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Google Invests $22 Million In Feature Phone Operating System KaiOS (techcrunch.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Google is turning startup investor to further its goal of putting Google services like search, maps, and its voice assistant front and center for the next billion internet users in emerging markets. It has invested $22 million into KaiOS, the company that has built an eponymous operating system for feature phones that packs a range of native apps and other smartphone-like services. As part of the investment, KaiOS will be working on integrating Google services like search, maps, YouTube and its voice assistant into more KaiOS devices, after initially announcing Google apps for KaiOS-powered Nokia phones earlier this year.
KaiOS is a U.S.-based project that started in 2017, built on the ashes of Mozilla's failed Firefox OS experiment, as a fork of the Linux codebase. Firefox OS was intended to be the basis of a new wave of HTML-5, low-cost smartphones. And while those devices and the wider ecosystem never really took off, KaiOS has fared significantly better. KaiOS powers phones made by OEMs including Nokia (HMD), Micromax and Alcatel, and it works with carriers including Sprint and AT&T -- it counts offices in North America, Europe and Asia. But its most significant deployment to date has been with India's Reliance Jio, the challenger telco that disrupted the Indian market with affordable 4G data packages. "This funding will help us fast-track development and global deployment of KaiOS-enabled smart feature phones, allowing us to connect the vast population that still cannot access the internet, especially in emerging markets," said KaiOS CEO Sebastien Codeville in a statement.
KaiOS is a U.S.-based project that started in 2017, built on the ashes of Mozilla's failed Firefox OS experiment, as a fork of the Linux codebase. Firefox OS was intended to be the basis of a new wave of HTML-5, low-cost smartphones. And while those devices and the wider ecosystem never really took off, KaiOS has fared significantly better. KaiOS powers phones made by OEMs including Nokia (HMD), Micromax and Alcatel, and it works with carriers including Sprint and AT&T -- it counts offices in North America, Europe and Asia. But its most significant deployment to date has been with India's Reliance Jio, the challenger telco that disrupted the Indian market with affordable 4G data packages. "This funding will help us fast-track development and global deployment of KaiOS-enabled smart feature phones, allowing us to connect the vast population that still cannot access the internet, especially in emerging markets," said KaiOS CEO Sebastien Codeville in a statement.
Just when there's some bit of competition on the horizon for the almighty Goog they start investing and possibly taking over soon. Definitely not good Something "fishy" is going on with Sailfish OS as well. Seems impossible to get devices for some reason. I wouldn't be surprised if Google is somehow behind the Jolla Tablet and Youyota tablet failing.
Another advertising platform, just what we need.
Also, Sebastien Codeville? Seriously? If that's a made up name, yikes. If that's a real name, he should have had the sense to change it by now.
We are still trying to get more funds for OS/2 Warp :) http://www.os2world.com/
Big Brother Google just wants to watch. And listen. And read your mail. You don't mind, do you?
You probably hate-click leftist articles to rage as liberal crazies, then Google takes this to mean you want to see more.
Remember the $30 Android 'GO' phones? The ones with 512MB of ram and slow processors? The reason why Android aggressively overmanages RAM making it absolutely crap at running multiple apps? The version of Android that was to address this bottom end market?
Well the actual phones arrived. They're just like regular Android phones. There was absolutely no point in all that damage to Android, no point in forking the OS and creating two different brands.
e.g. "Alcatel 1....$89, a 5-inch display with a 480x960 pixels resolution. Under the hood is the 64-bit MediaTek MT6739 quad-core processor clocked at 1.3GHz. It comes coupled with PowerVR GE8100 GPU and 1GB of RAM and 8GB internal that can be further expandable via a MicroSD card. Un terms of optics the Alcatel 1 sports a 5MP camera on the rear with LED flash and a 2MP camera on the front for selfies. It is backed by a 2,000mAh battery. Connectivity options include LTE connectivity up to Cat. 4 (150Mbps down, 50Mbps up), GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and dual SIM. "
If you ever owned a good phone *and used it* you would know that there is no comparison.
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
As long as it is not ad subsidized. I got so sick on tired of the over complexity of my S8+, I recently started using an BB Classic. I still use my S8+ for product photography, and while I expect this phone to have a not so hot camera, I'll invest in a "real" camera if I have to. I need:
Dual factor
navigation
Basic web browsing
Decent email and txt apps
A simple, straight forward, no clutter interface
That is getting close to about it.
Brought to you by Carl's Junior.
Moto 5G Plus and such?
Samsung J7 or whatever it's called?
If the apps are as usable as the custom scrolling code on their website, I don't expect it to do well at all.
"What lies behind us, and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." Ralph Waldo Emerson
See, that's a proper desktop OS that uses machine code for apps and draws things in a normal, sensible way. Google only invests in embedded systems that choose ridiculous bloated ways of doing things, like using Java or HTML5 so that even the simplest apps can obliterate your battery.
now they invest in firefoxOS? they should have done that years ago.
On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.