Shubha Pai drives app-developer acquisition strategy at InMobi. She has over nine years experience across IT and mobile in revenue management, market intelligence, change management, and marketing.
I’ve often wondered how mobile app developers in emerging markets like India are different from their peers in established markets like the US and Europe. In a diverse country with a population of more than a billion, a scorching pace of telecom growth and a young bright demographic, what do Indian app developers aim to achieve? Does the motivation to build something that gets users hooked, solves problems, creates a business that makes money (hopefully tons of it!) change as we transcend geographies?
Smartphones – A truly global phenomenon
Markets like the US and Europe have lead the pack when it comes to mobile app development. And it’s no surprise they should have – these regions are the biggest smartphone markets today. Globally, the one billion smartphone mark has been breached in Q3 of this year with a majority of the consumers being from these geographies. While it took nearly 15 years to reach the first billion, it is estimated that the next billion-milestone will be crossed by 2015. It is fair to conclude that economically growing countries like India would play a big part in reaching this milestone.
No wonder so many talented, passionate developers in India have jumped on the mobile app bandwagon.
Mobile apps from India – Coming of age
So what is common to apps like Parking Frenzy, World Newspapers, and Iris? Other than the fact that they are all mobile apps and all very popular on a global scale – they have been created by Indian app developers. That these apps originating from India have captured the global fancy is no surprise given that universal appeal has been engineered into them.
For instance, Parking Frenzy, engages users through features like realistic driving physics, car damage modeling, and 16 levels of parking action.
World Newspapers gives users easy access to thousands of newspapers in over 100 countries. An app that has enjoyed the number one spot within the News category, it’s still within the top 30 News apps on Google Play. With multiple apps spanning games and education, accounting for millions of downloads, developer Abhishek Kumar has become a busy man!
And then there’s Iris, an Android app by Dexetra. It can talk to users on a variety of topics including simple conversations, help them search for local points-of-interest (POIs) such as the nearest restaurants or ATMs, and is capable of voice actions like tweeting, calling, texting, contact lookup, and internet search. It was inspired by Siri, and its name is in fact Siri spelt backwards! It has more than 5 million downloads, 2 million of which came within two months of launch.
Hackathons, being passionate, and giving back
If you take a closer look at the these apps and app developers, you will realize that they are similar and yet they differ. They are similar in that they have all enjoyed global success. For instance, Parking Frenzy, after tasting success on Android, went on to be ranked number one on US iTunes store under the Top Free Games and Top Overall apps categories. World Newspapers has a loyal user-base ranging from Southeast Asia to Europe. Iris has over 50 percent of its users in the US.
The differences lie in the journey these apps took, how they came to be, and what their creators are planning on doing next.
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