5 Mobile Trends in India
On-the-go observations based on travels in mid 2014.
In June, I traveled to India for about 2 weeks. My time was split between Delhi and Bangalore. These are some observations I made while on the trip in terms of mobile phone usage.
1.) Smartphones are hot. But features phones still prevail.
There is no doubt that smartphone adoption is growing in India in a massive way. A recent report by IDC suggests that the growth of smartphones YOY in 2013 was over 200% while feature phone growth is stagnate. But its important to remember that feature phones still rule here — roughly representing 550 million handsets.
Feature phones are still the majority here — roughly 71% of the market.
A vast majority of these feature phones are only used for basic communication (phone calls and SMS) but several apps are pre-installed to encourage data usage, such as Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter. Also, basic browsers exist on some phones if users want to access sites on the internet.
The market will definitely flip towards more smartphones in a couple of years but if you are building an app that needs to appeal to the masses — creating an service that works on feature phones is still a must!
2.) Prepay is here to stay.
The vast majority of Indian consumers prefer prepay to postpay — in fact prepay market is around 95%. There are a couple of reasons why this might stay the course for a while.
- Customized Plans
The wireless telcos offer a wide variety of prepaid plans based on your needs. Depending on your usage — whether you make more phone calls, send texts, or use data — you can pick what is the best value for you. If your needs change, then its easy to switch. In fact, many customers here have dual-sim phones that enable you to use particular sim for calls, texts, and data. Also, there are certain “packs” if you are an avid WhatsApp or Facebook user. - Flexible Payments
Many people in India have unstable, irregular incomes. With the case of prepaid, you can re-charge whenever you want for however much you want. You can meter your usage accordingly. Also, the process of adding more funds is fairly easy as well. Options include going to a local shop and paying cash, calling a trusted vendor to get a recharge, doing it online through a portal, or just using a net banking app.
3.) “Phablets” are really popular.
One thing stood out more than anything else while traveling through India — phablets.
Phablets are all the rage in India.
The Indian consumer seems to like them a lot — especially the youth. Here are some reasons why these larger screen devices might be popular in the Indian marketplace.
Functionality
Most consumers can only afford one device — hybrids such as “phablets” fit the bill. They mix the functionality of phones (communication) with the advantages of a tablet/laptop (bigger screens for media consumption).
Internet Connectivity
In India, often times the only way to get online is through mobile phones. The number of fixed-line broadband connections is pegged at around 15 Million. This pales in comparison to mobile internet subscriptions of 155 Million. This is another reason driving larger phones as they serve as a single point of entry to the Internet.
Self-Expression
What’s the most prominent way to show off? By having the latest, greatest — and most often the biggest — mobile phone. Indians love to show off — mobiles phones are an economically way of doing that (no need to buy a flashy car).
4.) Communication, social, gaming, music, and video are the main use cases but with a twist.
In terms of app usage, the main use cases I noticed were related to five main categories: social, messaging, gaming, music, and video. These are obviously similar to anywhere else, but there are slightly different dynamics at play here.
- As far as communication, people still make phone calls and use SMS a lot. Outside of that, WhatsApp is super popular. This is witnessed by plans by carriers such as Airtel providing exclusive WhatsApp only data packs. WhatsApp really has an advantage since its on feature phones — who are users that smartphone users want to communicate with as well.
- In terms of social, Facebook is by far the most popular app. The content on people’s streams is quite different from what you see in the US. A lot of people here subscribe to services that provide information about Bollywood, Cricket, and Politics. So the newsfeed is skewed towards content service updates as compared to friend updates.
- Gaming seems to be pretty strong here too. These are from the usual suspects and include such games as Candy Crush, Clash of Clans, Subway Surfers, and Numbers.
- Music listening is also popular here. There are services that you can stream from such as Gaana but a lot of content is pirated and side-loaded. I suspect this is due to costs and quality of data plans here. You can often find shops that will load your SD card full of music for as little as $1 per GB.
- Video is just starting to take a hold in India. Nearly 40% of Youtube’s traffic in India is via mobile phones. The main thing holding back wider adoption of video viewing are the slow data connections. People use off-line viewing apps to circumvent having to use cellular data.
5.) App distribution is still all about word of mouth.
India is a unique environment — many smartphone users are first time buyers. Often times they have never even installed an app and don’t know what an app store is. In terms of app distribution strategies, I found that the following seem to be popular.
- Referrals from friends and family.
This is by far the most affective way to get your app to take off here. Create an app that has utility or a wow factor and people will talk about it to others. The unique thing about India is that often times these apps are literally installed by friends/family on your phone. - Pre-Installs via OEMs.
Services like Opera, Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp have used this method very effectively. If someone doesn’t know what an app store is — having the app pre-installed helps a lot. Having this backed up via a referral makes it more likely that a user actually engages with the app. - Ads in mass media such as TV, Newspapers, and Billboards.
This is one of the differences between India and the West. In the US, you rarely see mobile app ads in non-measurable mediums. This happens more often in India because its often the only way to get the word out to a lot of people. - Mobile app installs in social and game apps.
Another method is to have app install units in apps people use. Facebook is a good candidate here but this method is just starting to take hold. People are not yet used to seeing or interacting with ads on mobile phones (since they came from the feature phones before) and often times these install ads are first encounters of such things. - Retail based app guidance.
This is one of the most unique experiences in India. Services like AppDaily guide a customer through discovering and installing apps when they buy a phone or recharge.
Things are changing fast here. It will be great to revisit these trends in a couple of years. If you like this article, follow me on Twitter — @thecleanmachine. I plan to write more articles about emerging markets.
