Recent speculations pointed that Sundar Pichai would be resurrecting the Android One program in his maiden visit to India, but the Google Exec has shot down the rumour by saying that it is not on his itinerary.
The main goal of the Google CEO's trip is to attend an event on December 16 in India where he will be sharing his vision for the coming year, and Android One is not part of that vision, says Indian Express. Reports coming in deny any claims to a product launch on the said event, especially the relaunch of the Android One program that failed to meet company expectations.
Initially, it was believed that an Android One v2.0 was a possibility after an invite, as Z News India states, gave hints of a relaunch. The invite said:
"At Google, we believe that technology can change people's lives for the better. Indians are coming online at an astonishing rate with affordable smartphones. These new users have a completely fresh view on what the Internet has to offer. Please block your date for an event with Google as we outline our vision for these users."
International Business Times recalls the plans for Android One when it launched the Android OS based phones in association with other manufacturers to release a low-cost line of smartphones to India, and 19 other developing nations including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Nigeria.
The project launched in September last year with an objective of targeting emerging markets, but was shut down after losing to Indian smartphone-manufacturing players like Micromax, Karbonn, Spice and LAVA.
The project's first three versions of the Android One caught only 3.5% of the market, which was way lower than the company expected. In mid-November, reports had spread that the Android One program was going to be killed.
Although, users thought that Google would be taking a second shot at Android One, it seems to be more clear that the tech giant will not be doing this, and that Pichai's intent in his travel to India will be simply to deliver a keynote message.
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