Google Nexus One for India: Want!

Google Nexus One may be manufactured abroad, but it could be the right smartphone for data-hungry mobile phone users in India. Here’s why.

Google Nexus One will be offered without a contract. In US, and in some parts of Europe, mobile phones are sourced from manufacturers and sold by wireless carriers. To attract customers, they offer price subsidies to reduce price. For eg, a low-end iPhone is expected to cost $400 without the subsidy from AT&T, which sells it for $199. Over two years, AT&T recovers the price subsidy. The same is the case with other mobile phones like BlackBerry, which is exclusively sold through Verizon, which reduces the price and recovers the subsidy across the contract period.

Nexus One without contract in India: Par for the course

Not so in India. In India, Reliance Communications (in its previous name as Reliance Infocom) attempted the subsidy model in 2002. The company offered cheap handsets with prices below Rs 1,000, and sold them with contracts. The scheme got millions to sign up for Reliance Infocomm services. However, the company later abandoned the plan, apparently because many customers who bought the phone cheap quit the scheme later. After the Reliance attempt with price subsidy for mobile phones, few mobile phone operators in India have bothered to attempt reducing prices with subsidies and contracts. Of late, some mobile operators have started bundling phones and data usage, giving a certain amount of data usage free for months if you buy a smartphone from them. However, there are no price subsidies for mobile phones yet in India, something American customers are used to.

Price in India might be relatively low

In the US, customers are used to lower prices, thanks to the price subsidy schemes of wireless carriers. Without the contract, Google may be forced to sell the Nexus One at a higher price to protect its margins. The possible higher price for Google Nexus One may dissuade many potential buyers from going for the new Android phone. However, in India, since the Nexus One will be coming at prices at par or below that of comparable mobile phones, the phone may become an instant hit. Though iPhones, both locked and unlocked are around in India for some time, it is still not a mass product like it is in the US. The Google Nexus One could become the mobile phone of choice for data-hungry users in India, and available at a lower price. It could be the iPhone Indian users have been waiting for.

Nexus One’s GPS and maps

Google can be expected to load the Nexus One with all the latest in its Android armory, including Voice Navigation for Google Maps. In India, GPS navigation and map data are still an emerging segment. While GPS devices and maps are affordable (and essential) gadgets abroad, in India, the higher price points for devices and maps put them out of reach of the average car navigator. Apart from the import duties and multiple taxes, profit margins of the importer and retailer are also added to the cost of GPS devices, making an everyday GPS product into a luxury gadget. However, a Google Nexus One equipped with the latest Android operating system (Android 2.0 Eclair or Android 2.1 Flan) will support voice navigation and turn-by-turn directions with Google Maps. The entry of Google Nexus One with voice navigation will be a wake-up call for map data vendors and GPS retailers in India. Remember that the stocks of Garmin and TomTom collapsed on the launch of Google Navigation for Maps.

So far, it’s not clear whether the Google Nexus One will be a GSM-only phone, or a world phone with GSM and CDMA capabilities. From the hardware specifications leaked on the Web, the Nexus One will be a GSM phone, which will work on AT&T network in the US. In India, many wireless operators like Reliance Communications and Tatas have launched GSM services, to capitalise on the subscriber growth. World phone capabilities will naturally increase the market for the Nexus One in India, simply because India still has a huge CDMA user base. If the Nexus One will have CDMA capability, it will also work with the CDMA networks of Reliance Communications, MTS, Tata Indicom, BSNL and MTNL. A GSM-only phone will work with Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular, Loop Mobile, Aircel, Uninor, BSNL, MTNL, Reliance Communications and Tata DoCoMo in India.