Mobility: your life in your phone

Every Indian is expected to own a mobile connection by 2010. The government has set a target of one billion mobile users in the country by 2012. From the time that mobile phones were introduced in the country around 15 years ago, this small ubiquitous device has evolved from facilitating just voice calls and text messages to being a multiple application device. Today, as the signs show, the mobile device is increasingly becoming central to our existence.

However, the evolution of mobility hasn't been either quick or dramatic. Let's look back to 1995 when the mobile phone was introduced into the Indian market. The uptake was not encouraging and clearly it was perceived as a rich man's toy. Charges on incoming calls and high outgoing rates did not help matters and mass adoption remained slow; the mobile, compared to the traditional wired line device, remained somewhat of a luxury.
As consumer play became aggressive in line with galloping economic growth, the telecom market also matured bringing down, among other things, call tariffs. In the past decade, owning a mobile phone has become less expensive and easy. Indian call rates have become among the cheapest in the world, while the device ecosystem now also offers a wide variety at prices across most consumer categories.
In a little over a decade, the Indian mobile revolution has had two avatars.
The first wanted to dominate the consumer and didn't really achieve anything of lasting potential, though it did have its moments of glory. The second, currently underway, is being defined by the new Indian consumer.
Today, the mobile has evolved to create a synergy that fulfills all the communication, entertainment and lifestyle needs of people – it helps you plan your routine, pay your utility and credit bills, surf the internet, access emails, news, and play your favourite entertainment and sport channels at the press of a button.
Call it a mobile wallet, a personal assistant or a guide to your city and a social networking device, the small device has become a part and parcel of the everyday lives of its users.
Market play has widened in tandem with a growing set of consumer needs and spending patterns. With multiple operators playing to consumers' desires, the choice of different networks and widespread cellular coverage has been better than ever before, with high-speed data networks complimenting ‘netheads' in homes, offices and points of congregation such as coffee bars and restaurants.
Clearly, the mobile device has become popular and one crucial driver of growth has been the latent potential of data services set to be unleashed very soon by what is called mobile broadband sitting on advanced wireless technologies like 3G and even 4G technologies like Long Term Evolution (LTE) and WiMax.
Consumers want intelligent devices and interesting content. Greater mobility will ensure that we get what we want as services continue to get better steadily, with high-resolution touch screens, effective speech recognition and significantly greater memory and storage capabilities.
Increasingly, intelligent software running on these mobiles and also on home and wide-area networks will be able to learn behavior, predict our needs and integrate with a swelling tide of databases, such as transport updates from major providers. So, instead of the train company just sending you a text to tell you of delays, your mobile will analyse it in conjunction with your travel plans and modify those plans if need be.
According to data provided by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), wireless subscriber base touched 652.42 million users at the end of July 2010, registering wireless teledensity at 55.14 per cent. The country has already created the record of adding 19 to 20 million new subscribers in one month.
In the initial 5-6 years of launch the average monthly subscriber additions were around 0.05 to 0.1 million and the total mobile subscriber base in December 2002 stood at 10.5 millions.
However, after the number of proactive initiatives taken by regulator and licensor, the monthly mobile subscriber additions increased to around two million per month in the year 2003-2004 and 2004-2005.
The new breed of subscribers is increasingly driving messaging and mobile internet usage in India. It is now making steady inroads into the territory of PCs, beginning, for example, by checking emails on their handsets instead of on their computers. Internet on mobile being available for as low as Rs 99 per month has redefined market dynamics completely.
Consumer spending behavior has often posed a vexing problem for marketers. This is even more evident in a fragmented market like India where consumer play is fragmented too and where quality and pricing have always had an equal hand in influencing spending decisions.
However, mobile phone companies have tried to adapt to the growing needs of Indian consumers, who have remained ahead of peers in western markets and other emerging markets.
The thriving smartphone market is a case in point. Smartphones have always been associated with high-end applications and they appear to be addressing the top tier. That did not help in a price sensitive Indian market until it received a boost with the release of low-cost feature phones. The entry of India specific handset brands has been the latest in a variety of successful market ploys to tempt the Indian buyer. Today, while price remains a key factor, increasing segmentation is also evident as device vendors compete for new buyers.
With the launch of 3G and broadband wireless access BWA services, the VAS industry is poised for significant growth. This is likely to offer high-speed internet, allowing consumers significantly faster download speeds. For operators, VAS currently contributes a small portion to their total revenue pie – at about 10 per cent of total revenues of India's mobile telecom service providers. The VAS market is projected to be worth $10 billion by 2010 from the current estimated figure of $1.2 billion. The most popular categories in the value added services market include mobile entertainment such as video portals, Bollywood-driven content, cricket, digital music and caller tunes, social networking and mobile commerce. An accompanying trend is focused on media capability even in the mid-tier category as consumption of high-quality apps and services increases through increasingly sophisticated app stores.
Mobile applications such as the Nokia Goal 2010, Soccer Updater and Mondiali 2010 were the popular sports applications based on World Cup 2010. The shift to 3G will offer an easy and unique mobile internet and computing experience for consumers.
Wireless technology is already complementing innovation in health care, helping university researchers, global non-profits and private companies. Some global technology titans have already started innovation in this space.
The modern cell phone is a base technology used to attach contraptions or download software applications. Instead of dollars, the value of these tools will be measured in terms of their potential to draw down the costs of care, to mobilise stationary technologies to rural communities, and ultimately to save lives. The evolution of the mobile device is poised to transform our lives as technologies intermesh, intelligent software evolves and multi-format input data becomes available.
What's next? Get ready to live your life with your mobile!