Yandex introduces software kit for Android phones in Russia

Russian internet search engine Yandex has developed firmware for Android devices launching in Russia. The Yandex.Kit software can be installed on smartphones by manufacturers in order to offer a range of local services. This includes Yandex Search, Yandex.Mail, Yandex.Maps, a 3D launcher based on Yandex.Shell, as well as a mobile browser and the Yandex.Store app store with 100,000 apps. Yandex is also integrated into some of the phone's functions, such as the dialer's use of the Yandex Business Directory to identify unknown callers. 

The first smartphones with Yandex.Kit pre-installed are from Huawei and Explay and will go on sale in March. Yandex.Kit is offered free, and the company said the software is optimised to run on the "not-so-powerful devices popular in Russia and the CIS". It can also provide further customisation of the software for manufacturers and operators. Yandex.Kit will be on display at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on the Huawei Honor 3 Yandex and Explay Flame phones.