Google CEO Sundar Pichai India Visit: Key Announcements

Google CEO Sundar Pichai has made some major announcements at ‘Google for India’ event in Delhi during his India visit. He has outlined company’s vision and strategies to bring Indians online. The announcements include Railtel Wi-Fi launch in January 2016 and training two million new Android developers.

The company aims to provide more access to the Internet and empower Indians to build the Internet that they need. Google is also making its products work better for Indian people. Scroll down to find out 8 key announcements made by Google CEO Sundar Pichai in detail.

8 Key Announcements Made By Google CEO Sundar Pichai At ‘Google for India’ Event

Here are the 8 key announcements from the event:

1. Rail Wire

With an aim to provide Indians as well as other developing counties with better access to Internet connectivity, the company is working with Indian railways and Railtel to launch Railwire Wi-Fi at train stations. While Mumbai Central will be the first station to get Wi-Fi in January 2016, 100 more stations will follow subsequently.

2. Virtual Keyboard With Indian Languages Support

The company has created a new virtual keyboard that comes with support for 11 Indian languages. The company has launched a lighter version of search results and webpages that load faster and offer increased traffic for publishers.

3. Google To Add Panoramic Imagery Of Monuments

Google has partnered with the Ministry of Culture and the Archaeological Survey of India to add panoramic view of 250 Indian monuments to both the Google Cultural Institute and Google Maps.

4. Use Google Maps Without Data Connection

Google has launched Offline Maps feature in Google Maps so that real time navigation of roads and searches for locations can be done without internet connection. “Offline Maps is a feature we expect to be useful around the world, and countries like India will truly benefit when it comes to accessing Google Maps with expensive, slow or limited connectivity. In fact, India is one of the top five countries that has the most people using Offline Maps today,” said Jen Fitzpatrick, Vice-President of Product Management for Google Maps.

5. Updated Offline Feature

Google launched YouTube offline feature in India last year. Now the company has introduced a new feature which lets videos buffer when they are paused. “We believe that every person should be able to experience YouTube at its best: in high quality, with few delays and limited buffering,” said Eyal Manor, Vice-President of Engineering for YouTube.

6. Tap To Translate

Google is set to launch a new feature called Tap to Translate in January 2016. This feature will allow instant translation of any text on Android phone.

7. Training Program

The company has also announced a training program to train two million new Android developers in the next three years by working closely with around 30 universities across the country in partnership with National Skill Development Corporation. “We’re already seeing incredible growth in the number of developers in India, and our forecasts indicate that this is growth is not going to slow down anytime soon. At Google, we’re committed to providing access to tools that empower developers to be successful,” said Jason Titus, Vice-President of Engineering of the Developers Product Group.