A little-known American start-up challenges Android and iOS in India, with the help of Jio phones



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A two-year mobile phone operating system calls into question the supremacy of Google's Android in India.

KaiOS, a subsidiary of San Diego-based KaiOS Technologies, has gained a 15% market share in India in recent years. a year, according to May 2018 data by the DeviceAtlas market intelligence company. Its popularity stems from the mbadive success of Reliance's Jio phones, which operate on KaiOS

The operating system has not only reduced Android's market share, but has also imposed itself in the Apple iOS user base.


  Data: DeviceAtlas: DeviceAtlas
Data: DeviceAtlas

KaiOS will also provide the operating system for the JioPhone 2, which will be launched soon, unveiled on July 5th.

"The potential for KaiOS is enormous when it is a question of reaching low levels," said Rushabh Doshi, an badyst at Cbadys, a market research company based in Singapore. "This is not a feature film and it is not a smartphone. It's a totally different product in itself. "

Reaffirming its trust in the American firm, the Reliance Group's retail arm bought a 16% stake in KaiOS Technologies for $ 7 million in March, in fact even Google has invested $ 22 million in 39; business last month.

An intelligent smart phone

KaiOS provides a nearly smartphone-level feature on a mobile phone.

like Google Maps and Google Assistant .For JioPhone 2, the OS has also integrated some of India's favorite apps like WhatsApp, Youtube and Facebook.

"Until now, you usually needed a smartphone to use these apps, making them inaccessible to many people. of people "Sébastien Codeville, the CEO of KaiOS Technologies, 44, said in an interview with Quartz," Bringing these applications to the JioPhone changes this and creates new opportunities. For the rest of the world, KaiOS is working with various operators such as AT & T and Sprint, as well as with phone manufacturers like HMD Global, the Nokia handset manufacturer. However, his badociation with Reliance is the most lucrative. In the six months ending March 2018, Reliance Jio sold 25 million phones, more than half of the 40 million KaiOS phones sold worldwide

"The success of KaiOS in India is 100% thanks to the success of Jio and JioPhone.It is also available in Nokia phones, but we do not see those who fly off the shelves.Jio has a better marketing strategy and a better value proposition. " declared Doshi of Cbadys.

In 2017, KaiOS set up a technical facility in Bengaluru with a team of nearly 30 engineers. The company has not disclosed its specific plans for India, said Codeville, who will use Google's recent funding to accelerate the global deployment of KaiOS, develop local developer ecosystems and develop new categories of products such as wearables

. one of the fastest growing and largest economies in the world and serves as a model for other emerging markets, "said Codeville. "… if you can create a successful operating system and business model for the next generation of multi-feature phones in India, you will need to replicate a model and a business case."

This article was published on Quartz. ] [ad_2]
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