Categories
India Mobile Startups Venture Capital

Why India is the Next Frontier for Mobile

Girl Talking by Ramesh LalwaniUnmodified picture by Ramesh Lalwani under Creative Commons 2.0

All over the world, opportunities are flourishing for mobile development (and investment). In some countries, like the U.S.,64% of adults owned a smartphone in 2015. In China, 68% of adults have a smartphone. Yes, these countries still offer room for growth. But not like India.

Indian use of smartphones is rapidly growing. Google-sized companies will be created over the next decade to satisfy user demand, which is significantly more than in the U.S. and China over the same time period. Here’s why India is primed for massive mobile growth. This is why we are getting more aggressive in India.

Mobile Growth All Over the World

It’s hard to believe that just 20 years ago, the world had about only 80 million mobile phone users, representing 1% of the world’s total population.

By 2014, the world’s mobile phone user base had grown to 5.2 billion, or 73% of the population. 40% of that user base had a smartphone.

Based on these stats, it’s hard to argue against mobile development as a lucrative business endeavor all over the world. Even so, growth in countries like China and the U.S. is slowing. Based on what I’m seeing as I invest and work with Indian companies, India offers the greatest opportunity for mobile investment. According to a report by IAMAI and KPMG, the number of mobile Internet users is set to double by 2017 to 300 million!

India already has over 900 million mobile phones, representing 79.39% of the population, and it’s on the path to having more smartphones than the entire U.S. population. It has the second highest number of mobile phones in use, after China and before the U.S.

In 2014, the number of smartphones in India grew 54%, and is expected to reach 651 million by 2019.  In 2013,  only 6.2% of Indian people owned a smartphone. India’s smartphone usage is growing faster than any other country. It’s currently the third largest smartphone market in the world.  

Indian internet penetration is also rapidly increasing. India currently has an internet userbase of at least 232 MM users. This is only 19% of the population, which leaves quite a bit of room for growth.

Scalability

Having a population that is four times bigger than that of the U.S at 1.27 billion people, offers a massive opportunity to scale a business. Though, margins in India are typically pretty low, the numbers are massive. There are hundreds of millions of people across India  who will access new technology for the first time via their mobile phones. They will want entertainment, content, services, and communication. Startups that can figure out how to meet the demands of mobile-first urban and rural Indians will create multibillion dollar companies. Even now, most people use a mobile phone to access the Internet vs a computer or desktop – “According to Meeker’s report 65% of people accessing the internet in India do so from a mobile device and 41% of e-commerce in India takes place on mobile.”

Growth in India

According to the App Annie Index, “Emerging markets grew as low-cost smartphones continue to penetrate India and Southeast Asia. First-time smartphone owner numbers are on the rise.”

I also think that people are inspirational at their core. If you provide the best hardware, QoS, content, and services, they will pay for it as long as their payment options become easier and ubiquitous.”

Takeaways

Indian use of smartphones is growing rapidly. The cost of smartphones continue to decline. “In 2015, the number of mobile internet users from rural area doubled from 2014, and in 2016 the growth percentage is estimated to surpass all the previous figures.”

  • India is a market that can’t be ignored by corporations, investors, and startups
  • Growth in mobile usage and GDP is surpassing the US and China
  • Internet penetration is second to China and there’s still a tremendous amount of growth left with less than 25% of the population online
  • India is one of the youngest countries on the planet with a massive workforce
Categories
India Mobile Web 2.0

India to Leapfrog Web 2.0 to Mobile 3.0

Much like India missed the industrial revolution, it is clear that India is going to miss the Web 2.0 revolution as well. There are many “Web 2.0” startups in India and some have been doing well, e.g. Zoho and SlideShare but that’s mainly due to an international user base and not indigenous Indian users.

I’ve been hard pressed to find an Indian Web 2.0 company, doing well and making money by serving the Indian subcontinent. The simple reason for this is that there are just not enough Indian computer and Internet users. Most casual Internet users will check stock prices, buy an airline ticket, look for a job, check their email, hit a social networking site and chat with others. There is a younger Indian demographic that is heavily using social networking sites like Facebook and Orkut but the amount of time they spend on these social networking sites is questionable.

Beyond the tech-savvy in India, very few people have heard of Wikipedia, Digg or the power of social media. The social “web” is taking form in India but not as most of us from the West have experienced. I predict that India will mostly leapfrog Web 2.0 and go directly to Mobile 3.0. Mobile 3.0 being highly personal, highly location specific products and services that allow 3G+ phones and even lower-end phones capable only of SMS to become part of the social fabric of the Web. There shouldn’t be any distinction between the Internet and Mobile platforms. One is just an extension of the other. As innovative user interface designs are produced, India’s 250 million mobile users can be brought into the social web much more quickly and provide them with true value which, unfortunately, they aren’t aware exists on the Internet today.

