Telecom Research Company, Informate Mobile Intelligence is setting a new standard in mobile consumer intelligence. With the help of India's first on-device mobile meter, Informate captures real time mobile phone usage across a wide network of smartphone users.
The company offers regular insights into a comprehensive suite of market intelligence, from device information, call behaviour, mobile internet behavior to demographic profiling and consumer attitudes.
After launching in India, the Company now aims to be a global centre for mobile intelligence and in the near future by establishing presence in the markets of China, Brazil, USA and Europe.
Convergence Plus spoke with Kedar Sohoni, President, Informate Mobile Intelligence to know more about their work, and their take on the different aspects of the Indian telecom industry amongst other things. Few Excerpts—
Q1. How does Informate Mobile intelligence work? What are the new standards that the company is setting in mobile consumer intelligence?
Informate is the first company in Asia to capture actual usage data from smart mobile devices. Informate does this with the help of its patent-pending mobile metering application. This methodology dramatically increases the accuracy of data collection and enhances the client’s understanding of how consumers interact with their mobile devices. For the first time, Informate is helping the industry with key usage metrics that were hitherto not available. These deep insights help brands create better products and services for their consumers.
Q2. Mobile gaming is one of the fast growing sectors in India. With the launch of 3G, does it going to have any revolutionary impact on the gaming industry in India?
Offline mobile gaming is already quite popular in India. 3G is likely to give a boost to the online version as well. In addition, the improvements in hardware (form factor, screen size, touch technology etc.) will lead to a better user experience and to more complex and visually rich games. Very soon, more time will be spent on gaming on mobile than PCs and consoles put together.
Q3. Now that MNP has been launched in India, do you think it will act as game changer for the Indian telecom market?
India is predominantly a prepaid market (over 90%). This segment already experiments with multiple operator services as loyalty / attachment to their mobile number is relatively lower as compared to postpaid users. Multi SIM usage is also high in this country. Thus, majority of the Indian consumers did not feel too constrained in the pre-MNP era as far as switching operators was concerned. But there is a certain section of the audience, especially higher ARPU postpaid users who will be in the market to take advantage of MNP, especially if they are dissatisfied with their current operator. In addition, data consumers of operators who have not won 3G spectrum will be the potential targets for switching to operators with 3G spectrum. At the same time, every operator will try its level best to attract rival consumers and simultaneously try to prevent its high ARPU consumers from churning. There will be some operators who will be net gainers and others who will be net losers due to these dynamics. Consumers, on their part, can look forward to either lower tariffs or better services from rival/ incumbent operators. Thus, MNP might not be a game changer but it will certainly lead to some redistribution of market share in favor of operators who are perceived to have better network/ services.
Q4. How do you foresee the future of the telecom sector in India? Any predictions for the coming year.
Telecom sector will continue on its innovation-led growth trajectory in the years to come. In the coming year, we can expect more people to access Internet on mobile phones than on all other devices put together. In the handset market, there will be fierce competition at two levels, the low cost handsets and SmartPhones. Though Nokia owned Symbian will continue to retain the top SmartPhone spot, Android will emerge as the second largest SmartPhone platform. SmartPhones will break the Rs. 5000 barrier and touch screen interfaces will be commonplace even on entry level SmartPhones. Content on demand, especially video / audio content will see an upswing. Mobile banking/ payment/ commerce will take 3-5 years to gain critical mass but the coming year will witness early adopters embracing these services.
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