In a push to spread its mobile operating system throughout Asia, Google will open a set of brick-and-mortar Android Nation stores in India in collaboration with Indian electronics retailer Spice Global.
According to the Economic Times, the stores will sell Android smartphones and tablets manufactured by brands including Samsung, Sony, HTC, LG, ASUS, and others.
The stores will also feature in-house experts that educate customers about various Android devices, apps, and accessories.
India’s first Android Nation store will be located in New Delhi, but according to representatives from Spice Global, the two companies have plans to ultimately convert over 50 Spice retail outlets into Android Nation stores. Moreover, India will only be the first destination, as both firms also intend to bring Android Nation to the Middle East, Thailand, Malaysia, and Africa.
India is only the second country that can call itself home to Android Nation. In March 2012 Google opened up the world’s first Android Nation store in Jakarta, Indonesia, and built a second one eight months later in the same city.
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This past year has seen Google steadily expand its latest offerings to India. In February the company brought books to Google Play to India, and one month later added movies and music.
Smartphone penetration remains comparatively low in India: for 2012, the country saw shipments of only 15.2 million shipments, compared to 206.4 million shipments of featurephones.
As for brand dominance of smartphones India, Samsung ranked number one with 43.1 percent of shipments, followed by Nokia with 13.3 percent. Google is hoping to take advantage of this early stage of India’s smart device adoption with aggressive marketing.
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