While giving a picture of how rapidly is the Apps market growing in the country,  Ebrahim Popat, Country Manager - 9Apps divulges more about his company and about its plans and strategies to tap opportunities -
Where does India stand as a market in comparison to the rest of the world when it comes to Apps downloading?
App analytics firms have recently placed India at the fourth rank when it comes to the largest app economies. As per App Annie estimates, India will complete 7.7 billion downloads by the end of 2016 - a growth of whopping 92%. The number is expected to go up to 20.1 billion by 2020. Despite the low penetration of smartphones, when compared to mature markets, India accounts for 100 million app downloads a month, placing it among the top five regions for the Android app stores.
Reiterating the trend, 9Apps – a popular android app store from Alibaba Mobile Business Group, states that daily app downloads in India increased 16% in the first half of 2016 (January-June). According to 9Apps, the peak hour for an app download in India is 9:00 PM. Some of the other key findings for India market include- (i) Gaming app downloads increased its share of total app downloads. In 1H 2016, this category accounted for 20% of all apps downloaded during the period. That’s up from a 17% share in 2015 (ii) Outside of gaming apps, the most popular downloaded categories of apps are tools (23%), social (9%), entertainment (9%), and music (4%).
Due to popularity and prevalence of budget phones, majority users say power drain is the biggest concern when they are playing games and using apps. According to our internal survey, 44% users say the most annoying factor when play mobile game is that the game consumes too much power. Internet connection is the second most annoying issue, forcing many users to play off-line games.
 How has the content consumption pattern changed over the years among Indian customers?Â
Millions of Indian users are exploring internet for the first time on their mobile phones. The mobile Browser has become a gateway to internet and its potential is immense.
The concern is to ensure that people who access internet for the first time on mobiles can navigate it successfully. The need therefore is to satisfy the rising demand for content and offer products/ services from a single gateway.
Data consumption is definitely on the rise, due to the trend that Indian users have huge and diverse appetite for content and apps. There is acquisition of new customers in Tier 3 cities because of availability of cost efficient smartphones in India, improving 3G and 4G internet coverage that allow users to consume contents of multiple formats. We see content providers struggling to reach right audience. We see audience struggling to get the content that is relevant to them.
Therefore we chose to become a platform that helps the content providers reach right audience, and help the audience get the right content - A single window to the wonderful world of internet that bridges the digital gap.
Amongst Indian states, Maharashtra is, by far, the biggest consumption market in entertainment with over 42% of the daily content consumption. Mumbai justifies as the tag of the Entertainment Capital of India as it ranks ahead of other metros, followed by Delhi and Kolkata.
Consumption of gaming apps has increased more than that of non-gaming app. The proportion of games in total app downloads has increased to nearly 20% this year versus 17% in 2015. The gaming consumption patterns have become more diversified. Racing and action games, although still the most popular, now make up 43% of all game downloads (versus 53% in 2015). Simulation games are a new trending category, and account for 13% of all game downloads. The data has been compiled by 9Apps Trends, a public web facility of 9Apps that offers best-in-class data analytics products & services and the most insightful mobile industry analysis.
 Do you also have any tools to regulate the traffic?Â
There are a few monitoring tools and services available for tracking app trends around the world, but there is hardly any created for India. Keeping this in mind, we have launched 9Apps Trends, India’s first comprehensive local app market monitoring service that provides app trends, data analysis and an in-depth market report. The monitoring tool will address the growing need for a comprehensive app industry analysis and help local app developers and distributors. 9Apps Trends is a public web facility with free access to all.
9Apps Trends represents the app market movements of millions of users as 9Apps is able to process and interpret the huge data generated via over 18 million daily app distributions. For instance, 9Apps Index, an index number originally created by 9Apps (ranged 1~100), is based on the massive download data from 9Apps Store which reveals how often a particular app is downloaded relative to the total number of apps downloaded on 9Apps Store. Apart from trends, it also offers the best-in-class data analytics products & services and insightful app data reports to developers
We want to share the big data and our insights with the industry about mobile app user behaviors. The report will help Indian mobile users keep up with the trend, and enable app developers to perceive the ever-changing need in the market and twist their business tactics accordingly
What are your current plans and focus for the India market? What would be your roadmap in terms of spreading your presence in the India market?Â
 Our effort has been to provide quality content and services and promote localised and relevant apps and games in each country we operate in. Our homepage offers fresh content on a daily basis and we recommend apps based on your preferences and past choices. Our aim is not just to acquire more users but to engage with them deeply
Recently, we have announced our foray into the lucrative e-commerce space in India, to offer multiple and exciting new features on our app for shopaholics. The move is in addition to 9Apps’ existing role as India’s leading provider of android apps and games and is expected to benefit 9Apps’ over 250 monthly active users (MAUs)
9Apps now offers Comparative Pricing where users can compare product prices from 8 different sellers – namely Paytm, Flipkart, Myntra, Snapdeal, Jabong, Askmebazar, Voonik and Shopclues. The Discount Aggregation/Coupon Zone is a one-stop shop for all discounts and coupon codes available on 9Apps. Not just that - users also get a discount of value 50 INR for free when they sign up for Amazon via 9Apps
Apart from providing localized and most popular apps with a smooth user experience, 9Apps is also committed to help local developers and bolster a healthy ecosystem in the country. We recently announced the InDev Program, a $20 million plan to help Indian independent and start-up developers with specially designed solutions, especially in user acquisition and monetisation. The Program aims to help over 100 independent and small developers over the next 2 years. The InDev Program aims to help over 100 independent and small developers within 2 years. Some of the highlights of the InDev Program include zero cost promotion support for developers, 100% revenue sharing with qualified developers for a certain period of time, professional support and consultancy in testing, localization etc. InDev Program also sets up a Diamond Awards for qualified game and apps. As far as I know, there is no other local mobile platform in Indian market that can compare with us, in terms of user base and app distribution
We plan to continue our efforts with game developers, publishers, startups, payment providers and every other partner to build a sustainable ecosystem. With the right platform for distribution and monetisation, developers in India will come up with content and apps relevant for the Indian market – compact, localised and in regional languages
How has the Indian App developing ecosystem evolved in the recent years? What are its challenges?
The mobile industry around the globe is growing strongly but unevenly, with Asia and Pacific leading the way. With the huge untapped mobile internet population, Asia is the future of mobile internet market, and India is a critical player with a population of over 1.2 billion
India, as second most populous country in the world, has witnessed rapid growth in internet population. It is estimated that there will be a total of 500 million internet users in India by 2017, and the number of mobile internet users in two years will be at 314 million (Almost 60% of India’s internet population will come from mobile)
The steady growth of paid apps and games is being attributed to the affordability and popularity of smartphones as well as growing consuming power. India’s mobile internet generation is young and vibrant with 7 in 10 app users under the age of 25. Despite limited spending power, Indian youth is embracing technology and internet
Studies show that new mobile apps that are embedded in local realities have a much better chance of success in addressing development challenges compared to applications transplanted from elsewhere. In particular, locally developed apps are much more likely to address concerns such as digital literacy and affordability, among others
While the Indian app market is on a high-growth trajectory and presents a huge opportunity to Indian app developers, it is also facing multiple difficulties - including connectivity, local online payment issues and lack of effective promotion channels. While the industry is flush with talent, what is missing is the right platform for app developers to showcase their talent, get exposure for their apps and connect with fellow developers.
While development of an app could be inexpensive, the challenge lies in overcoming the last mile constraint to reach the final user
