The following piece of information interests me, as it could have a strong impact on those Indian companies and individuals that develop apps for the App Store.
Recently when talking about the Indian iphone market, Tim Cook said that the growth of iPhone sales in India has grown about 400% (4 times) year-on-year basis. He has also said that sales for iPad in India has witnessed a double-digit growth (iPad and iPad mini combined.) However, he did not provide absolute figures.
Let us see how the iPhone sales figures have moved in the recent past for India:
- Fourth Quarter of 2012: 230,000 units
- First Quarter of 2013: 120,000 units(a dip of more than half)
According to IDC estimates the sales of iPhones have increased by 3 to 4 times. This coupled with confirmation from Tim Cook that iPhone growth has been around 400 % we can estimate the following:
- Estimated sales per quarter in 2013: Approx. 480,000 units ( 120,000 x 4) or about half-a-million iPhones.
Similar trend (though not as strong) is seen in the sale of the iPads. The trend shows that iPhones and iPads sales are increasing in India and the demand for Apple’s iOS devices is increasing. As this number of Indian iPhone/iPad users grows, they will expect apps tailored to meet Indian needs, and with the myriad complexities of Indian culture, only Indian developers/development companies will be able to offer such apps that will connect with the Indian consumer’s needs.
What does this imply for Indian software development companies and individual developers?
India will soon require:
- More individual developers / Development Companies specializing in creation of Apps for iPads and iPhones for Indian Market.
- More iOS Experts/Trainers to train the software programming workforce who would like to acquire iOS App Development skills.
Let us look at these two groups more closely.
1. Individual Developers/Development Companies specializing in creation of Apps for iPads and iPhones for Indian Market.
While there are a few companies that are already engaged in Apps creation, they are still more focused on development for Android-running devices. This is quite natural as Samsung is still the market leader in India and Apple has been a late entrant in this market. We should expect more Objective C proficient developers and development companies enter the Indian App Space on the App Store. With more Indian consumers getting iOSed, and with the sense of code-security that Apple’s App Store environment provides the developer with, we should expect a lot more India-focused iPhone and iPad App Development. Big software companies are also beginning to realize the potential for creating Apps for the App Store and sooner or later they will start producing Apps that cater to Indian market as well.
It won’t be amiss to mention that Apple’s App Store was the first marketplace for distributing Apps on smartphones. It was a new paradigm of distributing apps for the smartphones and was hugely successful. Consequently, the same model was adopted by Google (Goolge Play on Android devices), Microsoft (Windows Store on Windows smartphones) and others. This model is here to stay and the App Store is still the leader.
2. More iOS Experts/Trainers to train the workforce working on iOS apps.
While India has been an outsourcing destination for software of all kinds, and more recently also for App Store content, the expanding iPhone and iPad market in India will throw open a lot more opportunities. More Indian software development companies and individuals would like to specialize in App Development for the App Store. This will automatically generate a training need that will be a lot stronger than the ActionScript training need that we experienced some years ago.
As Apps for the App Store can be created through HTML5 / ActionScript as well, many software developers use these languages to create the iPhone/iPad apps. This is natural because the expertise in these areas already exists in India. However, these technologies are not native to iOS and do not fully exploit the potential of this fantastic platform, the way Objective C does. However delivering apps through the App Store is a different model and the true potential of iOS platform can be achieved only by technologies which are native to it.
So it is the knowledge of Objective C and associated iOS Frameworks which will hold the key for development companies that want to achieve a prominent position in this developing market. As the demand for iPhones/iPads grows in India, more and more users will be downloading apps from the App Store and will fuel the need for apps which are tailored for the Indian customers. This will translate into software companies experiencing the requirement of training their workforce on iPhone/iPad app development, so that they learn different iOS technologies to add the touch of class to the India-centric apps. We will need highly skilled trainers who aren’t just good programmers, but are excellent teachers as well.
To Conclude:
For the past one year, Indian smartphones market, has witnessed a much stronger marketing pitch from Apple. Earlier the company was offering iPhones only through network carriers: Airtel and Aircel. Now, they have gone a step further and have stared offering iPhone/iPad on easy 6-12 month installments. Perhaps this is what has made iPhone/iPads more affordable to the Indian consumer who until recently had found the relatively high-priced iOS devices out of her reach, and led to increased sales.
I’d also like to mention that if rumors are to be believed, a more inexpensive version of the iPhone is expected soon, which along with the iPad mini (which may have also contributed to the growth in the sale of iPads in India,) will both bring down the cost of owning an iOS device. About an year ago, Apple realized that India should have its own iTunes store. It was launched in December 2013 and features local Indian artists like AR Rehman. Apple is also keen on increasing its retail network in India and is expected to increase its number of exclusive stores to around 200 by 2015 (from an existing number of 65) All this has contributed to a continuing uptrend in the sales and will lead to an increased demand for Apps that cater to Indian needs. Smartphone penetration in India still remains less than 5% and there is only one way for it to go – up!
I will be watching the growth of iPhone and iPad sales in India with interest.
C-ing it Objective-ly & Swift-ly 