Report: building atsApp competitor for India, emerging markets

BY GreenBot Staff

Published 3 Oct 2014

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may build a new messaging service to support Android One phones in India, even though it already has the cross-platform Hangouts.

According to the Economic es of India, is working on a service similar to atsApp, which is very popular internationally with over 500 million monthly users. lost out to Facebook’s $19 buyout of atsApp earlier this year.

ile atsApp is popular in the U.S., it has a bigger following internationally, as it allows people to bypass sending SMS messages, which in many countries are more expensive than here in the states.

Recently, has ramped up Hangouts, integrating its Voice service positioning it as an all-in-one, cross-platform communication solution. So it’s a little peculiar why isn’t pushing Hangouts for its Android One effort.

It may simply be a technical matter, as the new service would purportedly not require a login at all, support Indian language voice-to-text services. The effort may be to build a less -centric service with a wider appeal to a region just beginning to join the smartphone revolution.

The story behind the story: is partnering with regional hset makers in India to build low-cost, stock Android devices. The Android One initiative is a way to attract people who have yet to buy a smartphone on the subcontinent hook them into the Android ecosystem.

The phones went on sale last month cost around $100. is working with regional hset makers Micromax, Karbonn, Spice chipmaker Tek.

ans are to exp Android One beyond India, with HTC, Asus, novo, others to jump on board.