A lot has been happening in the Indian mobile sector of late. Last week, it was Nokia that announced that India had overtaken USA as the second largest market for its handsets and network equipment. With more than 6 million new cell phone users being added every month, India is the fastest growing cellular market in the world. Of the approximate 185 million Indian cell phone users, Nokia boasts of 85 million users in its kitty in terms of the brand of cell phones they use.
Amidst Nokia's announcement, comes the other surprising news that is being reported across global dailies today. The Google phone rumor is doing the rounds again. The latest news is that the Google phone is set to make a splash in India, US and Europe simultaneously. How soon? In less than two weeks. That comes as a real surprise.
Talks are believed to be taking place with Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Essar, respectively India's first and third largest mobile telephony operators, and state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam.
It makes me wonder what is Google's strategy
- Is Google positioning its phone as a direct competitor to the Apple iPhone? Or is it the likes of Nokia that Google sees as its competition.
- Is Google ditching the well tried out strategy of releasing new phone models in developed markets followed by developing markets?
- Is the India strategy one of getting an entire generation of users directly hooked onto the mobile Internet and getting them to bypass the desktop Internet access. Well, what better way to give extra credence to its vision of "organizing the world's information and making it universally accessible and useful", then to get a sixth of the planet's population experience the power of Internet through Google phones.
Though I would have been delighted to provide my blog readers answers to these questions, I am as much an onlooker as you. So do keep checking this blog as I track this story going ahead. I welcome your comments too.
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