Spotify has brought a lighter version of its app to India that is built for low-end Android smartphones. The app is now available on Google Play Store, with the beta tag attached to it.
After successful tests in markets including Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Mexico, and Brazil, the 10 MB-sized app which has similar look and feel to the main app is now available in Beta for the Indian users.
It uses less storage, making it an ideal option for older phones with limited capacity. In a country like India, where majority of the people buy phones for under Rs 10,000, the Lite app could be their gateway to join the Spotify bandwagon.
“When Spotify launched in India two months ago, we had committed to localising the app so that more and more people can listen to music,” Amarjit Batra, Managing Director India, Spotify, told IANS on Monday.
Spotify Lite lets you play your favourite songs and artists on demand, discovers new music, keeps track of storage (has control over cache and ability to clear it), keeps track of data and works on all low-end Android phones in all network conditions.
The app works when the network is patchy, users are struggling with the Internet or for when they don't want to spend much mobile data. Its Lite-ness goes beyond just the size of the app. The music interface has been kept simple, yet borrows most of its design elements from the regular app.
The main Spotify app that came to India is February had amassed one million followers within the week of its launch, and last reported figures put them crossing the two million mark as well.
User with Spotify Lite will also get the option to put a data limit for the app every month with a maximum range of up to 3GB. This way, the app will control his/her usage, helping them save on their data bandwidth.
The beta version will be available till the final app is ready to be rolled for all the users. For a market like India and its users, the Lite app has be the go-to strategy for many platforms, including, Uber, Twitter and even Facebook over the years. In fact, Tinder is also looking to introduce a Lite version of the main app for the country very soon.
(With IANS inputs)
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