Google Pixel: A Pixelated Path Towards A Successful Indian Smartphone Market

The Launch and the Results

Google arose a great hype with its new smartphone launch- Pixel and Pixel XL in India. The smartphone managed to win hearts of people in India only after its launch and was flooded with pre-orders. As per the estimates of economic times, citing data from counterpoint- more than 3,30,000 units of premium smartphones were shipped in India.

Pixel has now replaced a series of smartphones- Nexus produced by LG in collaboration with google. Nexus was a success in Indian premium smartphone market, despite of the versatility of Nexus smartphones they could not create a benchmark in Indian market. Also competing with iOS, Samsung and cheap yet productive smartphone manufacturers such as Lenovo, Redmi, Micromax that affect a huge part of middle-class Indian population can be an issue of wide acceptance in India.

Google played with front foot.

Google- a giant that has root in almost all the business markets has stepped into the smartphone world to capture a sizeable chunk of the Indian smartphone market without leaving any stones upturned. Pixel is the best bet from google, from finely built hardware to performance seeker speed, from sleek shiny design to tough gorilla glass ,from cashbacks to interest free EMI’s google did everything to lure the buyers.

Google has invested not aloof the online but offline advertisement as well, a whopping amount is guaranteed to be spent when google is a part. The ads were mainly targeted towards the users in Metro and Tier cities of India. Initially, the price tag of INR. 57,000 (US$799) for Google Pixel and Pixel XL was considered a bit higher. However, considering the response to the devices, it is almost evident that people found the phones worth this investment.

Competencies

iOS and Android have raised the smartphone standards in India, the best of Apple and Samsung are tough competitions towards Pixel rise in India. Till dates Apple secured the Numero uno position leaving Samsung behind in premium smartphone Indian market, as stated by economic times they both comprise of 66% of Indian smartphone market. The Pixel phones consequently captured 10% of the Indian market- a tough target for newly launched smartphone name. The name google is enough to be trusted concludes pixel not to be doubted.

Pixel sales benefitted largely after the debacle of Samsung Note 7. Note 7 owners awaiting to exchange their phones with an alternative have now found one. Samsung market deteriorated after the vain of buyers and stopped the production of Note 7 resulting the no-exchange of Note 7 in market. The users then opted pixel as a better alternative.

iOS users didn’t seem of shifting to android as a better option although iphone 6 or 6s users bought pixel to experience both the worlds. Albeit, the number of such users is minuscule.

Most of the population of India is middle-classed buying a budget phone is more preferable and when it comes to hardware Lenovo k series, leEco and Oneplus are being the best options in Indian market.

Big budgeted users may stick to iOS and Samsung may not leave another chance of re-entering, increasing congestions for pixel in the market thus it is so not worth the hype.

Why India is important?

India has the fastest-growing smartphone market in the world, accounting for 27.5 million devices sold in the second quarter of 2016, up 17 percent from the previous quarter according to IDC reports. Everybody is looking at India as a huge landing ground for their innovation and also as a next big step in that part of the world .The country's 1.3 billion citizens are spread across a vast geographic area — from modern urban hubs to poor rural villages — which has made delivering payments and services challenging for both the public and private sector. Also after demonetization offline payments have become handy and easy for the people of India which will increase the smartphone demands compared to any other country in the world than India.

Features that attract buyers!

Google a great marketing leader knows how to cut through the minds of Indian buyers directly. They have new enhanced features for their smartphone below are some unique features-

• 32 hours of battery life in just 15 minutes of charging. When you need a quick charge, the reversible USB Type-C charger gets you 7 hours of battery life in just 15 minutes.† And when you aren’t using your phone, Doze automatically puts it into a sleep state to extend your battery life. So you can always move at your speed.
• Unlimited storage for all your photos and videos. Never lose a memory with unlimited storage for your photos and videos, all stored at full resolution in Google Photos. And use Smart Storage to let Pixel help free up space when you need it. Just set it up once and say goodbye to those annoying ”storage is full” warnings. By default, photos and videos back up over WiFi.
• Built-in Google Assistant for managing everyday tasks. Ask it questions. Tell it to do things. To start, just say, ”OK, Google,” or touch and hold the Home button. And the more you use it, the more useful it gets. It’s your own Google, ready to help.
• Application interacts with each other to provide you better compatibility.
• Enhanced motion camera which is the same as of Samsung s7
• Gorilla Glass 4 which can even absorb the hardest forces.
• LTE advanced with 50% faster peak speeds in more than 450 cities from coast to coast. and many more.

Not only the hardware but the software is modern and never unsatisfying. Google the official owner of Android has promised software updates from Google with new features and bug fixes for at least 2 years so you would always be equipped with the latest.

Aren’t you a pixel fan now?

The Jio hype

Jio has been a common demand of smartphone buyers of India. Smartphones with 4g lte can enjoy Jio offers and that is a bummer in people. Every 4g smartphone comes with a Jio sim installed, does pixel support jio? The answer would be both yes and partially no, currently if you use Jio Sim in a pixel phone, you get full access to data services but what you would be deprived is the support of VoLTE which means you can use the sim to browse websites and enjoy the speed that jio can deliever but you can’t use it to make phone calls.

Pixel is a phone with single sim support, such use of phone makes no use of the sim function instead makes it a wifi-type smartphone. This factor may surely deprive buyer’s for buying pixel. Although it has been known that pixel would include an update for it’s compatibility towards jio in distant future, but after the welcome offers they won’t make sense. Also other network providers are using LTE to compete with jio services causing another issue to pixel users in India.

Conclusion

With all the above information we can conclude that pixel still has to work on lot of its factors which enable a tension free user experience and easy hands-on. Pixel definitely will make its mark into Indian market but in what time duration is unknown i.e pixelated. Well let’s see what happens to this over-hyped Pixel.