By Prarthana Mitra
Amazon has entered the Indian market with the launch of Internet, a ‘lite’ web browser application available only to Indian users, with the promise to occupy less space and not invade your browsing history. With the clandestine launch of its first web browser app, it is clear that global retail giant Amazon intends to leave a mark in every facet of Indian life.
Here’s what happened
Without any formal announcement, and following a very low-key launch on March 20, Internet has been sitting idly in the Google Play app store.
Amazon’s Android mobile browser is a much lighter and private version of other search engine apps that are more popular and widely used.
Internet is designed to run on all smartphones which run Android 5.0 or more. According to user reviews, the applications’ interface and design are quite bare-boned. Furthermore, the app does not ask for permissions or collect your private data.
TechCrunch reported that Amazon has followed the launch of its first mobile web browser with a Kindle Lite app as well.
Why you should care
Amazon picked a very opportune moment for venturing into the web browsing industry. When both Google and Facebook (all their subsidiary applications) are grappling with privacy infringement and security breach allegations, Amazon’s Internet claims that it does not collect your browsing history.
The app is structurally reminiscent of Facebook Lite, YouTube Go and Gmail Go that were launched by their parent companies as slimmer versions of the original applications. Like most of these lightweight mobile applications, the new app is also sized at only 2 MB, as compared to Google Chrome which occupies 21-75 MB on Android phones.
Furthermore, the app could cater to millions suffering from a shortage of memory on their Android smartphones. It could provide users access to instant information in places where mobile data and high-speed connectivity is limited.
With less than a thousand downloads so far, Internet is yet to catch on with the Indian masses, but it’s one of a kind features tells us we won’t be seeing the last of Amazon’s browser anytime soon.
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