version of this smartphone is cheaper than its earlier version at just Rs.1099.

BSNL, just a couple of months back, unveiled -- BSNL Wallet, its digital wallet (mobile payment App) in partnership with MobiKwik to enable one-tap bill payment for its over 100 million subscribers.

Micromax To Set Up $100-Million Fund To Invest In Consumer Internet Firms

Homegrown Micromax recently announced about its plans to set up a $100 million (Rs 680 crore) independent fund, which will completely focus towards investing in consumer Internet companies all across the globe that hold relevance to the Indian market.

Micromax, which is among the second largest handset makers in the country, will be playing the role of anchor investor in the fund, and will be looking to invest money in about 10-12 startups with a ticket size of $3-5 million each. Reportedly, the company will also be cashing out of from two of its 10 investment portfolio companies by the end of March this year, so as to round off what has been a very tough fiscal year for the company, courtesy intense competition in the market. The names of the portfolio companies out which Micromax will be cashing out haven't been revealed by the company yet.

In an interview given by Micromax co-founder Rahul Sharma to PTI, he mentions that the company has tasted huge success with all of their investments that they have strategically done over the period of last two years and the company's progression to announce an independent fund was due to the large opportunities/prospects that the market holds. The fund will be exclusively investing in consumer Internet companies all across the globe that will hold some local relevance to India.

The fund called Orbis Capital is currently in the midst of building an advisory board alongside the investment team. It already has entrepreneurs like Parry Blacher (former co-founder, Covestor) and Nami Zarringhalam (Truecaller co-founder) on board. Kumar Shah, who is a known name for spearheading Micromax's global investment programme will be taking on the role of leading the fund along with his existing team. Currently, all the advisors will be working pro-bono.

Micromax started its investment programme in the year 2014, and has since then used a part of the $400 million to invest in 10 companies. According to Sharma, Micromax has always aimed at creating an ecosystem, which is what they did with their first investment fund.

The Orbis Capital will be raising capital from private equity firms and pension funds among other investors, both in India and abroad. Micromax has already identified some potential targets and deals could be struck with them within the next 18 months.

TranServ, Micromax & Visa Announce Strategic Partnership to Bring Innovative Digital Commerce Solutions

With wireless internet connecting millions of Indian consumers and with a vision to create powerful, market-first digital commerce experiences, Micromax, TranServ and Visa, has announced a strategic partnership to offer the next generation of payments solutions in India. The three brands have come together with an aim to offer unique digital solutions specifically designed to meet the varied demands of the mobile-first Indian consumer.

The three parties have signed a MoU covering this shared strategic vision, which will utilize Micromax’s mobile devices, presence and extensive partner ecosystem in the Indian market. It will leverage Visa’s digital payments products and TranServ’s fintech capabilities to promote digital payment infrastructure. 

Using the proposed payment solutions, Micromax users will be able to use mobile-based Push Payments using mVisa, seamless eCommerce payments on merchant and social media applications, interpersonal payments to personal contacts, and in the future mobile contactless payments in physical locations through NFC (near-field communications).

The payment solutions will soon be available to Micromax smartphone users through the Udio app. Udio is a digital wallet enabled by TranServ to create the best payment experiences for customers, be it for social payments or merchant payments. The wallet allows consumers to shop using a Visa card number linked to the underlying prepaid wallet, wherever Visa is accepted, thereby making the same money available for both for the online and offline payment acceptance.

Commenting on the partnership, Vikas Jain, Co-Founder, Micromax said, “Micromax continues to invest for the convenience of its customers, over the years we have been investing time, effort and monies to create a digital experience for our consumers. We have successfully created the hardware, software and services ecosystem for enabling a seamless digital upgrade for our consumers. Digital payments is clearly an important part of our digital experience and services strategy and our partnership with Visa & TranServ further reinforces our commitment to make commerce easier through tight integration with popular services enabling lifestyle of our consumers. We are looking to provide an all pervasive payments layer to our services ecosystem enabling digitalization of the lifestyles of our consumers. With Visa, that has run similar innovation partnerships in other markets, we are excited to be one of the few partners to offer a unique experience to enable the Indian mobile payment ecosystem. Micromax consumers will henceforth enjoy a seamless and delightful digital experience across lifestyle categories like Hospitality, Travel, Healthcare, Entertainment, Ecommerce, money transfers, etc”

Speaking on the announcement, Anish Williams, Co-founder & CEO, TranServ, said, “At TranServ we aim to build solutions which contribute towards a holistic and secure payments ecosystem. The partnership with Visa and Micromax gives a major boost to that vision and will help develop products that will revolutionize the country’s digital payments landscape.”

This is a unique partnership, as Visa, a global market leader in payments technology, comes together with Micromax, Indian smartphone brand and TranServ, a financial technology & digital wallets firm, to broaden the access for secure electronic payment services, in line with the Indian Government’s resolve to drive digital payments.

