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Alphabet's (GOOGL) 18th Birthday: Gifts Raining on India

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Alphabet Inc.’s (GOOGL - Free Report) Google turned 18 recently and India has surely got a big slice of the birthday cake.  At the second ‘Google For India’ event held in New Delhi on the day of its 18th anniversary, the company launched five new products, particularly tailored for Indian users.

The Bouquet of Products

The company launched Google Station to provide W-Fi across places frequently visited by a large number of people such as malls, cafes, universities, stations and hangout spots. The company already has a partnership with Indian Railways’ telecom unit RailTel and provides free Wi-Fi across 53 railway stations. The service is likely to be extended to 100 stations.

A new mobile app, Youtube Go was also announced targeting data conscious customers. Google promises that with this new app, users will be able to play videos even with poor connectivity and share them without any data consumption. The app will allow users to preview videos and select the video file size so that they can keep control over data usage.

It also announced a Chrome update to automatically load simplified pages on 2G networks, thereby saving up to 67% of video data (per the company’s claims). Using Chrome on Android's new Download feature, users will be able to save web items and access them even when they are offlline. If a user goes offline while the download is in progress, it will automatically resume once the user is online again.

Further, the company announced plans to launch Google Assistant in Hindi as part of Google Allo and said that Chrome’s existing data saver mode will now support the MP4 video mode.

A new “Wait for Wi-Fi” option will also be available through Google Play to allow apps to install only when the phone is connected to Wi-Fi.

ALPHABET INC-A Price

Google’s Big Plans for India

Google’s elaborate plans for India make sense as the nation is the second-largest Internet market in the world with 333 million users and also one of Asia’s fastest growing economies. However, Internet penetration in the country is low and most of the people access it through smartphones. Consequently, there is plenty of room for the company to grow by enhancing its smartphone apps.

Google’s ability to innovate has translated into strong growth for the company. However, it refuses to rest on its past laurels and continues to adapt to changing market trends. It has taken the mobile market transition in its stride and is pursuing its India expansion plans in full gusto.

Zacks Rank and Stocks to Consider

Currently, Alphabet is a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock. Better-ranked stocks in the in the broader technology sector include LinkedIn Corporation , Autobytel Inc. and Yirendai Ltd. (YRD - Free Report) each sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Linkedin has seen estimates for the full year rise over the past 60 days by more than 100%. For Autobytel, estimates rose 11.2% in last 60 days. Over the same period, Yirendai has seen estimates go up by 33.6%.

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