Seven takeaways from Google CEO Sundar Pichai’s India speech
Search engine giant Google on December 16 said the company will develop products for the next billion people in India.
Sundar Pichai, Chief Executive Officer of Google, who is on his maiden visit to India after taking over as the CEO of Google earlier this year, said the company is also expanding its headcount in India, especially in engineering operations.
The world’s largest digital-advertising company posted USD 3.98 billion in net income for the quarter ended in September, up from USD 2.74 billion a year earlier. India still only accounts for a small part of Google’s earnings, but that hasn’t stopped the company from making big bets on the South Asian nation as an important part of its long-term game plan for developing markets, according to an article in The Wall Street Journal.
Google’s US site ranks second in India, and YouTube, Google’s online video platform, ranks fourth, just behind Facebook.
Mr Pichai’s seven big promises to India
1) Mr Pichai said that India will soon have more Android users than the US, which is Google’s home market. He added that Google search has been improved to work better even with low-speed connections and in areas where connections are patchy.
2) The technology company will work to increase internet access to as many people as possible. That implies a huge thrust on Indian language internet. Also, technologies and solutions to beam internet to rural areas and connect people in public spaces such as railway stations.
3) Project Loon which was announced a couple of years ago will come to India, said Mr Pichai. It is a project Google is working on to bring low-cost connectivity to the world. “We are exploring ways of bringing Project Loon to India, especially in rural areas,” said Mr Pichai.
4) Google will work on products that are lighter and faster. These may also consume less data. For India, there could be more products that work offline and on slow connections.
5) Google will continue to work on bringing more small businesses online. That’s great business sense. All of them would require its advertising products to be relevant in the online world.
6) Google is not happy with just short-form content on Youtube. There is a surge in long form. It is partnering, and will partner with, organisations such as film schools to ensure more long-form content gets uploaded.
7) All of the above imply investments. Google will invest in both engineering and business development in India. A new campus in Hyderabad is in the offing.
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