21 years of internet in India and where we are headed next!
In 1995, the 1st internet service in India was launched by a Government arm – VSNL. That single event in history changed the way India connected and received information. It has been 21 years and today it’s not just connecting machines, its connecting lives and changing the way businesses work. Internet has been personalized through portability. We no longer require a 5 ton PC to access the web. With the speed of technical evolution like none other in history, the smartphone was born and this brought the world to our palms. Being how connected India is to the world now, any technology ripple globally creates a similar inductive effect here at home. Living in a paperless world After centuries of exploitations, trees are finally breathing a bit easy. With a steady decline in paper consumption since the 1990s, there has been a massive climb in emails. According to Madison Logic, 122 Billion emails are sent every hour. That is about 17 emails per hour and 408 emails daily for every person on the planet. This same trend has continued in India where offices ordered less print materials, schools and colleges offered books online, authors sold more books through digital platforms like Google Playbook and Amazon Kindle. Living in a startup world Tech startups have rocked the business world inside out. The internet has cleared one thing for certain – innovate or die! And the young population of India, beaming with energy as they are, has jumped the bandwagon and now taking the lead. India has become the 4th largest startup hub of the world with startups often taking over established market leaders, not just in India but globally. Living in a mobile world Smartphones – that palm sized device which encapsulates the world of business, food, clothing and anything that you can or cannot touch. In 2014, for the 1st time Google received more search traffic from mobiles than desktops. And that trend has enlarged and engulfed more and more internet users. Today, over 60% of Indians use mobile devices to access the net. Reason? Why purchase a $500 PC or laptop when a mobile device can cost as low as or lower than $100 and provide the same utility with better performance! What’s Next? The mobile trend will continue to dig its roots deeper and next is – mobile app marketing. Not many people realize that they spend nearly 90% of their time in mobiles browsing through apps and only 10% using a web browser. This shift in user dynamics has already begun to show consumer and business impact at a massive scale. Organizations across the aisle are now looking to express their individuality by investing in their own mobile apps. And we are not just talking about restaurants and real-estate sectors, but even educational institutions, schools, coaching, event planning agencies and hospitals to name a few. Providing mobile based services or even just a list of services with an instant call button can play a large role in reaching out the millennial consumers who are tech-savvy and are used to having information access the best way possible – through their phones.