Chris Clark, Group Executive, Asia-Pacific, Visa Inc., said: “Mobile payments are part of the future of payments and their rapid adoption will be instrumental in helping India move towards a cashless society. With India being the world's fastest-growing smartphone market, we have a significant opportunity to combine the power, reach and security of the Visa network, with the strengths of our partners Micromax and TranServ, to create payment solutions tailored to local market needs.”

TranServ, Micromax & Visa Announce Strategic Partnership to Bring Innovative Digital Commerce Solutions

With wireless internet connecting millions of Indian consumers and with a vision to create powerful, market-first digital commerce experiences, Micromax, TranServ and Visa, has announced a strategic partnership to offer the next generation of payments solutions in India. The three brands have come together with an aim to offer unique digital solutions specifically designed to meet the varied demands of the mobile-first Indian consumer.

The three parties have signed a MoU covering this shared strategic vision, which will utilize Micromax’s mobile devices, presence and extensive partner ecosystem in the Indian market. It will leverage Visa’s digital payments products and TranServ’s fintech capabilities to promote digital payment infrastructure. 

Using the proposed payment solutions, Micromax users will be able to use mobile-based Push Payments using mVisa, seamless eCommerce payments on merchant and social media applications, interpersonal payments to personal contacts, and in the future mobile contactless payments in physical locations through NFC (near-field communications).

The payment solutions will soon be available to Micromax smartphone users through the Udio app. Udio is a digital wallet enabled by TranServ to create the best payment experiences for customers, be it for social payments or merchant payments. The wallet allows consumers to shop using a Visa card number linked to the underlying prepaid wallet, wherever Visa is accepted, thereby making the same money available for both for the online and offline payment acceptance.

Commenting on the partnership, Vikas Jain, Co-Founder, Micromax said, “Micromax continues to invest for the convenience of its customers, over the years we have been investing time, effort and monies to create a digital experience for our consumers. We have successfully created the hardware, software and services ecosystem for enabling a seamless digital upgrade for our consumers. Digital payments is clearly an important part of our digital experience and services strategy and our partnership with Visa & TranServ further reinforces our commitment to make commerce easier through tight integration with popular services enabling lifestyle of our consumers. We are looking to provide an all pervasive payments layer to our services ecosystem enabling digitalization of the lifestyles of our consumers. With Visa, that has run similar innovation partnerships in other markets, we are excited to be one of the few partners to offer a unique experience to enable the Indian mobile payment ecosystem. Micromax consumers will henceforth enjoy a seamless and delightful digital experience across lifestyle categories like Hospitality, Travel, Healthcare, Entertainment, Ecommerce, money transfers, etc”

Speaking on the announcement, Anish Williams, Co-founder & CEO, TranServ, said, “At TranServ we aim to build solutions which contribute towards a holistic and secure payments ecosystem. The partnership with Visa and Micromax gives a major boost to that vision and will help develop products that will revolutionize the country’s digital payments landscape.”

This is a unique partnership, as Visa, a global market leader in payments technology, comes together with Micromax, Indian smartphone brand and TranServ, a financial technology & digital wallets firm, to broaden the access for secure electronic payment services, in line with the Indian Government’s resolve to drive digital payments.

Chris Clark, Group Executive, Asia-Pacific, Visa Inc., said: “Mobile payments are part of the future of payments and their rapid adoption will be instrumental in helping India move towards a cashless society. With India being the world's fastest-growing smartphone market, we have a significant opportunity to combine the power, reach and security of the Visa network, with the strengths of our partners Micromax and TranServ, to create payment solutions tailored to local market needs.”

Now, Micromax Too Started Investing In Startups

Gurgaon-based consumer electronics company has bought a significant minority stake in an India analytics startup as it aims to transform into a services company from just a mobile phone vendor, reported Economics Times.

Micromax however didn't provide full details of deal such as name the company in which it bought the stake, financial terms of the deal or its acquisition targets. It is also reported apart from this anonymous Indian startup in which Micromax has invested the company is also investing in a Silicon Valley-based startup that operates in the online price comparison space but again the name of the startup has not been disclosed.

Micromax is keen to invest between $0.5 million and $20 million in a startup that can be an early-stage venture, a matured one or something in between. It is looking for a stake between 5% and 26%; the higher range will give voting rights and board membership.

Micromax started as an IT software company in 2000 and worked on embedded platforms. It entered the mobile handset business, and became one of the largest Indian domestic mobile handsets company operating in low cost feature phone segments by 2010. As of Q3 2014, Micromax is the tenth largest Smartphone vendor in the world and giving a stiff competition to Samsung in Indian market for No.1 spot.

Investing in startups is the logical next step for Micromax, which has an 18% market share in India, to differentiate itself in the crowded and fastest growing smartphone market of the world.

Micromax has set up a five-member merger & acquisition team headed by Kumar Shah and the team is evaluating and talking to multiple startups in India, Asia, Europe and the Silicon Valley, in areas of healthcare, gaming and entertainment besides analytics and comparison shopping.

