India was the highest growing smartphone market in Asia Pacific. According to International Data Corporation (IDC), year-on-year smartphone shipment growth in India stood at 186% in 1Q 2014.
The smartphone penetration in India is at 10% and it is expected to grow as availability of low-cost devices increases and a sales emphasis is put on consumers in tier 2 and tier 3 cities .
The overall India mobile phone market showed a mere 1% year-on-year growth, as shipment of feature phones reduced and migration to smartphones continued.
The primary reason behind this trend is the launch of low-end phablets by international and local vendors alike.
Trends and Predictions
This trend is expected to continue. The implications of this migration could be huge. In January 2014, we had Flipkart founder Sachin Bansal predicting that the entire e-commerce industry will go mobile in 2-3 years.
Many leading e-commerce players are betting big on mobile.
Paytm, which is a mobile commerce platform has simply chosen not to focus on desktops; running their retail store completely through mobile apps.
The message is clear. Go mobile. Go smart.
Image source: IDC
Ashiish K Sinha
