Android

Did You Know That The 2nd Largest Marketshare For MobileOS In India Is Homegrown Called Indus OS?

~ Venkata Gandikota

So, this was a fascinating to read about the homegrown Mobile OS in India that reached No. 2 position ( 6.3 % market share) behind Android at the end of 2015 and maintained that position in the first two quarters of 2016, according to data released this week by Counterpoint Research .

What fascinates me is their business model:

Indus OS also offers carrier billing in its App Bazaar, which means users can pay for downloads via their phone bill, for which network providers likely take a cut. This is a big motivator not only for consumers and app publishers but also for the operators themselves, who are less than happy about being left out of a smartphone party where Android and iOS drink more than their fair share of the champagne.

MobileOS in India

Read the article on Bloomberg here titled “India 1, China 0” By Tim Culpan.

Amazon Has A New 50 USD Smartphone With Android 6.0 Called Blu R1 HD – The Catch Is It Carries Ads

~ Venkata Gandikota

Joanna Stern, writing for the WSJ:

In life, you get what you pay for.*

*Exceptions: Costco wine, $1 New York City pizza and the Blu R1 HD smartphone, now sold by Amazon for $50. In those cases, the quality of the product far exceeds your low expectations.

Yes, you read that right, there’s an Android 6.0 smartphone that costs less than family dinner at the Olive Garden. It’s cheap, but it’s not, you know, cheap.

There’s a reason for that. Even though Amazon sells the R1 HD for as little as $50, on the open market it starts at $100. Why the discount? Ads. Sorry, “special offers.” Which are ads.

Furthermore according to the article the bill of materials for this phone cost about $75, according to IHS analyst Wayne Lam’s. This is taking into consideration approximate costs such as $20 for the screen + $6 for both cameras + $7 for memory + $40 or so for the battery and core electronics.

The Samsung Galaxy S7 retails for a starting price of $650, but its bill of materials? $225! That’s not exactly an even comparison, Mr. Lam points out, since premium phones cost more to develop and market, but you get the idea.

The Blu R1 HD feels far more like $150 than $50.
Source: DREW EVANS/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

 
The thing that interests me here is the business model. I want to prepare a list for my own sake:

  • The biggest issue for Frugal Innovators is having the right business model.
  • Maybe it is so that scaling their solutions via volumes sold will take care of the margins.
  • Partnering with a bigger company can be a way to scale up.
  • Often selling at a low cost can also be subsidised with ads or products can be made accessible via low upfront costs and making them available for lease or rent

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    Read the article on WSJ for a full review!