The rising importance of developing countries (and, in particular, the BRIC countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China) to mobile manufacturers is no secret, with makers of mobiles and smartphones fearful that both sales and penetration have reached a saturation point in developed economies.
The state of key future smartphone markets, such as India, is then vital to the fierce battle for global mobile supremacy that is being fought between both manufacturers and operating systems.
In this context, it is significant that a Nielsen/Mobile Informate survey of 10,000 consumers in 46 Indian cities found that 62 percent of those surveyed preferred Android smartphones. Despite Apple’s and iOS’s best efforts, it may be Android which has greater long-term prospects in the global market.
The survey also gave a vital insight into the demographics of the Indian smartphone and mobile phone market, finding that 48 percent of the country’s smartphone users are under 25. While this is hardly surprising – new technology is always most enthusiastically adopted by younger consumers – it should nonetheless be taken seriously by manufacturers seeking to break into the Indian market, as it shows not only the current target consumer group but also potential new market opportunities.
Interestingly, survey data indicated that only 50 percent of the country’s smartphone users access the internet through their devices, a finding that indicates full smartphone penetration may not be achieved in the Indian market without significant network improvements.
Finally, in terms of app downloads, mobile games lead the way, with 58 percent of users downloading game apps. Next up are instant messaging apps, which are downloaded by 52 percent of users. Again, this data is roughly in line with global trends and shouldn’t particularly surprise manufacturers, but is nonetheless worth taking note of.
Reasons given for Android’s dominance in the Indian market included the fact that the OS is available across a number of brands and price points in the country. Samsung’s extensive Indian marketing campaign is also thought to be a contributing factor.
However, while Android may currently dominate the Indian smartphone market, the report suggested that 2013 would see the most potent threats to this supremacy, with Apple finally gearing up to take the country seriously (an intent signaled by the fact that the staff of Apple India has increased from around 30 to 150 in the last six months, resulting in a 400 percent sales increase). BlackBerry has also recently launched a new operating system, and Nokia is beginning to launch low-cost Windows 8 phones.
In short then, India is shaping up to be one of this year’s key smartphone battlegrounds, with the country’s consumers potentially having a pivotal role to play in deciding the future of the global smartphone market.