The largest impediment to bringing these 250 million people into the social web is going to be cost and the carriers holding the golden keys. Expecting the carriers to work with these small startup companies will be difficult at best. Not to mention, Indian carriers have a very bad reputation of bleeding their partners dry. They also have brought the “walled garden” to mobile phones. Companies like Airtel try to push their “Airtel Live” services instead of unfettered GPRS/EDGE. Maybe it’s not such a bad thing right now to allow non-tech-savvy people access to a limited online mobile experience, the way AOL gave subscribers an online version of a walled garden in the late 80’s and 90’s. Users will eventually outgrow the walled garden and seek more.

Estimates put the Indian mobile VAS space at about USD 1 Billion in March of 2008 and predict that it could hit USD 2 Billion by the end of 2008. These aren’t numbers to sneeze at. It’s just the beginning of the mobile application usage. Today, over 40% of VAS revenue comes from SMS. As smartphones like the Nokia N96, Blackberry Bond, Nokia E71, and Apple iPhone penetrate deeper into the Indian market, the desire for richer mobile applications connecting people together will only grow.

Categories
Apple iPhone Mobile

iPhone 2.0 WordPress and the Indian Government

This is my first post using the new WordPress App from the iTunes App Store. Pretty good so far and really easy to use.

So far the Indian government looks like it will stay in power. What does that mean for the Indo-US nuclear pact? It looks good. What does it mean for the Indian economy? More of the same once the initial euphoria of the government not falling wears off.

Categories
India

India’s Great Leveler

There’s a great article on the MercuryNews today by India’s former candidate for UN Secretary General, Mr. Shashi Tharoor.  Mr. Tharoor discusses how mobile phones in India are democratizing communication in India and empowering the less priveleged citizens of the country.  This is yet another example of how less government (rather than more government) is improving the lives of people.

MercuryNews.com | 02/26/2007 | India’s great leveler: cell phones

One of my favorite photographs of India shows a sadhu right out of central casting — naked body, long matted hair and beard, ash-smeared forehead — chatting away on a mobile phone.

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Categories
Gadgets & Tech Misc. Mobile

Nokia E61 Support or Lack Thereof

I’ve been having many problems with my Nokia E61, after the firmware upgrade. I’ve posted some of the issues on this blog as well as commented on some of the E61 or Symbian S60 specific blogs like NokMe and the E Series Blog. Apparently, there are many people having similar issues, though not exactly the same.

Though the E61 wasn’t designed or marketed to the US market, dealers are getting it and selling it in the US. Nokia, however, refuses to acknowledge that the device is used outside of its “home” country. I contacted Nokia UK today hoping to at least file a bug report, at best, get some help on my connectivity and rebooting problems. However, Nokia UK refused to support the phone because it was in the US. They suggested I contact Nokia US for support.

Ok, seems logical. I filled out a form on the Nokia US page, indicating the problems and received a response indicating that I’m basically SOL unless the dealer who I bought the phone from takes it back, or I take the phone to the UK, get a UK number and have Nokia UK look at it at that point.

This is the email I sent to Nokia UK, in response to their and Nokia US disavowing any knowledge of my E61.


Nokia USA has refused to support my E61.

The problems I am having are after the latest firmware upgrade (provided
by Nokia) has been applied. The location where I bought the phone is
not going to support this upgrade provided by Nokia.

