Mobile gaming in small town India
An article in the Times of India (Sowing, reaping and gaming, July 22, 2007) talks about the hopes the mobile industry has pinned on the 155 million non-metro owners of mobile phones. Every day, Indian make 50,000 downloads on their mobile phones at about Rs. 40 (approx US$ 1) per download. Almost 40% of the downloads, it appears, comes from small town areas. Earnings from mobile value added services reaches Rs. 2,900 crores annually of which gaming contributes Rs. 170 crores.
This has led to a spate of games keeping in mind the audience complete with ruthless landlords, unscrupulous moneylenders, heroic farmers et al. The article goes to on suggest that while Indian cinema has gone entirely mainstream, the world of mobile gaming is fragmented into local markets, leading digital entertainment companies to set up offices in small towns.
I wonder if Indian cinema can be considered entirely mainstream? Perhaps the reference here may be to digital cinema which might just be more prevalent for certain languages. As the emphasis on the non-metro India increases, will we see an increase in anthropological and sociographic studies?
Related posts:
- US Mobile Gaming Industry Reaches Billion Dollar Level
- 10,000 Mobile Phones Sold In India Every Hour
- 12 Million Predicted To Subscribe To Mobile TV in India
- The State Of The Mobile Gaming Market
- Online Gaming On The Indian Shores
Filed under: India, Mobile, Statistics, Trends
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