IndusOS - India's 2nd Most Popular Mobile Operating System | TechTree.com

IndusOS - India's 2nd Most Popular Mobile Operating System

Initially launched as Firstouch, IndusOS caters primarily to the non-English speaking, regional audience.

 

If you’re unfamiliar with IndusOS: it’s arguably the first regional-language smartphone operating system in the world. Founded by IIT alumni Rakesh Deshmukh (CEO), Akash Dongre (Head of Product), and Sudhir B (Head of Technology) under the name Firstouch, it began as a mobile OS with a Gujarati interface. The company rebranded itself as Indus OS earlier this year and raised $5 million Series A funding led by Omidyar Network; it was, at this time, supporting 12 Indian languages.

Although the IndusOS is based on Android, it caters mainly to the regional audience. Android does not offer many options for people who are comfortable with English, says CEO Deshmukh. “This type of audience is different and so are their needs. This consumer is coming from a feature phone background and our idea is to reduce their friction and learning curve,” he told IndianExpress.com.

So when Firstouch launched its own cell phone brand in Saurashtra as a pilot project, their hope was that people would buy it for the differentiation rather than the cost. Deshmukh says the target was buyers below the age of 35, who had studied Gujarati medium. “The Day 1 sales were spectacular and it was completely word of mouth,” he said.

Firstouch also increased the number of languages- six in May 2014, 10 in February 2015. And it wasn’t a simple language OS either, as a user could receive a message in English and translate it to their native language with a swipe, and do the same while replying as well. Furthermore, the company had mastered 25 lakh Mathra predictions across languages. “With our OS, the phone could let the users consume everything in their own language.”

However, it was clear that in order to widen their reach, the OS had to be licensed to mobile phone brands. Micromax was the first to step in, and till date, has run the OS on up to 25 models. In fact, it was the IndusOS which made the Micromax Unite phones so successful. Micromax is now gearing up to launch a new smartphone line featuring the new Indus OS 2.0.

Deshmukh, however, does not want to limit the OS to just Micromax, and is already in talks with other smartphone brands. The company will soon enter the Bangladeshi market, where the OS will be featured on various brands.

The 70-people team, based in Mumbai, Delhi, and Dhaka at present, has strong technological capabilities. Deshmukh aims to cover all Indian languages over time, and then move on to foreign languages as well.

“We don’t want to limit ourselves to menu text. We want to go more deeper and that is why it takes us time to add new languages.”

In school, we take a pledge that includes the lines “I love my country, and I am proud of its rich and varied heritage.”. Deshmukh and co sure are.


TAGS: Indus OS, Indian Operating System, Micromax Unite 3

 
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