'iProf is planning a mass media campaign to reach out to tier-II & -III cities'

By Krishna Mukherjee

iProf, one of the leading m-learning marketplace, has achieved a milestone of 1 million downloads mark in 127 days since its inception in December 2014 and claims to capture No.1 position in education category at Google play store. In an interaction with Voice&Data, Sanjay Purohit, Founder CEO, iProf India, talks about its key differentiators and how it is growing as an education app across the country.

Voice&Data: How is iProf helping in m-learning marketspace in India?

Sanjay Purohit: With mobile reaching every pocket m-learning is now trending in India. With the world’s third largest Internet user base, mobile devices in education are becoming ubiquitous and it makes sense to deliver education on a platform that is integral to students and teachers’ personal and professional lifestyles.

Mobile perfectly suits into quick burst of information, which allows user on-demand and just-in- time learning. M-learning has become a boon for students who want to pursue education and individuals who want to acquire training for specific skill sets but don't have the access to the right set of teachers or institutes. With mobile prices reducing dramatically, mobiles are reaching the remotest of the areas and at the same time are being used extensively by people from all ages. This is one of the primary reasons why m-learning will flourish at a much faster pace.

iProf, has already served digital content to six million+ users since its inception. We see iProf app as the largest and fastest growing m-learning marketplace where everybody from a student to a working professional can find something to learn for themselves. We have already started our journey with the vision to serve digital content to 50 million+ students in India by 2016.

Voice&Data: Tell us something about your mobile app platform...

Sanjay Purohit: iProf-Study Buddy App, launched in December 2014, completed one million downloads on Google Play store in just 127 days and ranked as No1 free education app.

iProf app that aims to deliver an unprecedented mobile experience by turning touch screen android smartphones into personal study device giving students a range of exciting features like study online with free courses from renowned faculties, unlimited practice tests, videos and notes library and study offline by downloading courses directly on mobile starting at nominal price of Rs 10/- or getting it home delivered preloaded on a SD card or PenDrive.

Our digital content collection includes 15,565 Hours of Video Lectures, 37,982 pages of Digital Notes, 99,550 Practice questions and Mock tests for courses from KG (Kindergarten) to PG(Post Graduate). We have recently added a lot of vocational and language courses to educate people from all walks of life, highlights of which are : Design, Hacking, Programming, computer skills, App development, Languages and English speaking.

We are now working on launching courses from diverse streams like engineering, finance, project management & many more software learning courses .

Voice&Data: How are you planning to reach out to India's hinterland.

Sanjay Purohit: iProf gets its maximum reach in cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore with 30% of users coming from metros. However, the response received in tier-II and tier III cities is equally overwhelming. iProf is reaching out to cities like Nagpur, Jaipur, Ludhiana, Pune, Indore, including major cities of Gujarat and West Bengal too.

The trend shows tier-II and III will expand as the growth drivers of the future and iProf is soon planning a mass media campaign including TV to reach and spread to tier II- and tier-III cities.

Voice&Data: Which are your key differentiators that make you stand out in the crowd?

Sanjay Purohit: iProf positions itself as the largest and the fastest growing m-learning marketplace. iProf is innovating rapidly, introducing competitive new product development approaches that allow us to bring differentiated products to markets at a much competitive price point.

The key differentiators that make us stand ahead in competition includes delivering the best quality digital educational content curated from well-known publishers; wide array of 2,000+ courses ranging from KG(Kindergarten) to PG(Postgraduate); effective pricing strategy which allows users to buy courses on the basis of subjects, chapters and topics, as per their preference on various devices ; robust logistics with strong operations team in place ; right education counseling and course selection with a dedicated call center and a solid investment in brand building.

Voice&Data: What are the challenges in the digital learning space today?

Sanjay Purohit: The online education sector witnessed a lot of investments this year in the country, with the entry of new players through acquisitions, partnerships and many other new initiatives. The key challenger of growth in this sector are portability, pricing, transcoding the content from its original form to digital/mobile ready format, technology’s’ adaptability by user and internet penetration in the country.