MicroMax Plans To Develop Own OS Across Platforms

The leading Mobile company Micromax in India , which has grown to be the single largest local retailer of smartphones, is planning to build its own customized Android ROM lIke Xiaomi like UI . In a report filled by the Economic Times its co-founder Vikas Jain indicated that it will be building its own operating system, which will be available by the end of the year.

which will run across its phones, tablets, televisions and wearable, as it goes up the value chain to differentiate itself from increasing competition. 

Spearheaded by former Amazon executive Ashish Agrawal, who is the new technology head at Micromax, the OS will be a forked Android - a platform developed on Google's open source mobile OS. The first smartphones with the new OS will be available by the end of this financial year and they will be affordable priced, Micromax 

"We're excellent with partnerships and we don't want to reinvent the wheel," Jain said, while specifying that the company was not breaking away from Android but was working with the globally dominant Android OS to bring a differentiated experience to consumers across all platforms, including wearables. 

Agrawal said the likes of Apple, Microsoft and Xiaomi, which have their own OS across platforms, are translating what they have done internationally to India. In contrast, Micromax is closer to the Indian consumer and therefore has a better understanding of the local market and insights based on which it will build the customer experience. 

Micromax could also provide incremental OS updates with the new fork of Android.

Before all of this, Micromax co-founder Rahul Sharma started a new online only brand called YU, which also has a similar strategy and a deep focus on software and services. For this YU partnered with Cyanogen Inc. which makes the popular Cyanogen Rom for Android. To date, it has relied three smartphones -- the Yureka, Yuphoria and Yureka Plus.

In the past year, Micromax has grown at such rapid pace that it has entered the list of the world's top 10 manufacturers in terms of shipments. Earlier, Google even tapped Micromax as one of the lead brands for its Android One programme, which was launched last year. source:india today