9 bn apps will be downloaded in India in 2015: Deloitte

About 9 billion apps will be downloaded in India in 2015, more than 5 times the number of apps downloaded in 2012 (1.56 billion) at a CAGR of 75 per cent, according to the Deloitte India's TMT Predictions 2015 report, released today.

Revenues from paid apps are estimated to exceed Rs15 billion in 2015, up from Rs9 billion in 2014, driven by the increased app usage on smartphones. Also, expansion of 3G network coverage and the rollout of 4G networks in 2015 are expected to further boost smartphone sales in the country.

''Burgeoning smartphone and mobile internet usage, a growing developer community and the potential for regional/localized apps are likely to favor an app revolution in India this year,'' said Jolyon Barker, Global TMT Leader, Deloitte. ''India's app economy is already making its mark in the global arena, and this bodes well for consumers, businesses and app developers alike.''

Aided by mobile apps, Indian consumer will share to gain. India has around 300,000 app developers and is already the second largest Android developer community in the world after the US.

By 2017, India is expected to have the largest number of software developers. The country has a large number of business segments where idle supply and unmet demand co-exist. With the ubiquity of mobility, such a large gap can be bridged by facilitating sharing of resources to increase utilisation and productivity and thus providing greater ROI to both the providers and users.

''All players in the app ecosystem may be forced to reinvent their business models in the smartphone and mobile internet age to stay relevant.'' said Deloitte India spokesperson. ''The app economy's true potential can be realized if network coverage increases, smartphone penetration continues to rise and the 'absorptive capacity' of the Indian population towards new technology grows through schemes that promote digital awareness and literacy.''

Highlights of the India TMT predictions for 2015 include:

Technology:

• MOOC: Not yet disruptive but could create a few local storms: In 2015, Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) registrations would have a significant upswing across the country though it would be primarily driven by corporate offtake and a few pockets of tertiary education. While government push might bring a few courses to a few colleges / universities via MOOC, MOOC itself may not become a significant medium of imparting tertiary education in the immediate future.
• Growth in vertical e-commerce: Segments with a highly differentiated buying behavior and complex supply chain would sustain the growth of a new breed of e/m-commerce players who would have sustainable business in the face of the horizontal behemoths that exist in the market. Segments like fashion, jewelry, home decor and possiblyhealthcare will lead this pack.
• The Re-Enterprization of IT: After a decade of IT adoption being led by consumers, Deloitte sees the tide turning again in favor of enterprises. The standardization and security needs of consumer-driven mobility wave would spur new breed enterprise solutions.

Media & Entertainment:

• Digital advertising: On an upswing: With the rapid growth in penetration of the Internet across urban and rural India, marketers are focusing more on spending their media budgets on different digital avenues. In 2015, online advertising market in India is estimated to grow by 30 per cent over last year.
• Print: It's still not the end: The print sector will continue on the growth path as in the past few years. This growth will be fuelled by the regional markets and deeper penetration of the markets. Despite the global downward trend in this sector, print in India will tread on a stable road and will continue to maintain a market share of 40 per cent to 45 per cent in the near future. Advertising revenue share is also expected to grow steadily.
• Television content branching out: With increased pace of digitization throughout the country in 2015, Deloitte predicts that television content is likely to become more target audience oriented catering to different viewer tastes. We would see more experimentation in terms of innovative and big budget shows not seen in the history of television content so far.

Telecom:

• Growing demand of high bandwidth to drive 4G services: 4G adoption rate in India would be 1.5-2 per cent of the total wireless subscriber base in the next 1-2 years and reach an inflexion point post this period.With average data usage per subscriber in India expected to double by 2016 and number of smartphones crossing 200 million by 2016, Deloitte expects that there would be a significant uptake of 4G dongles, to keep pace with growth in mobile data traffic and provide high speed connectivity.
• Mobiles driving financial services and commerce: Mobiles may continue to gain importance as a channel to drive financial services and commerce this year. The key drivers will be the expanding user base of enabling devices, increasing mobile data and internet usage, and growing adoption of the mobile channel by financial services and other consumer businesses.
• Transforming governance through mobile and broadband technologies: Taking an objective view of the 3 pillars - namely availability of online services, telecom infrastructure and human capital - on which success of the e-governance growth depends, India could be on the cusp of an inflection point for growth in e-governance transactions. Increased number of e-government initiatives at the central and state levels and increased participation of private players in e-governance initiatives will significantly transform Governance in India.