Mobile apps are soon becoming a must for businesses to offer as either an extension to their online channel if not a primary medium for users to connect with them. As smartphones started to surge, the apps race began in recent years in the western markets. Everyone from PayPal to Pizza Hut have a mobile app enabling users to transact with them. Not too long ago, the only reference of India in this apps story would have been the work outsourced to developers here. But that scenario is now changing.
Increasing number of businesses in India are pushing out their own application. Daily’s like then Hindustan Times and TOI have a dedicated iPad app now and recently week we interacted with an online player who is perhaps the most aggressive apps player in India. Zomato, an online destination for foodies to discover new places to eat out has an iOS app, Android app, Blackberry App and even a Nokia app out there. Enabled with location intelligence and neat UI, the Zomato apps have impressed us. but what’s more interesting is the data that we have managed to gather.
Zomato presenting at Startup Saturday last month revealed an interesting set of figures wrt to their app downloads. It gives away the number of app downloads across different platforms. And to our surprise it is not the local hero in India I.e. Android leading the downloads, but it is the Blackberry (screams *corporate power*). As of September Blackberry has seen 4x more downloads than Android and 11x more than iPhone. Here are the figures:
While it may be a surprise to many, these figures reflect how dominant is the Blackberry factor in India. Apart from the aspirational value that Blackberry carries, corporates distribute them in offices like sweets. Zomato also pointed that Blackberry promoted them for a while on the App world thus getting some initial traction. Couple these factors with that Blackberry / corporate users fitting the Zomato TG perfectly, and you have the huge spike in Blackberry downloads justified.
If you are a business in India making an app, ignoring the Blackberry platforms might be a mistake. After all this isn’t the fastest growing market for RIM for nothing!