“250 Million Internet Capable Phones By 2010!” - Predicts Managing Director, Nokia India
Yes you read it right there will be 250 million internet capable phones by 2010. This and more such statistics were revealed by D Shivakumar, vice-president and managing director, Nokia India, at the Goafest conclave. Here is a summary of the statistics he shared:
500 million mobile consumers by 2010
60 million will have video capability
100 million will have music capability
200 million will have radio capability
250 million will have camera capability
250 million will have internet capability.
Now just having internet capability doesn’t mean they are internet users. The data access plans/charges by mobile operators are a big hurdle when you look at internet access through mobiles. Compare that to the radio numbers and you will see a huge potential in radio ads as radio stations are free!
Mr.Shivakumar also shared that among the Indian consumers only 50 million are the spend thrift consumerist kinds i.e. pay more and get more, while 150 million are value buyers i.e. they will buy more for lesser and the rest of the consumers were the lesser for lesser kinds (you can classify your autorickshaw drivers in this category!
The challenge for internet access through mobiles is that the operators should sooner or later realise that data revenue can far exceed revenue through voice. If only operators did something about data access charges and the revenue share with vas players to encourage better content and use of data or else there will be 250 million internet capable phones but not even 20% internet users from that.
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yes operators in india are myopic when it comes to ensuring the growth of the vas eco system.
But in my opinion VAS companies are also not doing enuf.
How man VAS companies (Read Onmobile / mauj / yahoo) educate the consumer on how to consume vas (indiatimes is an exception).
How many of these companies have dedicate support for solving consumer queries n complaints..
Majority of the VAS players enter in to a rev share contract with the operators, coax the operator to send a barrage of smses (we are at the receiving end) & wait for the customer to opt in (sometimes even forceful)
VAS in India requires some fresh thinking if it were to move away from wallpapers / ringtones n Sms.
This is my observation and may not be true for all..
I am just voicing an opinion as a consumer.
Hi, a different chain of thought. Getting into a direct alliance with the ‘last mile consumers’ to do ‘permissive marketing’ (sms’s / mails etc) and thus earn revenues through advertising, offering internet / data services at subsidized cost. Feel this is an option worth exploring, since lower cost can get good volumes on board (consumers) and thus numbers can then be sold to advertisers (more so - effective advertising, since these consumers would have ‘explicitly agreed’ to be sent marketing messages). As I write this down, another benefit - consumers can choose category where they want to recv ads, thus offering more / better response to the advertiser (target advertising).