We are hopeful of selling 1 mn mobile apps in the first year

Comment

Digg

Del.icio.us

What kind of business are you targeting for the first year of your operations in India?
Our India entry is part of a larger strategy-we have identified certain markets that will provide us the necessary impetus as well as some markets that will give us brand recognition. We have tied-up with HotSpot Retail to take our mobile applications offering to discerning mobile customers. Indian population do not buy handsets or accessories from posh showrooms. They are comfortable in dealing with small road-side shops. To reach out to this segment, we have tied-up with Speed Recharge.With these two tie-ups we think will be able to sell approximately 1 mn applications in the first year of our operations.

How strong is your retail model to compete with the application market stores?
Indian mobile application dynamics are not very different from the global markets. We have a three-level delivery model already in place: retail chain; mass market stores, and online presence. Our internal research shows that mobile applications as a product category in India will require deep and wide after-sales support. And for online buyers, most of these purchases are happening without consideration of after-sales aspect and this has reduced the confidence level of customers and hampered industry growth. RIT's model aims at online sales with offline after-sales support.

Naushad Abdullah
CEO, Research & Innovation Technologies

What about the investments and products in India?
Over a period of three to five years, RIT will be investing Rs 50 crore in the Indian market. The product pipeline is robust and we will be launching a dozen of applications over the next twelve to twenty-four months. These strategic initiatives are based on the fact that Indian mobile market is growing at a break-neck speed and also the fact that more Indians are buying higher-end handsets. The more the number of smartphones the more the number of applications that will be sold-this is a global trend and India is in sync.

How big do you think is the Indian mobile applications market?
Globally, the mobile application market is pegged at $6.7 bn in 2008. There is no single independent data available today, but our estimates show that this number is anywhere between $1.5 bn to $2 bn.

Any plans to enter partnerships with the handset manufactures?
RIT's current strategy is to go in the retail route and online presence. Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) is a different ball game and we have not decided our approach in this segment. Sure, if cracked, it is a huge and easy business. But at the moment, we are concentrating on the retail and online segments.

Heena Jhingan
heenaj@cybermedia.co.in