Introducing Kai Technologies: Powering 30 Million Phones across the Globe

Kai Technologies was founded in 2016, but since we’re new to Medium, I want to take this opportunity to welcome you to the Kai community. Below I’ll provide some background about our company and mission.

We all know what smartphones are, and although it seems like they’ve taken over the mobile phone market, it’s estimated only 30 percent of the world’s population owns one. That means 70 percent either doesn’t want one, can’t afford one, or is looking for an alternative.

At Kai, our goal is to bridge the divide between the billions of people in emerging markets who still don’t have basic internet access, as well as those in more established markets that do. As a result, we will make internet access available to all, regardless of whether people are uncomfortable with advanced technology, don’t own a smartphone, or can’t afford one.

That’s why in 2016 we began developing KaiOS, a mobile operating system based on HTML5. The goal? To support a new category of lite phones and other IoT devices that require limited memory, so they can come at an affordable price, while still offering users the best features possible.

KaiOS brings the functionality of a smartphone to feature phones, such as the U.S. Alcatel GO FLIP™ Phone or India’s Reliance JioPhone (pictured above).

Phones running on KaiOS have an easy-to-use interface for non-touch devices and support 4G/LTE, as well as Wi-Fi, GPS, and NFC. KaiOS is one of only three global mobile operating systems capable of supporting most popular third-party apps, and we’re launching our Store for apps in the near future.

KaiOS now runs on 30 million phones in the U.S., Canada, and India. We have partnerships with 20 carriers including AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Reliance Jio — and this is just the beginning.

Kai’s global team comes for a variety of different backgrounds and fields, offering users a new solution that is revolutionizing the affordable phone market.

We started with 30 team members in 2016. Now we’re close to 200 people with rich backgrounds in mobile technology, software development, and the telecoms industry. Our diverse team is spread across offices in the Americas, Europe, and Asia.

As we look to the future, we’re working to gain new partnerships and enhance our technology so we can offer our services in more than 100 countries by the end of 2018.

Kai looks to bridge the digital gap and bring the internet to people across the globe.

We’re at the forefront of a digital revolution that is opening up new opportunities for individuals, their families, and communities. With our technology and the help of our partners, we believe that one day everyone will have access to advanced digital services.

Stay up to date on Kai’s journey by reading our blog or following us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

This post originally appeared on the Kai Technologies blog.