Hello.
We write about the Russian mobile OS “Aurora” from time to time, but every time the same questions arise around it, and in terms of hardware. Why not repeat what we have gone through again through the prism of the fact that the Vsesmart store in Afimall opened a corner with devices in Aurora. Since the store is owned by Marvel, as well as the manufacturer of F+ devices, the synergy here does not raise questions, as well as the lack of devices from other companies on the shelf.
For those working in retail, the word “corner” (that same corner) is well known; as a rule, it is a small stand with goods, thus distinguishing them from all others. Consider this a kind of promotional model that allows you to highlight the necessary products and tell about their advantages.
Let me remind you that the Aurora today is exclusively a corporate device, it is not intended for the mass market, it does not replace an Android smartphone or iPhone, and in principle, an ordinary person does not need it. Attempts to compare Aurora with the same Android look at least surprising, but more on that later.
Let’s take a look at the prices of the devices, two of them are already on sale: the FPlus R570E smartphone for 14,990 rubles and the FPlus Tab Plus tablet for 16,990 rubles.
Both prices are promotional offers, the total cost of the devices is 47,990 and 48,990 rubles. And at this moment, the ignorant begin to spout nonsense about the theft of the budget, people who have gone crazy and decide to buy something like that and with such characteristics. They give dozens of examples of what you can buy for this money – in fact, you can take excellent Android smartphones that are head and shoulders above the hardware. And this is true, there is no point in arguing with it. But, as always, there is a nuance.
The devices on Aurora are corporate, they are intended for companies working in a specific software environment, these are B2B solutions with various connections from FSTEC services and certificates. Obtaining such a certificate is a separate headache, but it opens access to the corporate market. And without it, the use of devices in certain Russian companies is simply prohibited. Hence the lack of choice; you cannot go and buy a regular Android smartphone in a nearby store, which is better, faster, and further on the list. And the problem is precisely the potential unsafety of such smartphones.
I chatted with Alexey Melnikov, the CEO of Marvel (for simplicity, I will define his position as it is perceived in the market, without listing different legal entities). The promotional price applies to the first thousand devices of each item; the price of licenses for additional software, for example, antivirus, has been removed from the price. There are applications in the device’s memory, but the buyer gets them de facto for free. If it seems to you that third-party software cannot take up the lion’s share of the price of the device compared to the price of hardware, then you are mistaken, not only can it, but it does. In the corporate market, the rules of the game are different.
Do you want me to reveal the most terrible secret that almost no one knows about? In the absence of devices on Aurora, there are no applications on the consumer market aimed at ordinary buyers. That is, these are corporate versions of applications, as follows from their B2B licenses, but it is impossible to find a B2C license, they do not exist. The cost of licenses is maximum for each application, and this is not the price that the platform creator charges, it is the price that must be paid to the providers of specific solutions. It turns out that out of 45 thousand rubles of the total cost of such a smartphone, thirty thousand is the price of software licenses. For the corporate market this is a familiar situation, but for the consumer it is nonsense that cannot be understood.
In the corporate market there is centralized procurement; the company holds a tender, selects a supplier and purchases the necessary goods. But sometimes you just need to evaluate the capabilities of a particular piece of hardware; there is no need to immediately launch a large project. One of the most frequently asked questions about Aurora is how to become a participant in the beta program in order to gain access to the devices and system, touch it and draw your own conclusions. Or the second question is where to go for such a device in order to touch it in exactly the same way. Both questions are answered by the opportunity to buy the device at retail, but, as before, the tablet and smartphone are not intended for the average buyer. You will be able to use the applications included in them, see how Aurora works, but that’s all. Without an enterprise app store, your experience will not be complete.
At the beginning of the year, F+ will release the T1100 tablet, it is quite interesting (the price will be high), responsive, and Aurora works well on it.
For this tablet, F+ has prepared a mobile workstation, you can connect a mouse and keyboard to it, the Russian Aladdin module is used for authorization, virtualization tools from Rostelecom, and all together creates a reliable, secure environment. The cost of such a complex is significantly lower than that of any laptop with the appropriate level of protection and certification. For B2B customers, such a mobile workplace is cost-effective, and this is one of the areas where Aurora is actively developing.
I understand perfectly well that a certain number of seekers of cheap popularity will buy F+ devices in order to compare them with different Chinese models and make their verdict: Russian means bad. But here you need to take into account that there are many restrictions on which processors can be used, often there are simply none. For the first time, these are devices that are assembled inside Russia, and we must pay tribute to all companies that are striving to develop factories within the country (in practice, and not in press releases).
The easiest way today is to take Android AOSP, change its design a little, call it a Russian system and roll out such a “development” on any Chinese smartphone. It will cost several times less than the devices that we will see from Russian manufacturers. And the onset of such “Russian” devices in the coming year will be incredible; there will be a lot of them. In fact, there will be almost nothing Russian in them, except for attempts to develop the budget, participate in tenders and the like. And this is a bad story for all of us, since data protection on such devices does not belong to us in any form, and such systems simply have no future. You need to create your own, invest in your own technologies. They exist, we see how the development of both the Aurora and devices for it is moving in small steps. There are corporate clients who use our system and are satisfied with it. It meets their needs and provides an economic justification, since it is safe and often cheaper than using B2B solutions from international manufacturers (remember the cost of software, which takes the price of a device into space, this happens for everyone, everywhere).
You can and should scold someone, but let’s do it. And if we understand that Aurora is a corporate system today, then let’s compare it with exactly the same offers from other companies. You will be surprised when you see the prices for such solutions; they are astronomical in every sense.
2023-11-08 21:04:00
#Sales #devices #Aurora #Vsesmart #store
