Government is Working on Creating an Indian OS

Government of India is working on making an indigenous mobile operating system, which is tentatively going to be titled as ‘IndOS’. This is a joint effort by the Indian government, start-ups and academia. This effort is being made by the government to create competition for Google’s Android and Apple iOS in the mobile operating system market.

According to the sources a senior government official said, “India is one of the largest mobile device markets in the globe. Our objective is to create a secure Indian mobile operating system that could also create choices and competition for Android’s dominance in the Indian market and a smaller share of iOS.”

Position of Google Android and Apple iOS in the Market

The data by Statista reveals that the Android mobile operating system had a market share of 95.84% and the Apple iOS had a market share of only 3.1% in the year 2021. The reason behind it is the fact that many Android phones are available in India at an affordable cost for the customers. On the other hand, Apple phones cater to the premium market segment because of their high-quality and high- cost.

Google’s Current Dilemma in the Indian Market

Google as a company is already under scrutiny in the country, as the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has imposed a fine on the misuse of its current dominant position in the market through the Android play Store Policy. The CCI has also given an order to Google regarding the sideloading of apps. The CCI has ordered Google to allow the sideloading of apps from the developers and the move is directed towards reducing Google’s dominant position in the Indian mobile operating system market.

Google had given an argument on the new order through a blog, which focused on the fact that Google would now have to make extra investments for supporting the security and user safety features for sideload apps and this hence, will lead to an increase in the cost of mobile phones. This argument by Google was rejected by majority of mobile device makers. The mobile device makers have pointed out that maintaining or supporting the security of sideload apps is not their duty, instead the government and Google has to decide who will be taking care of that particular responsibility.

The Future of ‘IndOS’

Microsoft had tried to challenge the strong market position of Android and iOS in the past through the introduction of Microsoft’s Window Phone, but the effort was not totally successful.  Recently, Huawei also launched a new operating system HarmonyOS, but it was suspended by the US government because of some trade related concerns. These major failures allowed the Android mobile operating system and Apple iOS to maintain their strong foothold in the market. If this works out in the near future, then Google and Apple will have a strong, new rival in the mobile operating system market.