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Mobile social networking users to rise in India
By siliconindia
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Thursday, 07 October 2010, 21:20 IST |
1 Comments
New Delhi: With the increasing number of people accessing social networking via their mobile phones, the number of mobile social network users in India is expected touch 72 million mark by 2014.
According to a latest study launched by Analysys Mason the main drivers for this growth will be the falling smartphone prices in the country, along with the launch of 3G services. Innovative data tariffs, initiatives by operators as well as handset manufacturers also drive this growth. The study has found that 33 million visitors logged on to sites like Facebook and Orkut through wireless handsets in July 2010.
Young people and young professionals are driving the adoption of mobile social networking in India, accounting for 70 per cent of the total users in 2009. In terms of gender, males account for 56 per cent of the total mobile social network users in India, the report added.
"Innovative data tariff plans (daily, weekly and monthly plans), and significant reduction in data charges are driving adoption of data-based services such as social networking," said Sourabh Kaushal, Principal Consultant, Analysys Mason.
The report suggests that both, the operators and handset manufacturers need to expand their addressable base of consumers and focus on service innovation to increase the penetration of social networking in India.
"Operators are launching services such as pay-per-site tariffs and are expected to promote social networking applications to drive adoption of data services among their subscribers," explained Kaushal.
He added, "Handset manufacturers have also started to launch mobile handsets specifically designed for social networking in order to increase the value proposition and differentiate their devices," he added.
