Smartphones and tablets running Aurora OS will go on sale in November

Mobile devices from Russian manufacturers Fplus, Bayterg and Aquarius on the Aurora OS will appear in retail sales in November, Kommersant has learned. They will be presented in the lower price segment up to 20 thousand rubles, and discounts will also be introduced on them for promotion. The release of products into the consumer segment will speed up the development of applications for Aurora and provide user experience, the developers believe. But experts believe that without a ban on Android and iOS devices, Russian devices will not be able to occupy more than 1% of the market.

A source in the IT market told Kommersant that the Fplus holding intends to start selling its tablets and smartphones on the Aurora OS in the consumer segment in November. According to him, these will be devices in the lower price segment (up to 20 thousand rubles), but later the price will increase, since the developer of the Aurora OS (Open Mobile Platform (OMP), owned by Rostelecom) has reduced the first batch the cost of a license is up to 1 thousand rubles, but subsequently it will be 4.5 thousand rubles. The interlocutor added that the devices will also be sold in the LPR and DPR.

According to another source, devices running Aurora OS from Aquarius and Bayterg will also be released at retail – all of them will be presented in the Vsesmart chain of stores (owned by Fplus). “The offered products are not aimed at replacing traditional smartphones and tablets based on popular OS. This is a specialized working tool for an official or employee of a company that uses the Aurora OS,” he says. Fplus and Bayterg did not answer Kommersant.

In the summer, the Ministry of Industry and Trade invited manufacturers of smartphones and tablets to draw up a schedule for porting the Aurora OS to their devices and begin bringing gadgets to the consumer segment (see Kommersant on July 11). Later, Roskomnadzor estimated the improvement of the Aurora OS at 300 billion rubles. (see “Kommersant” dated August 14). After this, Avroid, a company owned by Fplus, presented an emulator of Android applications for the Russian system (see Kommersant on September 11).

OMP General Director Pavel Eiges confirmed to Kommersant that devices running Aurora OS will be released in electronics retail chains in the near future. He did not specify the nomenclature and cost, but admitted that initially promotions and discounts would be used. According to him, anyone can purchase the device, “however, sales are primarily aimed at clients from the public sector and employees of large companies implementing mobile solutions based on Aurora.” “Government agencies and large businesses are refusing to use foreign smartphones and tablets, so it is necessary to give them the opportunity to implement import substitution projects,” noted Pavel Eiges. This year, the Ministry of Digital Development, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Rostec and other ministries and state corporations banned their employees from using Apple devices for work purposes.

President of Aquarius Group of Companies Vladimir Stepanov told Kommersant that the company’s main products are intended for the commercial and public sectors, but the introduction of products into the consumer segment is being considered. According to him, it is necessary to create incentive tools for Russians to switch to Russian software, as was done in the public sector, and the devices “should compete not with Chinese consumer goods, but with modern models of leading brands.”

Kommersant’s interlocutor on the smartphone market explained that now the share of domestic devices in the Russian Federation does not exceed 1%, so the only possible option for gadgets with the Aurora OS to occupy a significant part of the market would be to ban the import of devices on Android and iOS: “In general, the initiative is correct , as this may increase the user base on domestic systems, but regulatory intervention will be required to speed up the transition.”

Timofey Kornev