Free is perhaps the obvious key for the service providers and handset makers, who seem to have been struck by the mobile application mania. Vying for their share from the huge pie of mobile applications, both service providers and handsets' companies in India are gearing up to launch their dedicate app stores. They are opting for a safe play by experimenting with mix of free and paid services. Free applications have indeed helped them pull buyers.
According to Pyramid Research's recent report, although globally, paid apps have increased substantially in volume with the emergence of app stores, free apps have been extremely popular. The research agency estimates that in 2010, 36% of paid apps will be downloaded through app stores and 86% of free downloads will take place through them.
Pyramid estimates that the total download volume (free and paid) will increase by a factor of seven between 2009 and 2014 from 5.7 bn to 41.1 bn. "Including operator portals, the proportion of free downloads increased from around 30% in 2008 to 54% in 2009, and it is expected to stabilize at around 80% in 2014,” says Jan ten Sythoff, analyst for Pyramid Research.
In India, Bharti Airtel became the first Indian operator to launch an apps store and recorded 2.5 mn downloads in first thirty days. About 25% of the apps on the Airtel app store are free to download, the top five popular applications are subscription based.
Similarly, Vodafone's Arvato Mobile powered application store has 800 apps, both Indian and International, categorized under entertainment, utility, finance, social networking, games, etc. According to the company, around 15% of applications are free.
While Idea Cellular and Aircel are other Indian operators ramping up their mobile app store plans, handsets makers like Lemon and Micromax have no intention of giving this opportunity a miss.
Both Micromax and Lemon Mobiles are working on their app store, and will be packaging an amalgamation of free and paid applications. However, the bigger challenge for the handsets companies is to zero in a payment model-online payments or revenue sharing with the operator.
heenaj@cybermedia.co.in