BharOS – The Bollysystem 3.0

A schizophrenic OS that no one will want to use

• The new Indian OS for smartphones doesn’t really know what it wants to be, but I think it will appeal to government entities and enterprises with very little interest coming from consumers who have long since sold their digital souls to Google.
• BharOS is a new OS based on Android that has been developed by a government-backed start-up (JandK Operations) that is being touted as India’s answer to Android when in reality it is nothing of the kind.
• Furthermore, the way that this OS will be managed indicates that its creators have not really decided whether this is a super secure OS or if it is an attempt to go after the consumer digital ecosystem in India.
• For example, the best way to make Android secure is to lock it down completely with no installations or updates beyond those made at the factory being permitted.
• However, BharOS will focus on rapid OTA updates and will ship with nothing set by default with users being allowed to decide what to use for each of the Digital Life services where they live their digital lives.
• These apps will be provided by organisation-specific Private App Store Services (PASS) which have been curated and vetted to ensure that they are both secure and private.
• PASS appears to be an enterprise or government service where the entity issues devices to its employees who then install the apps that they need for the work that they do.
• It does not sound like anything that will remotely appeal to users in India, although a recent ruling will mean that Google will allow forked versions of Android to be built in India (see here).
• Hence in theory it is possible that we will see the Google Play Store appear on BharOS, but in practice, I suspect it is unlikely.
• In order for the Google Play Store to run properly, it needs all sorts of extensions not present in the base Android OS that form part of Google Mobile Services.
• Furthermore, app developers expect these extensions to be present on Android devices meaning that apps not specifically designed for BharOS that are installed may not work properly.
• The demands of users are also not going to help the case for BharOS as Google has India in an iron grip when it comes to the digital ecosystem.
• Six or seven years ago, Indian users were demanding Android devices but with the increase in penetration and use of Google services on Android, this has changed.
• Now users demand Google services and if a device does not have them, it is very unlikely that users will buy it.
• This is very similar to what happened to Huawei when it was no longer able to install the Google Ecosystem on its devices.
• Despite fantastic hardware at a good price, its share still fell off a cliff.
• Hence, I think that the only real chance that BharOS has is to become a secure and completely controllable OS that is used by government or companies to ensure the security and integrity of their services and data networks.
• Entities will also be able to ensure what is and what is not installed on their devices which will further increase BharOS’s appeal in the government and enterprise segment.
• However, this means that volumes will be low as I suspect that this will go nowhere with the consumer.
• This is because it is already much too late as Google has already conquered this market and users will not move unless they can take Google with them.
• Shots at the Indian consumer digital ecosystem have already been taken a couple of times (see here) and realistically only Jio Platforms has any chance of success with the consumer.
• This strategy involves using Meta Platforms’ and Google’s capital to increase penetration using Google and Facebook services but to then offer other services that they do not offer alongside them to entice usage, differentiation and revenues for Jio Platforms.
• Hence, I think BharOS will disappear into the world of enterprise software and I don’t expect to hear very much about it from here on.
• I do not see any threat on the horizon to Google’s dominance in India and should its share price continue to be hit with ChatGPT speculation, I would look to pick some up.