India Planning Homegrown Operating System to Rival iOS and Android

[MacRumors]

The Indian government is planning to incentivize the creation of an "indigenous" mobile operating system to rival iOS and Android, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has announced (via The Economic Times).

The proposal, announced on Monday by Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar, will encourage the technology industry to create a homegrown Indian mobile OS. The new OS is explicitly intended to "create an alternative to iOS and Android" in India. Chandrasekhar noted that iOS and Android drive the development of hardware ecosystems, which is something that the government hopes the new platform will mirror, giving an Indian brand space to grow.

The Indian government is in the process of looking for suitable startups and academic institutions that are capable of developing a new OS. Detailed discussions are currently focusing on establishing clear goals for the project, which will be followed by legislation to target specific development aims. Chandrasekhar hinted that start-ups and companies working on an Indian OS may be attractive to domestic and foreign investment when raising capital.

The project fits in with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's aim to create domestic leaders across multiple industries and product categories, as well as bolster the country's technology industry. The Indian government has unveiled a roadmap to achieve $300 billion worth of electronics manufacturing in the country by 2026, up from $75 billion currently. Likewise, the country hopes to achieve $120 billion in electronics exports, up from $15 billion at present.

India is an increasingly important market to Apple, but it continues to face fierce competition from Android devices in the country. Apple has steadily increased the number of its devices manufactured in India, with up to 70 percent of all iPhones sold in the country being made there.

Following the launch of the Apple's online store in India in 2020, the iPhone 11 and iPhone 12 were believed to be the bestselling smartphones in India. Mass production of the iPhone 13 in India is set to start next month and the country's first retail store is also on the way.

Article Link: India Planning Homegrown Operating System to Rival iOS and Android

 

[contacos]

Lol …

let me guess, they will use the Android core and just call it something else

 

[johnalan]

"Good luck".

 

[I7guy]

Great. Competition. The mobile space needs more competition so there is no longer a "monopoly/duopoly".

 

[Mc0]

I think Samsung tried this before when they developed tizen OS but didn’t gain enough popularity. Let’s see what they can bring to the market.

 

[aplnub]

Even if India is a little bit successful, this poses more a threat to Google than Apple. I see this going in the direction of full on government spy OS.

 

[ruka.snow]

Makes a lot of sense. Gives the country a lot more control rather than having to deal with two American companies... one that is known to spy on you. With a market of a billion people and seemingly as many software engineers I am sure they can put together something fantastic and maybe shake up the market.

 

[icanhazmac]

As long as all of the customer support call centers are in the US, time for a little payback!

 

[ruka.snow]

I see this going in the direction of full on government spy OS.

As opposed to pull on company(Google) spy OS that may also be spying for the USA?

 

[siddavis]

Great. Competition. The mobile space needs more competition so there is no longer a "monopoly/duopoly".

While I don't necessarily disagree with you, this is not the way.
There was competition - Windows Mobile, Windows Phone, Windowswhateverwewanttocallittoday, Blackberry, webOS, Tizen, Palm, Symbian, Bada... yet here we are.

 

[alexe]

If only some government incentives were sufficient to make world-leading software.

Unfortunately there is more to it, otherwise we'd long have had a second Apple, Google, or Microsoft somewhere in the world.

 

[MajorFubar]

How we laughed when Google launched Android as a direct competitor to the dominant Symbian OS...

 

[siddavis]

Makes a lot of sense. Gives the country a lot more control rather than having to deal with two American companies... one that is known to spy on you. With a market of a billion people and seemingly as many software engineers I am sure they can put together something fantastic and maybe shake up the market.

This making "a lot of sense" had me very fearful of the future in the US. Then I saw you are in Scotland. Carry on.

 

[I7guy]

While I don't necessarily disagree with you, this is not the way.
There was competition - Windows Mobile, Windows Phone, Windowswhateverwewanttocallittoday, Blackberry, webOS, Tizen, Palm, Symbian, Bada... yet here we are.

100%. Consumers voted with their dollars.

 

[BeefCake 15]

How we laughed when Google launched Android as a direct competitor to the dominant Symbian OS...

Those that laughed have no knowledge of tech...Sybian OS was pretty inflexible and Google is a Software giant and would make sense for them to succeed.

 

[IllinoisCorn]

We’ll probably run on android.

 

[MajorFubar]

Those that laughed have no knowledge of tech...Sybian OS was pretty inflexible and Google is a Software giant and would make sense for them to succeed.

No one cared it was inflexible because we didn't have anything better, nor did we know better. Google wasn't a 'software giant' until Android became successful. Ask anyone in 2009 who google were and they'd tell you it was just a search engine on their PC.

 

[steve62388]

This is just going to be a fork of Android. Like Huawei’s ‘new’ OS.

Huawei’s HarmonyOS: “Fake it till you make it” meets OS development

No discernible difference between Huawei’s “all-new” OS and Android.

arstechnica.com

 

[BeefCake 15]

No one cared it was inflexible because we didn't have anything better, nor did we know better. Google wasn't a 'software giant' until Android became successful. Ask anyone in 2009 who google were and they'd tell you it was just a search engine on their PC.

2009 They had the Google Suite built in to their emails and Google Drive.....what are you talking about? It was a huge tech to compete with M$ Office and allowed live editing. Sounds simple now but back then it was very innovative.

 

[yabeweb]

I tried coders from India, and while they do work hard, communication is hard and the result is always messy.

May be working for their own country in their own language something nice can come out.

 

[furou]

“We’re going to call it Indian OS or IOS and we think you’re going to love it” *keynote ends in an extravagant dance number*

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

The competition is good. I just hope India is very serious about this.

 

[Nomad123]

Now IOS(Indian OS) makes sense

 

[SpiritSoul1008]

“We’re going to call it Indian OS or IOS and we think you’re going to love it” *keynote ends in an extravagant dance number*

It's going to be as successful as their lunar landing on the Moon. Wait....

 

[iDento]

A tech project that is supervised by the government…

Imagine a work environment where nerds and tech enthusiasts works together with politicians