Mobile Application Development in India – Opportunities and Challenges

India’s mobile application market is one of the largest in the world. A report from App Annie suggested that the country surpassed the US in terms of growth rate in app downloads during the year 2016. The country is the second largest smartphone market in the world and the trend is expected to continue. With the internet economy growing at a rapid pace in India, the scope for mobile application development is big and business organisations may benefit greatly from it. This smart tool can enhance consumer interaction with companies and provides improves brand visibility and perception for business organisations.

India’s Mobile Application Market – The Growth Records

India has more than 30 crore smartphone users and the number of internet users in the country is expected to touch 50 crore by the year 2018. Most of the internet usage is through smartphones and the continued growth will create a great platform for mobile application developers. The report from Annie App on the mobile app download trends in 2016 suggests that gaming was one of the major drivers of downloads globally and in India video streaming and professional networking apps attracted high revenue. With increased penetration of internet across India, there is scope for growth app market in the years to come. But with growth, there are many challenges that are facing the mobile application developers.

Mobile Application Development Industry in India – The Challenges

India’s mobile application market will be subject to some of the limitations of the smartphones in the country which include the low memory capacity. As per an article which appeared in Business Insider, a survey conducted by Google showed that about 49% of participants in India deleted or uninstalled applications because they consumed more space in the smartphones. The other drawback is related to the limitations of the network coverage across the country. Addressing such issues, LinkedIn, a professional networking service company, recently launched a lighter version of its mobile application. As per a report in Live Mint, the company launched LinkedIn Lite to cater to the needs of users in Tier II and Tier III cities of India where the network coverage could be low. The Android app is designed to consume only 700 KB space in users’ smartphones. Such adaptions can not only widen the user base for mobile apps, but also improve brand perception for business organisations.

The need for skilled professionals who have knowledge in various application development platforms, the lack of funding and the high cost of marketing are few other challenges that mobile application development companies face. In the recent times, some of the leading higher education institutions have started offering training in mobile application development. IIT Madras launched its 8-week online certification programme in mobile application development. With more number of educational institutes focussing on this field, the necessary talent pool is expected to be created in the years to come.

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