India has presented a considerable opportunity for the makers of handsets in China.
There are currently twelve smartphone manufacturers from China that are currently making technology news by cutting their way into the handset market in India over the last few years, and their share is continuing to rise.
A couple of years ago, they took only 1-2 percent, but now they have risen above a 10 percent share.
These companies sell devices that are as inexpensive as $49.99 to the more premium products that are over $650. The technology news that is being made has to do with the fact that they are starting to bite into the share of the market that has previously been held by other manufacturers. As these devices have made their way onto store shelves in India, they have already started to take off.
Technology news was already being made in China where these devices taken a bite out of Apple’s turf.
Now they are moving outward in Asia, as the smartphone market’s growth is starting to slow in China. These manufacturers of mobile devices are looking for opportunities elsewhere, including India, the Philippines, and Indonesia, among others. The growth that they are expected to experience is predicted to be quite fast. India is already the third largest smartphone market in the world and it has the highest growth in the Asia Pacific region for these devices.
According to the IDC, the year over year growth in smartphone shipments during the first quarter of 2014 was a massive 186 percent – nearly doubling its figures from the same quarter in 2013. It is estimated that in India, there are slightly more than 30 million smartphones being sold every year.
Furthermore, fewer than one in ten mobile users in India currently has a smartphone, and only approximately 17 percent of the cell phones shipped into the country in 2013 fit into that category. This could suggest to the Chinese smartphone manufacturers that this country is primed and ready for the evolution in mobile tech, and grabbing hold of that market could make massive technology news for those companies.
Mobile commerce may be facing serious challenges in India
Mobile commerce may be a rapidly growing phenomenon, but it if facing hard times in India, which could be a sign of things to come in the future for the rest of the global market. Mobile commerce is a relatively simple concept: Consumers using their mobile devices to purchase products and shop both online and in-store. This concept has won the adoration of consumers around the world, but its simplicity belies the complications that are associated with running a mobile commerce business.
Problems in India may foreshadow future challenges
In India, mobile commerce has hit a sheer drop-off, in terms of adoption and support. While consumers are still showing a great deal of interest in mobile commerce, this interest largely revolves around well established e-commerce gateways that most consumers already have extensive experience with. Most major retailers offer some form of mobile commerce service to consumers, and this is not necessarily good news for smaller ventures.
Data shows mobile commerce start-ups have high mortality rate
According to data from Microsoft’s India Accelerator Program, which provide services to technology start-ups throughout India, some 379 new technology product start-ups launched in the country before October of this year. Of these, 193 were e-commerce firms that specialized in some aspect of mobile commerce. Approximately 87 of these firms no longer exist, either because they have been absorbed by larger companies or they simply could not find traction with consumers. Investors becoming leery of the prospects of mobile commerce is cited as a major reason why these firms have faced failure.
Investors leery of supporting new start-ups
Investors are beginning to show hesitance when it comes to mobile commerce. Start-ups entering the mobile commerce field often make promises that are difficult to keep and investors backing companies that end up failing face significant financial losses. If start-ups cannot compete with major companies like Google, which has established a strong presence in mobile commerce, they are not likely to find the traction they need to be successful, thus leading investors to question the prospects of supporting mobile commerce ventures.
