Facebook and Google to be introduced to Jio Platforms board

Facebook and Google, the strategic partners in Jio Platforms, will be introduced on the board of the company. With 9.9% stake in Jio Platforms, Facebbok is the largest strategic investor whereas Google has a stake of 7.73%.   

Google’s investment in Jio Platforms is a part of its committed $10 billion fund for India. The Facebook entry is to Jio Mart and WhatsApp with its subscriber base of 350 million. On the other hand Google is trying to use Jio’s capability at the entry-level smartphone.      

Google announced in a blog that it is extending a new capability to the millions of Google Assistant users on KaiOS devices in India. Google has introduced Google Lens camera-based translation abilities to KaiOS users in India. The KaiOS software runs on popular phones like the Jio Phone and Jio Phone 2 in the country. From Assistant, they can click the camera icon to simply point their phone at real-world text (like a product label, street sign, or document, for example,) and have it read back in their preferred language, translated, or defined.

Google Assistant has made it easy for users in India to find answers and get things done on their devices using their voice. ‘Since its launch at Google for India in 2017, Google said it has worked hard to bring more helpful features like integrated voice typing on KaiOS, voice-based language selection, and support for Indian languages to help first-time internet users overcome barriers to literacy and interact with technology and their devices more naturally. In 2019, Google brought camera based translation to Google Lens to help users understand information.

According to a research report by BofA Securities, ‘We note that Google and Facebook are competitors in India with both controlling 80 per cent plus of the digital ad market in India. They also compete in other markets like commerce, payments’, the research said.

Facebook and Google, both are taking minority interest in Jio Platforms which indicates that both have non-overlapping commercial arrangements with Jio and are focused on non-competing partnerships. Both the companies see value and opportunities to co-exist. The Google and Jio partnership concentrates on digitization across the length and breadth of India. They entered into a commercial agreement to jointly develop an entry level affordable smartphone with optimizations to the Android operating system and the Play Store.

‘We note that Jio’s 4G feature phone on KaiOS ecosystem has 120 million users. An affordable 4G and 5G smartphone would help both. Developing an Android 5G app ecosystem focused on emerging markets would also could be an area of focus for Google from medium-term perspective’, the research said.

Facebook and Jio partnership focus on integrating the JioMart app inside WhatsApp. To hasten the online commerce business, WhatsApp entered into a commercial partnership agreement with Reliance Retail. Facebook could improve traction of its ‘Facebook marketplace’ by leveraging JPL’s feet on the street team as it could help remove the merchant friction with tech, the report said.

‘We expect Jio overtime to have access to 500 million mobile users, 20 million households and 10 million SMEs. Furthermore RIL has also India’s biggest physical retail stores. Such a wide reach of users and merchants allows RIL to have clear and demarcated non-overlapping partnerships with each of them’, the report said.