Google to tie up with Micromax, Karbonn and Spice to launch smartphones under $100 (Rs 6,000)

Google, the internet giant has decided to partner with Indian handset-makers Spice, Micromax and Karbonn to launch $100 (Rs.6,000) Smartphones. Some of these Smartphones are expected to be launched in early September.

This news was announced in Google’s annual developer conference on Wednesday by the company’s senior vice-president Sundar Pichai. If experts are to be believed, this move by Google will shoot up the Indian brands popularity and credibility all over the world. It will also increase the already stiff competition in the entry-level Smartphone market of the country.

This initiative by Google has been named the Android One initiative. Under this initiative, the Indian handset-makers will be provided with hardware reference models so as to create high quality Smartphones that too at low cost.

According to Sundar, the Smartphones will be first unveiled in India and then launched globally. These phones can be expected to run a standardized version of Android which will permit faster updates.

Pichai while showcasing a 4.5 inch Micromax device with dual SIM slots, FM radio and expandable memory also added that Google is also currently working with Indian carriers so as to make these Smartphone users available with affordable data packs.

The first batch of these Smartphones can be expected to hit the Indian markets in somewhere around early September. In all possibility, these phones can be co-branded as the tech giant may not want to venture into the hardware business again after no additional follow ups on Nexus and selling off Motorola.

These Smartphones will take the low end phone market competition, where Samsung and Nokia are already functioning to an all new level.

Whatever may be the case, the customers are expected to gain considerably from the tech giants this move. The customers are expected to get more value and the overall experience is set to become better and faster as with the standard Google platform, the updates will be quicker.

Google’s this initiative has not come as a surprise, as everyone wants to reap in the fruits of the booming Indian Smartphone market. According to the data made available by IDC, the Smartphone market in India tripled itself in the first quarter of this year with 17.59 million devices being shipped compared to 6.4 million during the same time interval last year.

Top Image - [Flickr]

Google to tie up with Micromax, Karbonn and Spice to launch smartphones under $100 (Rs 6,000)

Google, the internet giant has decided to partner with Indian handset-makers Spice, Micromax and Karbonn to launch $100 (Rs.6,000) Smartphones. Some of these Smartphones are expected to be launched in early September.

This news was announced in Google’s annual developer conference on Wednesday by the company’s senior vice-president Sundar Pichai. If experts are to be believed, this move by Google will shoot up the Indian brands popularity and credibility all over the world. It will also increase the already stiff competition in the entry-level Smartphone market of the country.

This initiative by Google has been named the Android One initiative. Under this initiative, the Indian handset-makers will be provided with hardware reference models so as to create high quality Smartphones that too at low cost.

According to Sundar, the Smartphones will be first unveiled in India and then launched globally. These phones can be expected to run a standardized version of Android which will permit faster updates.

Pichai while showcasing a 4.5 inch Micromax device with dual SIM slots, FM radio and expandable memory also added that Google is also currently working with Indian carriers so as to make these Smartphone users available with affordable data packs.

The first batch of these Smartphones can be expected to hit the Indian markets in somewhere around early September. In all possibility, these phones can be co-branded as the tech giant may not want to venture into the hardware business again after no additional follow ups on Nexus and selling off Motorola.

These Smartphones will take the low end phone market competition, where Samsung and Nokia are already functioning to an all new level.

Whatever may be the case, the customers are expected to gain considerably from the tech giants this move. The customers are expected to get more value and the overall experience is set to become better and faster as with the standard Google platform, the updates will be quicker.

Google’s this initiative has not come as a surprise, as everyone wants to reap in the fruits of the booming Indian Smartphone market. According to the data made available by IDC, the Smartphone market in India tripled itself in the first quarter of this year with 17.59 million devices being shipped compared to 6.4 million during the same time interval last year.

Top Image - [Flickr]

Micromax named Hollywood Hugh Jackman as Brand Ambassador

Hollywood star Hugh Jackman is ready to sizzle it up with the Micromax Canvas Turbo, a new series of tablet from India’s leading handset manufacturer Micromax that is yet to be released. Hugh Jackman popular in India for it's characters in supernatural movie X-Men (Wolverine) and Les Miserable.

With this, Micromax become the first Indian mobile operator to have roped in a Hollywood star as its brand ambassador. Micromax is largest handset seller in India after Samsung and first Indian based mobile handset brand that came up with this much success.

On being brand ambassador for Indian mobile brand Hollywood star Hugh Jackman said - "I am a huge lover of India as it is one of the most exciting countries in the world and we also share our love for cricket. Phones are genuinely time saving devices that can help you live a better life while juggling around with different situations,"

Hugh Jackman will endorse the soon-to-release Canvas series smartphones for Micromax and the company set to market its brand not only in India but overseas as well and Hugh Jackman is best suitable and popular face to do so. Micromax has updated it offical website as well Twitter official profile with Hugh Jackman photo in background.

Last month Micromax announced the launch of its first flagship tablet in the Canvas series. The new smartphone will have quad-core 1.2GHz MT6589 processor, and may be the first Canvas handset with a 1080p display.