Google Rolls Out Reading App Bolo, Boosts Presence In India

Alphabet’s (NASDAQ:GOOGL) division, Google is leaving no stone unturned to strengthen its footprint in the education industry on the back of innovative technologies.

Recently, the company rolled out an educational app called “Bolo” in India that features huge collection of stories pulled from StoryWeaver. Notably, the app offers 40 stories in English and 50 in Hindi along with a reading buddy called Diya that encourages kids to read.

This search giant aims at enhancing reading capabilities of students of elementary schools in India with this latest move. The new app can be downloaded from Google Play Store for free, and can be used by multiple kids and they can adjust it according to their reading levels.

Moreover, Bolo helps kids to learn how to read Hindi and English by utilizing Google’s speech recognition and text-to-speech techniques.

Bolo to Aid Growth

The company is likely to gain momentum in the education society of India with Bolo and its robust features.

Further, the new app works offline, which is expected to gain popularity among users as Internet in a country like India is not easily accessible. In this way, Google will be able to help improve the literacy rate of the country, which is a major positive.

Moreover, the offline feature will serve interests of parents residing in India, who are concerned about their children misusing Internet. Further, Google has assured that all the personal information will only remain on the device, which will help protect the privacy of the children.

Apart from these, friendly Diya listens, corrects and gives instant feedback whenever kids read aloud. Diya is also capable of reading stories and explaining meanings of difficult words.

Additionally, in order to keep kids entertained and engrossed in the learning process, the app comprises word games with rewards and badges.

All these will aid Bolo, which in turn will boost its download rate and user base.

Growing Presence in India

Google’s latest move bodes well for its continued focus toward bolstering its presence India, where smartphone usage is rising. Moreover, the increasing demand for modern education techniques is expected to accelerate the adoption rate of Bolo.

Apart from the new app, the company unveiled other apps for users in India, such as Google Pay (Tez) — an online payment app, Neighbourly — a Q&A app for sharing local information, Blog Compass — an app for Indian bloggers, Areo — a food delivery app, and data friendly version of YouTube.

Other than apps, Google rolled out Google Shopping service in India, which offers several retailer options for a particular product on a single search command.

On top of everything, the company’s Wi-Fi service is running well at 400 India railway stations, which is one of its major achievements in the country.

We believe Google’s deepening focus on India will continue to strengthen its reach in the country and also aid its global presence.

Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider

Currently, Alphabet carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

A few better-ranked stocks in the broader technology sector are Autohome (NYSE:ATHM) , Dropbox (NASDAQ:DBX) and Rakuten (OTC:RKUNY) . While Autohome sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Dropbox and Rakuten carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

The long-term expected earnings growth rates for Autohome, Dropbox and Rakuten are currently pegged at 29.41%, 14% and 7.5%, respectively.

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