It’s a new smartphone world and
everything that makes your smartphone even smarter is enticing. So while more
and more consumers are switching to smartphones, the application developers are
readying new and interesting apps to keep the users hooked on to their device
while connecting them 24x7, around the globe.
Players like WhatsApp, Nimbuzz,
We Chat, Line, Facebook Chat, Hangouts, and Hike, among others, are gaining
strong momentum among the Indian smartphone user. A lot of users are swiftly
utilizing the benefits of these new-age tools to share music, pictures, and
engage in community and peer-to-peer conversations.
In the last one year, chat
usage amongst smartphone users has witnessed a significant increase from 70
percent in November 2012 to 86 percent in November 2013, according to NIMA.
While these applications are
pushing the case for mobile broadband and data, they are also cutting down
operators’ revenues from SMS and voice usage. Hence, a lot of telecom operators
are collaborating with these players to find a mid-way revenue sharing model
utilizing the advantages of these next-generation communication platforms.
In a country like India, one
has already seen some partnership models develop between OTT players and
operators during the last one year. However, as the popularity of these
applications are growing, the market is set to witness a fierce competition
among these chat players and the future landscape would depend much on how
these player constantly innovate themselves and grab elite partnership rights
with operators in the country.
The
Top Rankers
The year 2013 witnessed the
launch of some new chat apps like WeChat, Line and BlackBerry Messenger for
Android in India. However, according to the study by NIMA, the early mover
advantage has clearly worked for WhatsApp, which leads the segment by both
penetration and engagement base.
WhatsApp, according to the
study, is currently reaching around 76 percent of the country’s smartphone
users, who spend around 33 percent of their browsing time on this application.
This is followed by Google Play, Google Search, Gmail, Facebook, Google Maps
and YouTube.
According to WhatsApp, it has
around 30 million active users in the country out of its total 300 million
users worldwide. The company is purely focusing on its messaging characteristic
and is partnering with telcos for customized plans to consumers.
While WhatsApp is the
undisputed leader, six out of the top 10 applications used by a smartphone user
are Google brands. Google’s diverse set of offerings are helping the
company compete in a big way.
What
Lies Ahead
The current year is likely to
see a lot of action from chat players. While so far, the focus has been to
attract consumers to join the platforms, there is likely to be a revenue
discovery in the year 2014. So far, a majority of these players have stayed
away from selling advertisement on their platforms. However, with some of them
getting significant traffics, this can be a huge monetizing opportunity.
Some of the newer players are
also expected to be more aggressive and would try to imitate the WhatsApp
success story.
With high-speed data offerings like 3G and 4G expected to see further
uptake in the year ahead, top telcos would emphasize on the importance of OTT
partnerships in order to monetize their network investments and develop new
revenue streams. Some of the telecom operators could also consider to imitate
the service models adopted by OTT players and as such could build closer
associations with OTT players to gain better understanding.
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