Pure Android experience on a budget

One of the primary reasons for the commercial success of Android has been the flexibility and open-source nature of its entire ecosystem. It gives the hardware manufacturers the option to position their products in a wide spectrum of price points thereby enabling them to target a wide variety of customers. The openness and uniformity of the Android ecosystem have often plagued a question amongst the phone manufactures as "how to make their product unique?". In pursuit of the unique value proposition, there is always a race amongst the players as to the key hardware specs of the devices. But that is a front in which they can move ahead as much as the component manufacturers allow them to, as most of these players source their components from outside and play the role of assembling them.

Herein comes the role of the Operating System. Google has introduced a system called "Freemium" in this arena. It allows the manufacturers to install its own version of Android on their devices provided that they preload the applications native to its own ecosystem - Gmail, Calendar, Google Search, Google Assistant, Youtube, Google Maps. This particular move allows google to maneuver it's seemingly "zero revenue" move with ease.

Its native apps serve to draw a huge chunk of the customers to its own revenue-generating services. As mobile phones gained popularity and traction, it also helped it to monetize the huge chunks of customer data flowing to it. The gain in popularity of the OS has also been possible due to its low cost, and stable services from Google. This is evident by the fact that as of today, Android controls a nearly 75 % market share of the operating systems in the whole world.

STP part of the Marketing Strategy

Android caters to a wide variety of customers through the apps and services on its platform. It thus uses a combination of demographics, psychographic and geographic variables. It uses:-

1. Differentiated Targeting Strategy:- It differentiates its products and services by the wide range and availability of apps useful for a far greater range of audiences than its closest competitors. The wide usage of Android also encourages developers who want to test out the waters first to do their beta testing on its platform.
2. Benefit Positioning Strategy:- Google does not shy away from regularly highlighting the benefits and experiences, its own OS creates for the users. It regularly releases its very own apps which draw on its experience of AI and computing to make wonderful social statements.

Wonderful Usage of Google Maps during COVID-19

A slower pace of hardware improvements and openness feature of the Android has prompted many manufacturers to shift their focus to the OS. Many firms thus introduce their own version of Android by heavily customizing the UI and various other features. This deters Google from maintaining a uniform experience across all its devices and thereby hindering market penetration of its services in emerging economies, where people still opt for feature-based phones rather than smartphones. The updates were also being pushed at a much slower rate in these devices owing to solving various complexities arising out of the customizations.

Android One

Often touted as the "purest form of Android" by Google, it has been described as seemingly end to the changeable nature of the OS across various manufacturers. It is basically stock android preloaded with just the necessary apps by Google and a promise of no bloatware. It was originally launched amongst much fan-following in 2014 with Android Lollipop focusing on emerging markets. In 2017, the product was evolved to include mid-tier and high segment phones to entertain the growing demand amongst consumers who were already paying a hefty premium but were being devoid of the stock android experience.

Partnerships

In the second phase of the launch of Android One, Google partnered with major smartphone manufacturers like Xiaomi, Nokia, Lenovo for pushing the product. Some of the firms had their own OS (MiUI for Xiaomi) while some were relaunching themselves into the smartphone market (Nokia).

"So, MIUI is definitely one of the key pillars of our overall business strategy. We always say that there are three or four big pillars: OS, hardware, retail and IoT. And we are committed to all of them. Now, specifically in India, we see some users who just love the native Android experience. Personally, if you ask me, I think MIUI has a lot more features and I believe it is a lot more user friendly as compared to most of the other Android versions or even stock Android. But we have to respect that there is a certain audience which just loves stock Android. Two years ago, when we decided to launch Android One, it was under the belief that many of these users want an Android One experience but on a Xiaomi device. And that's when we thought we should have something in our portfolio which caters to such kind of users. This user base is actually not that massive. Funny thing is, on social media it seems a lot bigger than it actually is" - Manu Kumar Jain, VP, Xiaomi and MD, and CEO - Xiaomi India. Excerpts from an interview with Economic Times. Published on 27 Aug 2019. Manu Kumar Jain says niche market for Android Experience

Trends of Android One

• MI A1 was an instant hit with the audiences of India who were low on cash but wanted to experience a pure android phone. Launched at a price point of Rs 14999/- it made a great value proposition to the customer.
• The promotion of the Android One phones has been traditionally done by the manufacturing companies. In addition, they also get huge support from Google by mentioning them on its Play Store along with its own range of premium phones like the Pixel series.
• Phones have a minimalistic packaging showing the nature of the product.
• Often, they have great hardware to take advantage of Google 's computing power and software prowess. Ex - 48 MP camera on Xiaomi MI A3, Leica Cameras on Nokia smartphones

While the overall market of Android is at its peak right now, its other sibling Android One has a lot of catching up to do. As more and more customers are brought into the fold and they catch up with the latest technological trends, they will want to have a premium experience on their smartphones. The in-home built UIs by the manufactures cannot be written off, as demonstrated by MIUI. It is a long way to go for the Android One, but then the seeds have already been sown.