Udupi-based Robosoft Technologies is going to address the problem faced by millions of Indians by tweaking Android — the leading mobile operating system. The firm’s plan is simple: tweak Android and localise it.
If there can be a quibble about smartphones it is this: smart and cute they might be, they don’t do justice to a multi-lingual country like India.
To master a smartphone, one needs not only patience, but, more importantly, knowledge of English. This linguistic-handicap might have forced many to stay away from joining the smartphone bandwagon, but a solution to this problem is near, thanks to a state-based firm.
Udupi-based Robosoft Technologies is going to address the problem faced by millions of Indians by tweaking Android — the leading mobile operating system. The firm’s plan is simple: tweak Android and localise it.
Speaking to DNA on the sidelines of DroidCon India, a gathering of Android developers, Rohith Bhat, MD and CEO of Robosoft Technologies, said: “We are doing it for a leading mobile manufacturing firm.”
According to TRAI, as of August 2011, India had 86.5 crore mobile users against a population of 121 crore. That’s roughly 71.59%. But the total number of people who can actually read and write English is far too less. Localising the mobile operating system would bridge this language barrier, said Bhat.
“For example, a bricklayer is able to make a few hundreds a day. That means, he can easily afford a smartphone, which is becoming cheaper with each passing day (the cheapest smartphone costs a little over `3,000). For him, language shouldn’t be a barrier,” Bhat said.
“We are at present working on it and our client would be releasing the localised Android in a few months’ time. Each mobile would be based on a particular language, with the interface optimised for it. For example, it would feature a virtual keyboard with the characters of that language.”
Language will no more remain just a feature, but the whole operating system is overhauled to suit a language.
“Say you get a Kannada mobile, websites based on the language would load 2 to 3 times faster on those mobiles. That’s because we would have optimised the rendering engine to suit the language,” Bhat explained. “It’s just the first step, soon language-based apps would be developed,” he added.
And for those who didn’t understand the headline, it says Android in Hindi, Kannada and Tamil
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