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Digitimes Research: Google looking to clean up Android device mess in emerging markets

Jim Hsiao and Kristina Shih, DIGITIMES Research, Taipei 0

The Android operating system was again the spotlight of Google I/O developer conference and in addition to a preview of the latest Android L, the Internet giant also launched an entry-level turnkey solution, Android One for emerging markets.

Google has strengthened Android L's user experience and performance, aiming to raise its competiveness in the high-end market. Meanwhile Google is pushing Android One into emerging markets in a bid to quickly expand its shares and better regulate second-tier and white-box Android products.

Google aggressively promoted its material design concept at I/O conference. The idea is expected to become the main guideline of app designs and Google is also planning to expand the idea into web apps, looking to increase its influence on other platforms.

For hardware, Android L will officially support 64-bit processors and adopt a new-generation Android Runtime (ART) to enhance performance. Google also raised webpages' importance in the Android environment and in addition to upgrading webpage's processing level to the same as apps, the Internet giant also developed functions to seamlessly connect webpages with apps.

In Android L, the boundary between local and web apps is blurred.

Android One, which will initially release in India, is a software-hardware-integrated turnkey solution and through a standardized component configuration, the solution will effectively reduce development and production costs.

The solution is enabled by the latest operating system and software services from Google, aiming to standardize entry-level products in the Android ecosystem.

Digitimes Research believes that Google's cooperation with India-based players over Android One is just the beginning of the Internet giant's plans for emerging markets where it has had no control over many so-called Andriod devices . Google is looking to have Google-certified Android-based handsets take over in these markets.

Content from this article was part of a complete Digitimes Research Chinese-language report that has not yet been translated into English. If you are interested in an English version of the report or wish to receive more information about the report, click here to contact us and we will get back to you as soon as possible. Digitimes Research also provides quarterly tracking services for market sectors such as China Smartphone, China Smartphone AP, Taiwan ICT and Taiwan FPD. Click here for more information about Digitimes Research Tracking services.