Mobile Apps & Marketing Date:   Thursday , December 29, 2016 Headquartered in Noida, MoMagic Technologies develops mobile applications and offers an array of value added services that enhances the efficiency of mobile service providers by enhancing their customer experience, enabling revenue acceleration and cost rationalization. Startups continue to grow on a worldwide scale; however, with a more cautious approach in funding and investor outlook, and a course correction in valuations. Startups are building their business and product keeping mobile devices in mind, and 2016 is stated to be the year when mobile came to the forefront of all possible business and social dynamics. In India too, the startup scene is maturing. With more than 4200 startups and over $5 billion worth investment in 2015 as per various reports, the country ranked as the 3rd largest base for startups in the world, registering a 40 percent growth as of 2015, and 3-4 startups emerging every day, India is poised for a big leap with initiatives such as \'Startup India Standup India\' by the Indian Government and policy impetus being given by various Indian states via \'Make in India\' and \'Digital India\' drive, and the recent demonetization drive giving impetus to cashless transactions. It is further substantiated by the NASSCOM Startup Ecosystem Report which predicts 10,000+ startups in India, and employing 250,000 people by 2020. With an average valuation of startups in India at $2.3 billion and close to 770+ investors residing in the country, India\'s ranking has risen to 130 in 2016thi year from 142 in 2014, as per the report on \'Ease of Doing Business\'. Entrepreneurial and app graph for sure is having an upward growth curve but more sustained and with consolidation. Another significant trend strengthening India\'s stake as the most sought after market globally is its emergence as the fastest-growing smartphone market in the world; accounting for 27.5 million devices sold in the second quarter of 2016, up 17 percent from the previous quarter, according to IDC report released in Sep-2016. With India\'s one billion mobile phone users as on Jan 2016 and more than 371 million mobile Internet users as of June 2016, India has already pipped America to become the second largest smartphone market on the planet, crossing 220 million active smartphone users. Amongst all this, Online Video, Video Streaming and Mobile Marketing are gaining rapid attention from brands across genre for the sheer scale and penetration they promise. Direct and personalized marketing is gaining ground and within this, contest, polls, and survey-driven marketing for brands along with facilitating entertainment and fun for users is gaining momentum, endorsed well with campaigns such as the recent MyGov initiative - a \'governance quiz\' which gave a chance to answer the questions and get to meet Prime Minster Narendra Modi in person and receive a certificate signed by him. Numerous quiz, games and contests in the entertainment and services domain are coming on to mobile apps to create awareness and direct connect of brands with the users. Infotainment driven contest apps giving users a chance to get brand offers, and selfie moment with celebrities in exchange for fun and healthy competitions are gaining ground in the ecosystem and promises volumes with the sheer scale and connect with the users (not to forget the fact that as of now, smartphone penetration of the total potential population is still below 30 per cent in India). As per some research reports, marketers have predicted a spend of approx. 51 percent of their digital ad spending on mobile devices in the year 2016, and mobile ads to be the key focus with an increased push for conversions on mobile devices. Platforms such as mChamp entertainment is unique in this genre; as for the first time it brings in celebrity and brands in direct connect with its fans & users with fun, entertainment and loads of offers. The entire concept is woven around the brand or respective celebrity with a fun and ease element. This makes mChamp a very customized yet fun and entertainment driven contest app for users to connect instantaneously and in a very personalized way. With marketing teams increasingly targeting mobile devices to better the brand connect and response, personalization will be the key. And possibly, that has been the reason why platforms like these have been witnessing a consistent growth in its regular users of the app with more than 60+ meet and greet already organized for its winners with celebrities. And at the business end, lot of celebrities and brands find this proposition much appealing for their branding and marketing. India sees over 100 million app downloads every month even though smartphone penetration is less than 30 percent in the country. Apart from metros, the growth has been driven by growing demand for smartphones in Tier-II and Tier-III cities for affordable yet feature rich devices. This all leads to corroborating the research data that mobile app usage in India has outpaced global app usage (in 2015) and seen a rise of 131 percent. With customer preferences shifting to smartphones, mobile internet is emerging as a key tool and giving a strong push to the already thriving mobile (contest) games and apps market, estimated to be worth over Rs.2000 crore in 2016, reported by the recently released ICRIER and IAMAI report. Added to this, the telecom market predicts the number of 3G sim cards to jump from 35 million in 2012 to 272 million by 2017 - all showing that the trend of Mobile Internet and Apps is surely on the upward trajectory.