Glance, a Google-backed Indian startup known for its smartphone lockscreen platform, is intensifying its efforts to penetrate the US market. This follows a recent pilot program with Verizon and Motorola.
Glance’s platform offers customised content such as news feeds, local events, sports updates, media content, and interactive games without requiring additional app installations. The company has already made significant strides in the Indian market, Southeast Asia, and Japan after expanding last year, but now aims to gain traction within the competitive US industry.
One of Glance’s key differentiators is its alleged commitment to user privacy—it does not collect personal data from users but instead relies on usage patterns to power its recommendation engine. The startup has also teamed up with Qualcomm to build an AI-powered lockscreen experience, which could lead to a reduction in the amount of data consumed by Glance for generating its personalised feeds and moving much of the processing onto user devices.
Unlike many other companies that rely on ads displayed on the lock screen, Glance plans not to show any advertisements within their platform. Instead, it is pre-installed on the device but can be easily removed by users if desired. This approach caters to a growing trend in smartphone manufacturers and brands placing increasing value on non-app screens as crucial real estate for engaging with consumers.
Glance’s lockscreen platform currently reaches over 450 million smartphones worldwide, making it active on approximately 300 million of those devices. In the US, Glance plans to collaborate with more telecom operators and brands such as CNN and the NBA in an effort to expand its presence within this highly competitive market.
Despite not showing ads on their platform, Glance has still seen success with brand partnerships. A nine-week campaign with Indian streaming service JioCinema resulted in nine million incremental app installs from over 100 million unique impressions. The company’s lockscreen technology was also credited for driving user engagement and converting the installed base into daily active users during that partnership.
Glance is backed by investors such as Google and Jio Platforms, which lends further credibility to its efforts in this new market space. With a focus on user privacy, AI-powered experiences, and partnerships with top brands, the company has the potential to carve out a unique place for itself within the US market.
(Image Credit: Glance)
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