This morning it was reported the Indian smartphone manufacturer Karbonn released a trailer for their latest smartphone which will launch on Android One. For those of you who are awaiting the launch of Android L you may have forgotten about little old Android One. For a brief recap, Android One is the new budget friendly version of Android which is due to launch in the next few days. Unlike Android L, Android One is designed to run on budget smartphones and in particular the under $100 smartphone price bracket. One is expected to begin by launching in emerging markets with what seems to be a rather high demand for the operating system (and cheaper handsets). In particular India seems quite interested and in turn Google seem quite interested in making One a success in this region. As a result Google when announcing Android One back at their annual I/O event also announced they will be partnering with Indian manufacturers Micromax, Karbonn and Spice to launch the first One smartphones.
This morning’s Karbonn announcement both teased at their first take on One and also suggested the launch will take place on September 15th. A matter of hours later and it is now being reported Spice are also set to launch their version of One on the same day and at the same time (3.30pm local time). The details of the actual device were unfortunately not made available. Even the image only provides an outline sketch of the smartphone and as such we can only assume as to what the device will look like and contain.
What we do know from the teaser is Spice have teamed up with Flipkart to launch their device. Flipkart is one of the largest smartphone retailers in India and according to the image, the Spice device will be sold exclusively through Flipkart. With both, Karbonn and Spice launching their devices on the same day and at the same time it is unclear if this will be as part of a joint event overseen by Google or simply competitive simultaneous launches by the two companies. However, Google a few weeks ago did announce they will be holding an event on the same day (September 15th) but a few hours before the scheduled releases by Karbonn and Spice (12pm local time). This does at least certainly suggest September 15th will be the full and proper launch date for Android One.
