Those users who have started searching for products or information mostly on mobile devices, would be glad to know they are not alone. Mobile searches are fast replacing searches taking place on desktop and the trend is catching on.
India has about 121 million internet users. According to a study, around 37 percent of users access the Internet from home, 23 percent from cyber cafes, 22 percent from office, nine percent from mobile devices and rest from schools and other centres.
Though now the total percentage of people accessing internet through their mobile phones in minute, it is expected to grow exponentially as people are migrating from low end feature phones to smartphones. Better connectivity and reduction in prices especially 3G costs would further become a stimulant in encouraging people to use mobile internet.
Notably, Facebook has around 30 million users in India 50 per cent of which access the social network through mobile. Facebook has also recently announced a partnership with mobile phone Chipset maker MediaTek to bring the social networking major to low-cost feature phones or entry-level mobile phones, underlying the importance of mobile phones.
“We expect that majority of people in India who have phones would use Facebook as the most important thing on their phone,” Facebook’s vice president for mobile partnerships and corporate development Vaughan Smith was quoted as saying.
Those searching for something on mobiles are more hard pressed for information, so they need it urgently and are more likely to take action since they are mobile, hence nearer the stores to make their purchases. The mobile searches are mostly driven by smartphones and specifically the location based services to drive the users to physical stores.
Newer technology allowing voice searches would increase with time thus allowing users to conduct more complicated searches whereas the current searches have smaller search terms because of the limitation of conducting text searches on mobile devices. This is where the importance of Apple iPhone4S’ Siri voice assistant may show a new trend in the mobile devices.
For the users, there is another simple inference to make, if they are searching on mobile they are more likely to end up spending money but the problem will most likely be solved since they would be right there near the solution (or the store).