Mobile internet users to take over Internet landlubbers?

Def - Internet landlubber: Person hooked on to terrestrial connections (Dial-up, broad band...) and views any form of satellite or wireless internet usage as a disruption or a compromise to his/her user experience.

The mobile internet revolution is on an upswing. The ground realities of Indian digital technologies and infrastructure availability makes it a virtual no brainier that mobile internet wins hands down over terrestrial connections.

There are about 300+ million mobile phone users to about 5+ million broad band users in India (ref: medianama reports and numbers) which brings the comparative user ratio to 60:1 which is uncharacteristically high for a single medium and unlikely to be surpassed within the next decade.

E4M ran a article titled 'Mobile internet active users to surpass that of traditional Internet users'
which forecasts the upswing and urges advertisers to embrace the digital medium on the whole in order to gain strategic and measurable communication advantage over traditional media.

Here's what the interviewees had to say on mobile internet being more sustainable than broadband

Tewari of mKhoj said, “Yes, mobile Internet is the way forward and I do believe that the Internet story will only be true from mobile and not PC. It will be the wireless Internet and not wire Internet, and it will be more sustainable because the sustainability comes consumers and if there are more consumers on the ecosystem then that means that there will be more content, more advertisers and more money. So, that is why the Internet story from the wireless side will be a sustainable one in this country.”

Popli of Star India said, “Absolutely yes, the first experience of the Internet will be that mostly entrants will be on the mobile phone, because the mobile phone far more affordable and lucrative device than a computer. We still haven’t solved our electricity problem, so unless we have a laptop that runs on battery power and is long lasting, the mobile phone is probably the best friend of the Internet in small towns and cities for surfing the net. Therefore, mobile Internet going be significantly larger than the broadband Internet.”

Vartikar of Mauj Mobile said, “Both broadband Internet and mobile Internet have their own uses. The form factor (display/ keyboard) of mobile has limitations as compared to the PC. At the same time, the PC is restricted by its cost and the single utility that it offers, unlike the mobile, wherein browsing or mobile Internet is an add-on for most Indians. Today speeds are not beneficial to people spending time on mobile Internet, but the advent of 3G and higher bandwidth may well change that. Also, as form factors improve (large screens with touch utility) for the mobile, we will see a major shift in how the mobile is used more and more for browsing.”


I partially agree with his agreement. As far as my convenience and user experience is concerned, I will always look for a bigger screen and easily accessible buttons for doing my work. Unless the mobile screens get bigger, which would kill the purpose of a mobile, I am not buying int o this argument. Connectivity - sure. Actual work - Not really.

What's your take...

You can read the entire E4M article here [Link]

P.S. For all you Smart Alec's wondering why I refer to e4m and afaqs in my write-ups...Well, I am a PR guy after all :P Old habits die hard:) !!

This is a chronicle of my experiments with social media, web 2.0 and digital communications which details industry updates and analysis from India and around the world