The low-cost smartphone race in India is getting hotter. A handful of handsets makers are rolling out low-cost phones with top-of-the-line features. Alcatel Onetouch has partnered with Mozilla to launch its new Fire C 2G loaded with Firefox OS. It is priced at a neat INR1,990 (US$32). Alcatel has also made a deal with Flipkart for exclusive sale of the Fire C 2G.
Alcatel is the third handset maker after Intex and Spice to bring a Firefox OS-based phone to India. A month ago, Intex Cloud FX was announced for INR1,999 (US$32) and Spice Fire One Mi FX1 for INR2,299 (US$37). Both handset makers tied up with Indian telco Aircel to bundle free 1GB data for the first three months.
Fire C 2G sports a 3.5-inch display with 480×320 pixel resolution, a 1 Ghz processor, and a 1.3 megapixel camera at the back. All three Firefox OS-based mobile phones have similar hardware with minor differentiation.
The Firefox OS supports almost all popular mobile apps like Twitter, Facebook, and several others. One thing that is missing is WhatsApp, since there is no support for Firefox OS from WhatsApp.
Firefox OS is easy to use and will bring more mobile apps soon. Roping in local developers and offering secured banking apps is the next challenge for Mozilla.
All three Firefox OS-based phones sold from online portals are targeted at the urban consumers. Like Google partnering with local manufacturers for its Android One, Mozilla too is tying-up with handset makers to reach out to the right consumers with affordable smartphones. In the end, both are trying to bridge the gap – smartphone experience on a low-cost device.
According to an IDC report, Google Android-based phones had 84.7 percent market share in second quarter 2014, which grew from 79.6 percent in the second quarter 2013. Meanwhile, the market share of other mobile operating systems – including Firefox OS – shrunk from 1.2 percent in second quarter 2013 to 0.6 percent in second quarter 2014.
The share of feature phones dropped to 71 percent in the first quarter of 2014 from 90 percent in the first quarter of 2013. India’s entry-level segment will soon forget feature phones and enjoy the smartphone experience, thanks to the efforts of Google and Mozilla.
See: 5 reasons why Google’s Android One is a game-changer in budget smartphones
Alcatel joins the budget smartphone race in India with a Firefox OS device
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