YouTube Go, Google Station unveiled

September 27, 2016 11:15 pm | Updated November 01, 2016 09:20 pm IST - NEW DELHI:

Access challenge:  Barriers to Net access in India include low-powered phones, 2G tech, little data.

Access challenge: Barriers to Net access in India include low-powered phones, 2G tech, little data.

As it turned 18 on Tuesday, technology giant Google announced a slew of products, such as YouTube Go and Google Station that are specially designed for India —the world’s second-largest Internet market.

Every second

“Every second, three more Indians come online for the first time — that’s over 10,000 people every hour,” Google Vice-President (Next Billion Users) Caesar Sengupta said. “But this latest wave of Internet users still has significant barriers to getting the most out of the Internet: low-powered phones, 2G connections, and very little data.”

Google is working on building products and services for India which can be accessible “regardless of devices, languages, networks they use.”

Wi-Fi initiative

The firm announced extending its initiative to provide Wi-Fi at 400 railway stations in India in partnership with RailTel to include public places such as bus stops and malls.

‘Google Station’, Mr. Sengupta said, would give partners an easy set of tools to roll-out Wi-Fi hotspots in public places. It will provide software and guidance on hardware to turn fibre connections into fast, reliable and safe Wi-Fi zones. The U.S.-head-quartered firm introduced a more efficient version of YouTube, that will enable both viewing and sharing videos offline.

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