India becomes second-largest country with internet users

With 40% growth in the number of internet users, India surpasses USA

GN Bureau | June 2, 2016


#Mary Meeker   #China   #users   #internet   #India  


The annual Internet Trends Report by Mary Meeker says that India is the only exception of the flat growth that internet has witnessed across the world.

Meeker is a former Morgan Stanley internet analyst who is now a partner at venture-capital fund Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers.
 
According to the report, the number of internet users in India grew rapidly, by 40% in 2015, to 277 million. In the process, India has become the only country where the growth rate of Internet users in 2015 was higher than that the previous year which was 33%. 
 
India has surpassed USA to become the second-largest country in the world in terms of internet users, behind China.
 
Despite this, just about 22% of the Indian market is penetrated, offering scope for huge growth, particularly on mobile.
 
Some of the key findings in the report are: 
  • Global smartphone user growth is down to 21% as compared to 31% and just 10% rise in shipments.  Asia Pacific remains the largest market with a growth of 52% in 2015 as compared to 34% in 2008.
     
  • Also, at $158 per unit, India has the lowest average smartphone cost, though it is about 10 percent of the per capita income.
     
  • Internet advertising in the US has grown by about 20% since 2014. An average global mobile user uses more than 12 apps daily, while 80% of time is spent in 3 Apps. In the US these are Facebook, Chrome and YouTube, while worldwide it is Facebook, WhatsApp and Chrome.
     
  • Video viewership is exploding, with Snapchat and Facebook Live leading the way.
     
  • Messaging continues to grow rapidly and is dominated by WhatsApp, Facebook and WeChat.

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