Continuing with Sunder Pichai’s commitment during PM Modi’s visit to the web giant’s HQs, Google has now launched Digital India — the name ofcourse aligning with the current Government’s similar campaign — to showcase select Indian startups, making a name for themselves in the tech space.
And while we get on with the overall website and its layout, do note that this is also Google’s attempt to market its products among — what the company claims — is the third largest tech startup ecosystem in the world.
Google’s SE Asia and India VP Rajan Anandan, who himself has been extremely active in India’s early-stage funding scenario, said in a blog post,
As we continue to work towards this vision, we’re very excited to launch a dedicated destination (g.co/digitalindia), where we attempt to capture how this digital revolution is unfolding in India.
The dedicated web presence is more of a blog though, listing special stories of a select Indian startup founders, via one or the other Google product. Here’s a look of how the website looks like, once you scroll down :
The interface, though has been designed well, still looks a bit patchy and buggy to me. For example, the link-clicking transitions which the company intended to use, aren’t working as smoothly as the company — and you as a user too — would have expected. And considering most of India still doesn’t have access to real high-speed internet, these could look even more patchy there. Scrolling down or up for example, isn’t exactly smooth.
Once you click upon a startup story, a pop-up comes up, showing you basic information about the company. The article would brief you about a company’s location, its core business model and a long introduction about how the company is using Google or one of its products to run its businesses. Here’s an example from a story about Zesty Bites — a startup which helps deliver sweets to customers :
Overall though, the look and feel is pretty much in sync with India’s genesis and culture — colorful and vibrant. The UX feels good, though it continues to be patchy at stages.
I expect Google will fix that soon, though. Stories can be filtered by industry, with tech getting its own section alongside areas like education, entertainment, and manufacturing.
