I am listing down some of the trends we will witness in the Indian mobile apps ecosystem in the year 2015

1. +
Top 10 Trends in Mobile Apps Ecosystem
India in 2015

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1.M-commerce will continue to grow
exponentially
Orders from mobile apps will bypass
desktop+mobile browser combined. Bigger
ecom players will see this going up to 65%.
I expect overall m-commerce market to cross
$6 billion.

3. +
2. The affiliate program for Mobile
Commerce will emerge
Affiliates have played an important role in
driving almost 30% of the orders for most
eCommerce players. However, it's almost non-
existent for mobile apps as most of the apps
(except Flipkart) are not ready to track affiliate
sending traffic in apps using deep links.

4. +
3. Mobile App Remarketing will gain
importance
Mobile Marketing has been limited to driving
app installs. Engagement, repeat orders,
bringing visitors back will now be equally
important. The ecosystem is ready, most ad-
networks (including Facebook & Google
Adwords) are equipped, apps are built in a
way (sharing product feeds, unique identifiers,
etc.) to let mobile Remarketing gain equal
importance as we see it on desktop.

5. +
4. Indian Apps will enter the 50–100mn
club
So far we don’t have a single app in 50–
100mn install club at Play Store. I predict at
least 5 Indian Apps will enter this zone by the
end of 2015

6. +
5. App Install will get expensive
The cost of driving an app install will rise
significantly across all the networks including
Facebook. Besides stiff competition, it's the
hunt for quality users, which will take this cost
up. Demand for incentivized installs will taper
down and demand for engaging & transacting
user will gain more importance than ever
before

7. +
6. Carrier Billing in Play Store might be a
reality
We have been hearing this for last 2 years
now, but I believe 2015 might actually see it
become a reality. That might start a new
chapter in In-App transactions. However, I
don’t foresee India specific app pricing or IAP
denominations being introduced by Google
this year.

8. +
7. Chat/Messaging Apps will get into
commerce
Competition for no.2 spot will be fought by
Hike, WeChat, Line and some of them may
open up its platform or partner with commerce
players to introduce shopping, recharges,
bookings, subscription payment through their
platforms. However, I am not sure if this will
gain any prominence yet, unless of course
WhatsApp decides to get into this.

9. +
8. Unbundling will happen
Some of the Apps have already started this in
2014 eg. Paytm launched a dedicated Paytm
Wallet App, Gaana did that successfully with
category specific apps and their unbundled
apps put together have gained few million
downloads already. We may see many Indian
Apps trying this route to unlock some of their
hidden features

10. +
9. Indian Startups offering B2B solutions
around Apps will go global
I have seen so many Indian startups trying to
solve mobile app analytics, marketing
automation, engagement, testing etc. Some of
them are ready to take on global players and
we will see a few of them getting funded and
rising globally.

11. +
10. Mobile search will evolve to include
more Apps
I reckon that 12 months down the line, we will
see mobile search results dominated by
indexed apps. Google has gone pretty
aggressive already to rope in apps to start
indexing. Google will definitely be putting its
might behind to gain the same foothold in
mobile search as well. Several valley based
startups are trying to solve the search problem
in their unique way and they might offer some
interesting models.

12. +
Thank You
I will be happy to hear your feedback on this. Feel
free to mail me at dabbot@gmail.com tag me on
twitter @deepakabbot