8 Facts You Must Know About India's Very Own Smartphone Operating System - Indus OS

A surprising fact that many tech enthusiasts don't know about is the existence of an Indian operating system for many of the budget smartphones available in the market - the Indus OS. In a very short span of time, Indus OS, formerly known as Firstouch, has become a favourite in the Indian subcontinent and by the looks of it, things are only going to get bigger. Here are a few facts about Indus that you should know about -

1. It has got over 3 million users in just 9 months.

Huge. In fact, in India, Indus OS is only behind Google Android OS at 5.6% market share between January and March. That's more than Samsung's Tizen OS (7th at 0.3%), Microsoft's Windows OS (7th at 0.3%) and Apple's iOS (5th at 2.5%).?

2. It is the second biggest operating system in India. Yes, much bigger than iOS, Windows.?

While we obsess over Android and iOS, Indus is quietly becoming one of the biggest players in the smartphone market. In fact, Indus is running on 13 of the most popular Micromax smartphones, including their new phones.

3. It's a Mumbai-based start-up.

crunchbase

The company basically operates from Mumbai but has offices in Delhi and Dhaka.?

4. Technically, it's not an OS.?

It's not. It's a skin that's based on Google Android. Just like OnePlus phones run on Cyanogen OS and Xiaomi phones on UIX.?

5.?Swipe to translate feature.

Indus OS has a unique keyboard that allows users to translate text into regional languages. Called the Indus Swipe, you can translate to a native language with a right swipe and transliterate when you swipe left.?

6.?Text to speech feature.

All you need to do is select a piece of text on Indus OS, and it will read out the highlighted text to you. Pretty neat.

7.?It has its own app marketplace called the App Bazaar.

The App Bazaar, as it's called, allows users to download apps in a native language without having to sign in using email IDs or credit cards. It offers digital content in 12 languages currently and has over 25,000 apps including apps from big wigs like Disney, EA Games and Microsoft among others. They have a cumulative app download rate of a massive 130%.?

8. Has an all-in-one keyboard with 12 Indian languages.?

Indus offers 12 languages - Hindi, Malayalam, Telegu, Tamil, Odia, Assamese, Bengali, Urdu, Punjabi, Kannada, Gujrati and Marathi apart from the default, English. And just in case, you're not great at punctuation in your regional language, it also predicts and adds the 'matra' for you.?