The year 2011 saw a surge in adoption of mobile technology amongst users across the world. Buzzcity’s report on M-commerce captured India on the top position serving more than 9.5 billion ad impressions in the fourth quarter itself. “We expect India to remain our largest country well into 2012, with its young, mobile savvy population, and very low mobile data rates” said the BuzzCity report.

Around 44% of the mobile phone users in India belong to the age bracket of 20-24 years and hence it attract many a youth related brands to reach out to their potential segment. This statistics also include the increased use of smartphones where the most downloaded applications were the ones which were free and these free applications often have more have more advertisement options.

Majority of advertising was carried out for Glamour and Dating sites (39%) followed by Mobile content (31%). Mobile search portal services got the lowest share of 3%. It was also noted that majority of the audience reached were using handsets of Nokia (61.55%).

The Buzzcity report further predicts the future trends of this domain that marketers need to look out for.

Forecast 2012

• Operating System Biasness will pass: The focus on particular operating system will dilute in order to target a larger segment of audience. Also to watched for are newer operation systems like HTML5 which will provide its users app like experience without having to download an app.
• Tablets are not junk, neither will they kill PCs and Phones: Initially considered as a threat to Desktops, laptops and phone; Tablets have developed a market around the existing ecosystem rather than hampering it. Predictors forecast trends that will develop around the new media which would be unveiled through features like mobile games.
• Small businesses going big on Mobile Social media and M-Commerce: More and more small businesses will turn to Social media and mobile marketing is expected to gain visibility and share of mind. The main aim for these businesses would be to take advantage of m-commerce opportunities particularly in emerging markets.
• People accept M-Commerce: In the United States, e-commerce – including online, catalogue and mobile sales – now accounts for more than 40% of all retail sales in most sectors and India is catching up in this regard.

These trends pave way for the concept that mobile phone would be use not merely as a means of communication but as integral part of a consumers utility. The large youth segment in India, promises a more mature and thriving mobile commerce segment. The market needs earn customer satisfaction and how they gain and maintain will be crucial for the market to sustain in 2012.

You can read the full report here.