Google is finally ready to dive into the Indian market with a formal strategy in place to face the competition. On one hand, they will be entering Amazon’s domain with Alphabet, Google’s parent company, launching their smart speakers and other intelligent home automation products. Whereas, on the other, their consumer products may include a mid-range smartphone which will pit them against Apple, Samsung and Xiaomi.
Get ready to #MakeGoogleDoIt, at home too. Coming soon. pic.twitter.com/JuNvt3cpFEApril 2, 2018
The Google Home and Google Home Mini may roll out as soon as end-of-April priced at around Rs 9,999 and Rs 4,999, respectively. Its products under the Nest brand include devices such as doorbells, cameras, alarm systems and a smoke detector.
The smartphone, made keeping price-sensitive markets in mind, is speculated to come into the market around July or August. Currently, Google has 2 smartphones in the market. The Pixel 2, which costs Rs 40,000 and the Pixel, which costs Rs 70,999.
According to reports by ETtech, Alphabet is even going to be dipping its toes in the laptop market with plans of launching the Pixelbook.
According to a senior industry executive, the company has plans of expanding their distribution into general trade by spending big on marketing like Apple and Samsung.
Google’s expansion can be attributed to the research that found offline phone stores account for 36 percent of Pixel sales in India, though 38 percent of sales still come through e-commerce. In addition to this, 26 percent of their smartphone sales in India come via large retail chains.
Google’s streaming devices, Chromecast and Chromecast Audio, are already in the country. So is the Google Daydream View, their virtual reality (VR) device.
They sent out the invite earlier today, with the illustration of half a donut, hinting at the launch of the Google Home and Google Home Mini on April 10 in India.
