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The only alternative to the current OSs is open source. Of course open source means “no money to be made”. Governments and big business love proprietary OSs as they can “do things” to it that the public may not like.



Please support alternatives like open source Linux phones and open source applications as that alternative is what they really fear! Sure there is no money in the open source projects - but money corrupts.
 
I really don't see why an Indian consumer would pick this OS if it lacks all the Google apps including YouTube, Gmail, etc. It will probable lack any app by non-Indian companies, and even some Indian ones. Microsoft and Samsung both already gave a third OS a go with poor results. Huawei's lates effort should tell them something as well.
 
This will be a guaranteed failure. No citizen will want to use a mobile phone OS created in partnership with the government. Location tracking, call monitoring, access to financial accounts?! This is a data and privacy nightmare. Plus, none of the Android hardware manufacturers (Samsung, Nokia, Huawei, Oppo, etc) would ever allow this OS to replace the custom OS they have over Android. Android is already a tough operating system to deal with due multiple versions, hundreds of carriers with their spin on the OS, and all the hardware manufacturers.

The Indian government needs to lower its manufacturing/operating expectations and allow for foreign companies to invest and do business in country without manufacturing and taxation restrictions.
 
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.
Tizen was the first to come to mind when I read the headline. I think Huawei is/was trying the same.
I also remember some Linux phones thst never got much traction. I believe Purism even has one on the market right now.
 
India is a super weird country. No worry, they won't get success in anyhow. This action will force India people to use least quality OS/product.
 
I really don't see why an Indian consumer would pick this OS if it lacks all the Google apps including YouTube, Gmail, etc. It will probable lack any app by non-Indian companies, and even some Indian ones. Microsoft and Samsung both already gave a third OS a go with poor results. Huawei's lates effort should tell them something as well.
It is their local politics, they just need some news to make them look nice. Anyhow, it will only benefit to the India Richman. Pity the poor citizen.

Very, very few people in India care.
Yeah, and it is India style. They said they want to win over China....and they want TESLA to invest in India. I would say better don't, because India is a messy country.

Actually I feel lucky APPLE didn't put a lot investment to INDIA.

As APPLE have so little market share in INDIA, they should focus how to win over ANDROID instead of iOS

We absolutely need another OS. Only two OSes to choose from is pretty horrible.
is it? Do you choose WindowsOS? Or MacOS? LoL
 
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I have to agree with a previous poster; this will be AOSP Android and full-blown government spyware.
 
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I think it’s a good thing. You never know they might even introduce innovations that Apple and Alphabet end up licensing. Besides, something homegrown that includes specific cultural features Google or Apple doesn’t care about is a major incentive for adoption.
 
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How we laughed when Google launched Android as a direct competitor to the dominant Symbian OS...
Umm. Google released Android in September 2008. iOS (iPhone OS 1) was release in July 2007. Nokia formally discontinued Symbian in 2007.

Android was in development before that, sure. But it's reference hardware specs and functionality was more targeting Blackberry.
 
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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.
Way more than that. When cellular phones became popular and affordable in the mid-1990s, pretty much every phone manufacturer had their own proprietary OS. For example, if you changed from a Nokia to a Motorola phone, you had to re-enter all your data because the two OS systems were different. There were literally dozens of proprietary phone OSes and all of them were pretty much crap.
 
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I suppose anything is possible, but iOS and Android have massive ecosystems with support of tens of thousands of large and small app developers, serving millions of users. They're also mature operating systems that have gone through numerous iterations to improve and mature into what they are today. I don't see how this succeeds unless iOS and Android devices are banned, and citizens there are forced to use something mandated by their government.
 
State mandated initiatives like this rarely produce innovative, high-quality results. In a totalitarian regime like China this could work, but in a democracy like India the free-market will determine whether this succeeds or not. If the localisation for Indian consumers in iOS and Android is as good as for English or Spanish speakers, then it’s difficult to see a killer-feature for this.
 
It will probably just be a fork of Android like Fire OS or Harmony OS. I doubt something like this would have mass market appeal unless there was a government mandate for phone companies to use it.
 
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