Today Gmail announced support for six Indic languages on feature phones.
According to Google, India has over 100 languages, and thousands of alphabets. Perhaps in a first step, Gmail on feature phones in the region will now support Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi, Bengali, and Telugu. I had to look most of those up as well, don’t fear.
For fun, here’s a shot of the new language support in action:
The text of this post is downright ugly in comparison to that script.
India is a country that is well-known for its high technology, with a hub in the sprawling city of Bangalore, and universities that rank among the best in the world for training engineers. At the same time, many in the country live in relative poverty. For much of the population, a traditional smartphone might be outside the realm of their financial capabilities. For the company, feature phones are just the ticket.
As Gmail wishes to reach as many individuals as possible, supporting local languages on the very devices that those next joining the Internet will use is an obvious move.
The six Indic languages are available as of today. Hit up your settings area if you want to give the a spin.
Top Image Credit: Sumit Chachra
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