Mobile apps - in India, for India, by India

The new roulette in geek town is the mobile app store and the gamblers this time are fame (and presumably money) hungry engineers. The cost to play a round is quite low. Most engineers can get an app developed within 2 months (if the idea is clear). Launching an app on the world stage is now a structured process and a non-event.

But how do u rate a mobile app. Is it a downloads?  Is it revenue? How do you compare a free app download against a paid app download / revenue? I don't think we are at that point in the maturity curve of mobile apps. Not until angry birds still rules the charts.

This makes it very interesting for engineer entrepreneurs, who have an idea and want to take it to market. What makes this domain even more interesting is that Intel has ploughed in USD 20 million into 6 Indian companies. All of them in the mobile domain.

In this post I try not to get into the rating game and instead look at mobile apps in India, meant for use in India and (hopefully) created by Indian engineers.

Banking apps - ICICI and SBI seem to be the only Indian banks having a mobile app. On the Android market, the SBI app seems to have about 50k downloads. The reviews are not too friendly to the app. ICICI app seems easy to use and it has more downloads too (it falls into the 100-250k downloads category). The reviews are also kind to the app and the bank.  I was able to activate and use ICICI bank mobile on my android phone in under 5 minutes. The app definitely has improved since I first tried it on my Nokia phone. 

Most other banks tend show case themselves on the ngpay app. The ngpay app is like a shared app space with balance enquiry and atm location as the primary features. I could spot the axis bank and HDFC bank options on ngpay.

With under 400k downloads on the android market, one can project the total users is under 1 million for such apps. By volume one can conclude that the app is not much of a success. The 2 leading banks are the only ones with some play in this field right now. This sector may take a long time to show ROI for a mobile app

Media Apps - NDTV, CNN-IBN and TOI seem to be leaders in this market. These companies naturally stand to lose their traditional bastion with the entry of mobile apps. Ad revenue is what runs these companies and if advertisers spend on mobile apps, then the media companies cannot be far away. Most of these apps allows users to view videos and news items from their online portal. Overall I like the NDTV app on iPad for the clean UI. As a sector this space needs high innovation to compete in a crowded market (more crowded than the TV channels list). Providing access to their real programs and other content for offline viewing could affect their primary revenue. So balancing this out is crucial. 

The competition in the sector is not clear yet. Is yahoo a competition, or is the competion for NDTV from TOI? Is TED a competition to NDTV? Hard to call right now. In any case, good to see that these companies have a presence in the sector. Most of these apps are free and show ads for their revenue, which is not unexpected. How far will the ad revenue take them?

SMS based apps -  SMS as a service to inform users has hit the right chord with Indian users. Credit card swipes in India are now followed by an SMS being sent to the credit card owner within 10 seconds. This is awesome. With the latest ruling by TRAI, marketing messages are also now a thing of the past. This sector looks fresh and inviting for innovation. Pull based services could be on the rise. App stores like appshup and txtweb provide an easy way to link up an existing service to be offered over SMS. Cricbuzz is a great example of a cricket scores over SMS. The number of apps in these stores are a testimony to how SMS based apps can still make sense to the masses. The Bangalore traffic police also has an SMS complaint service to help commuters complain about auto rickshaw drivers. 

Payments and ecommerce space

ngPay, obopay and mChek have been on the payment horizon for a while. Even with the new IMPS payments framework, one has not seen this segment reach the inflection point. The field is still open for the next big or small company to enter.

Other important mentions

BookMyShow - About 100k downloads and going strong. Primarily allows users to book movie tickets apart from other events in your city. Has an excellent 4.3 star rating.

Tata sky - An interesting app that allows you to use your mobile as a remote. Some social features also make it a fun app to own.

Last note: The Indian consumer is far from becoming a mobile app junkie. 'There is an app for that' is not yet the local lingo. App stores by telecom carriers mostly host social and gaming apps. Apps a a way to accomplish daily tasks is not yet the in thing. It is going to be a while for us to get to the inflection point. One can only hope that the smartphone revolution brings this point closer. For now the leading tech adopters in the Banking and media organizations have a presence and will make hay once the sun rises.