If apps downloaded by mobile users in India touch the predicted figure of 9 billion in 2015, then it will have seen a compound annual growth rate of roughly 75 percent counting from the 1.56 billion it hit in 2012. The stats are for applications downloaded by folks in the age bracket of 16 to 30 years, according to a joint study by ASSOCHAM and Deloitte.
ASSOCHAM stands for the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India, and the report in question is titled Digitization and Mobility. A sudden rise in the number of people going online was especially noticeable during the Lok Sabha elections of 2014 which apparently saw 29 million Facebook users accounting for 227 million interactions and 60 million tweets from the date on which the polls were announced to the day it ended.
We don’t get the best broadband speed in the world, but it’s much faster than what operators offered a few years ago, leading to mobile TV or video viewing registering a 400% growth rate in audiences with regards to the biggest telecom brands in India. Popular video-hosting and sharing website, YouTube, is supposedly accessed by 35 percent of smartphone owners who spend approximately 1.5 hours each month on it.
Also see: Gartner expects mobile user base in India to touch 815 million this year
Interest in mobile gaming is clearly growing at a quick pace, with the current size of the segment being 5.6 billion. Angry Birds, Clash of Clans and Candy Crush are some of the titles loved by Indians. Even apps like the Line messenger tool started welcoming several games in order to be able to earn some cash on the side. Community-based experiences such as Apple’s Game Center are necessary to attracting customers.
While more and more manufacturers are selling devices preloaded with apps, it’s also true that a lot of Indians are not willing to pay for them. So developers will just have to find a way to earn unshakeable loyalty from customers through better marketing tactics, localization of software, interesting promotions and more.