This is not a great way to earn customer loyalty. I would appreciate it
if someone at Nokia (I don't really care which country) would at the
very least log bug reports related to the newest firmware upgrade for
the E61 and take into account that many other Nokia customers around the
world are dealing with a very buggy firmware release.
NokiaHelpLine@nokia.com wrote:
> > Dear Pankaj
> >
> > Thank you for contacting Nokia Helpline.
> >
> > You have addressed your email to the Nokia United Kingdom and Ireland team. Unfortunately we are unable to respond to queries from out with this region. If available, please direct your enquiry to Nokia's support team within your local region, details of which can be found at www.nokia.com.
> >
> > Nokia Service Professional
> > UK & Ireland Team
> > Nokia Helpline
> >
> > [THREAD ID:1-1KVU9D] Help Nokia improve the service we offer you! To take part in our short confidential survey, please click on the link below.
> > www.surveys.com/nokiasupport/ukandireland
> >
> >
> >
> > This response has been given based on the information you have provided us. The response is provided for general information purposes only. It is intended, but not promised or guaranteed to be accurate or complete, and it does not constitute any binding commitment.
> >
> >
> >
> > To ensure proper handling, please continue to use the current subject line.
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> >
> > From:
> > Sent: 28/09/2006 16:06:41
> > To: NokiaHelpline@nokia.com
> > Subject: Subject Nokia Phones or accessories
> >
> > [Country: United Kingdom] [Language: English]
> > [Permission to Email: yes] [Permission to SMS: no] [Permission to Letter: no] [Permission to Phone: no]
> > [First name: Pankaj] [Last name:]
> > [Street address: ]
> > [ZIP: ] [City: ]
> > [Email address: ]
> > [Landline: ] [Mobile: [number removed]]
> > [Phone model: Nokia E61] [IMEI: ]
> > [CID: ]
> > [Contact topic: Nokia Phones or accessories]
> > [Message: I am having severe problems with my 3 week old E61. The phone is constantly rebooting itself. It cannot properly connect to WiFi Access Points. Email settings are constantly "changing" or getting lost. The ability to retrieve email or connect with a browser is intermittent at best. I am in the US but can't seem to pull my E61 on the US support site. Any and all help is greatly appreciated. My US service provider is Cingular.]
> > [Operator: Other/I don't know]
> > [Operating system: ]
> >

This is the response sent to Nokia US:

The problems I am having are after the latest firmware upgrade (provided
by Nokia) has been applied. The location where I bought the phone is
not going to support this upgrade provided by Nokia.

This is not a great way to earn customer loyalty.

nokiausa.customercare@nokia.com wrote:
> > Dear Pankaj,
> >
> > Thank you for e-mailing the Nokia Care Contact Center.
> >
> > We appreciate your inquiry in regards to your Nokia E61 phone rebooting itself, email settings and the ability to connect to a browser.
> >
> > Pankaj, you have reached the United States Customer Care Division at www.nokiausa.com. The information you provided suggests that your phone is not available in the United States (US). The Nokia E61 phone has not been released in United States and the information we have available allows us to support products available and manufactured for use in the US. The phone model you provided us seems to be from another country. If this is the case, we recommend contacting your point of purchase for support and repair options.
> >
> > Nokia warranties are valid only in the country of origin. To determine the customer care options for your area, please visit our global customer care contact page at www.nokia.com/contacts.
> >
> > If you have any additional questions, please contact us. To ensure proper handling, please continue to use the current subject line.
> >
> > Thank you for choosing Nokia for your mobile needs.
> >
> > [name removed]
> > E-mail Specialist
> > Nokia Inc.
> >
> > P.S. In an effort to continuously improve Nokia's service to you, please complete our short 8 question E-mail Care Survey. Please copy and paste the following link into the address field of your web browser:
> >
> > https://digiumenterprise.com/query.asp?id=HPCC126H711I531
> >
> >
> > [THREAD ID:1-302XS]
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> >
> > From:
> > Sent: 9/28/2006 02:07:55 PM
> > To: nokiausa.customercare@nokia.com
> > Subject: Technical Support
> >
> >
> >
> > [Email:]
> > [First:Pankaj]
> > [Last:]
> > [Zip:]
> > [Model:E62]
> > [Order#:]
> > [ESN:]
> > [Mobile#: [number removed]]
> > [Provider:Cingular]
> > [Subject:Technical Support]
> > [OS:]
> > [WebBrowser:]
> > [ConnectType:]
> > [NewsletterOptIn:no]
> > [Message:I am having severe problems with my 3 week old Nokia E61 (NOT E62). The phone is constantly rebooting itself. It cannot properly connect to WiFi Access Points. Email settings are constantly "changing" or getting lost. The ability to retrieve email or connect with a browser is intermittent at best. I am in the US but can't seem to pull my E61 on the US support site. Any and all help is greatly appreciated. My US service provider is Cingular.I have tried to get support from Nokia UK but they have suggested that I contact Nokia US with my problems.]
> >
> > [Server:daenusap18]
> >

This is a perfect example of absolutely inspiring customer service. I will post the email trails, sent to and received from Nokia for all the other Nokia E61 users that aren’t using the phone in the “home” country. What exactly is the point of getting a world phone if you can’t get any support for it by the manufacturer outside of its “home” country? I find it pretty silly that they won’t even acknowledge the problems that users are having.

Once I receive responses, I will post them as well.