Smartphone Users in India on a Rise

India has seen a sizeable increase in the social media users in the last decade.  According to a recent study by Nielsen, a global provider of data and analysis, about 44% Indians are highly engaged in social media. Statistics show a steady rise in the numbers with more and more Indians welcoming the concept and becoming savvy with the digital medium.

Data provided by Nielsen in the recent Consumer 360 conference has brought to light that there has been a considerable jump in the number of mobile internet users with the percentage going as high as 48%. Many are of the opinion that this sudden spurt could be attributed to the considerable slash in the rates of smart phones lately (Nearly 50%).

Whats even more interesting is the fact that the coming years will witness most gadgets and smart phones within the periphery of common man with more and more Indians spending substantial amounts of money on them. It has also been observed that though modern applications and games have been popular with smart phones users, Internet and 3G services are most predominantly used by a majority.

"India's rapidly growing mobile user base presents marketers and businesses with an opportunity to improve the precision with which they reach out to the new Indian consumer. Today, young Indians, for instance, prefer texting and chat over voice communications; understanding this behaviour better can define data consumption and customer acquisition strategies for operators and handset providers," says Farshad Family, MD, media, Nielsen India.

With Indian smart phone users spending more than 2 hours per day on their phones, social networking from mobile phones has also become a dominant activity and desktops have suffered a gradual set back. By the end of 2012, mobile internet users are expected to exceed the PC social users with the ratio being 60:40. It will therefore not be wrong to say that Indians now have technology and the digital world in their pockets.