14 DAY TRIAL // Last month, Mountain View-based Internet giant Google officially announced a brand new mobile initiative called Android One, which is aimed at bringing Android to the market on even cheaper smartphones than before.
At the time, the company revealed that such handsets would arrive from various mobile phone makers out there, with Indian phone maker Spice being one of them.
Previously, the mobile phone maker has confirmed plans to release its Android One smartphone before the end of this year, and some more info on the matter is now available.
Apparently, the vendor will actually be able to make the handset available before Diwali, which is taking place in late October, and has already confirmed that this week.
Moreover, it appears that Spice is also planning the release of a Firefox-based handset alongside the aforementioned Android One device.
“We will have the handsets in before Diwali. These phones are designed for driving connectivity at affordable prices,” Spice Retail CEO Devices T M Ramakrishnan told PTI.
“We were chosen for our innovation, we are among the chosen few to work with these global giants to bring these devices to India,” he added.
Spice is expected to release said Firefox mobile phone with a price tag of around Rs 1,500 ($25/€19) attached to it, while said to plan on pricing the Android One handset at Rs 6,000 ($100/€75).
These new smartphones will be among the most affordable in India, though they will face increased competition on the market, especially now that Microsoft has revealed a new entry-level Windows Phone 8.1 product, the Lumia 530.
What hasn’t been revealed as of now, however, is what hardware specifications the upcoming Spice phones will have to offer when made official.
Spice is one of the most popular mobile phone makers in India, but it still falls behind many other companies, which determined it to engage into more smartphone initiatives to increase its profitability.
Apparently, the company is planning a revenue growth of 40 percent for this fiscal year, fueled mainly by increasing smartphone sales.
In addition to Spice, Indian vendors such as Micromax and Karbonn have already confirmed plans to release devices under the Android One Initiative. Their phones should be priced under Rs 6,000 ($100/€75) too.
Google has decided to launch Android One after seeing increased competition at the entry level market from handsets running under platforms such as Mozilla’s Firefox OS and Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8.1. Spice should be one of the first vendors to launch devices as part of this program.