ARA in India :: and the "Developing" World

[Garrett Kinsman]

A few months ago I moved from San Francisco to Bangalore, India. Unemployment in SF is the highest since the great Bubble Burst, and funding for hardware has completely dried up. 

In the next next 50 years, Earth will have almost 10 Billion People. There is Absolutely no way to provide Food, Water, Energy, and Internet for such a population. The solutions to humanity's basic needs will require software, but more importantly hardware. In San Francisco, these hardware opportunities are not being taken seriously.

India is another world completely. Internet, Computing, Wireless, Philosophy and Religion are approached from a radical perspective. Fiber Optics lay in piles on the streets of Bangalore, and Ethernet Cables are strung from the rooftops. 

Laying Ethernet Cable to a Fiber Switch, Rooftops of Bangalore

The Internet is growing with exponential fervor. 1GB of 4G Internet in Bangalore costs around  $1.50, where in the US, Verizon screws us for over $15.00 in some instances. 3G Internet in Rural India has been up to 5 times faster than Comcast in San Francisco! (I tested this, pinging 8.8.8.8).  

In India, the number of smartphone users has just exceeded the population of the United States. Even more interesting, Smartphone penetration in India is only around 21%. There is tremendous room for for growth (Around 50% annually).

Internet being laid across Rooftops 

India runs completely on Android, missing the PC revolution.  Businesses are becoming Android first, as mobile far exceeds PC access.

This explosion in mobile computing has transformed the landscape, from overloaded cell towers, to the numerous startups that have been born from this rapid software revolution. 

What happens when this shift evolves into hardware? 

Android handsets that can be bought on the streets of San Francisco for $20 can fetch up to $80 in India as demand is incredible. The OG Moto G for example is still going strong, and many colleagues still use the OG Moto X (Although I don't know how or why).

Gigabit Fiber Splice Duct-taped to a tree 

India is a tremendous market for ARA, as over half of India's population is under 25 and quickly seeking higher wages. The middle class is growing, and craving new handsets. 

But I am more interested in the low end Moto Gs and Crappy Samsungs that permeate the poor. It is not the iPhones and $700 handsets that are going to change the world, it is the sub $100 phones that will change everything. These are the devices that will connect the next 4 billion humans and bring humanity out of poverty. 

If ARA can do to hardware what Android did to software, Ara may become the platform for tackling the issues of Food, Water, Energy and Internet. If ARA can become a competitor not to overpriced "Luxury" slabs of glass, but the low-end handsets, ARA will change everything.

One can even make a strong case for Google subsidising ARA handsets, or selling at BOM, but that is for another article.

 Anyone else on the forums in "Developing" Countries want to share their experiences? Very interested in hearing your thoughts.

Cheers X