The central government is developing a strategy to make it easier for companies to develop their own mobile operating systems.
According to the Press Trust of India, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, revealed that MeitY and the government are in negotiations about developing a new mobile (handset) operating system (OS).
His remarks were followed by a statement stating that the government was searching for expertise within the startup and academic ecosystems to aid in the creation of an indigenous operating system.
At the moment, two operating systems — Android and iOS — dominate the market. Reliance Apart from that, Jio also has an operating system by the name of KaiOS, which is only accessible on Jio feature phones and is not particularly popular. Jio’s smartphone, the JioPhone, will be powered on Pragati OS, which was developed in collaboration with Google.
In addition, various firms in the Indian startup ecosystem, including PhonePe’s Indus OS, SnapLion, Plobal App, Instappy, and TableHero, are engaged in the creation of smartphone operating systems.
We will be interested in building [indegineous OS] if there is any actual capacity, Chandrasekhar said. “This will offer an alternative to iOS and Android, which will then allow an Indian brand to thrive,” he said. “The majority of policies and policy tools are being reexamined in the context of rethinking aims and ambitions,” says the author.
Bharat Operating System Solutions was the name of the project in which the government was developing an enhanced version of its operating system at the time (BOSS). It was planned to eventually replace Microsoft Windows as well as all other operating systems for official usage in the future. However, only a small number of organizations and people in India are now using BOSS’s most recent version, known as ‘Unnati,’ which was released in 2019.
While Microsoft’s Windows operating system dominates the PC operating system industry, Android and Apple’s iOS operate in a duopoly on mobile phones.
Operating systems (OS) are integrated into the intricate details of a gadget’s hardware and software, allowing it to operate all of its applications and functions. The user interface, data and program file names, physical locations, and common tasks such as copying, deleting, and backing up of data are all provided by the operating system (also known as the operating system kernel).
In addition, it serves as a repository for applications in the form of an application store. Both Google’s Play Store and Apple’s App Store are currently under investigation by the Federal Trade Commission for using anti-competitive pricing practices. Not only would an Indian operating system protect user data, but it will also give a native user interface, as well as an ecosystem-centric application store, among other features.
An increasing number of entrepreneurs in India’s startup ecosystem are advocating for self-reliance, and internet-first entrepreneurs have taken to Twitter to advocate for the establishment of an Indian App Store, which would compete with the Google-Apple duopoly.
It is still too early to expect an Indian operating system and, at the same time, an Indian app store. It is also possible that the planned handset operating system policy, as well as any successor operating system, may not be very successful, based on the previous example of the BOSS’ failure.
