A smart Phone for Rural India
Introduction
Mobile phone adoption in developing countries has grown dramatically in the past several years. However there are still many obstacles to mobile phone ubiquity in these regions, particularly for people in rural areas and those living at subsistence or poverty levels. Moreover, network coverage is weak in remote areas, and the market for distributing mobile phones and a culture of using them is still at an incipient stage. Observing how inhabitants of the developing world are beginning to adapt mobile phone use to their benefit and distinctive needs is interesting to watch. Contrasting them with usage habits in developed countries provides insight into how to foster better technology design for the 3rd world, so that it can be more useful to people in those contexts. While the popularity of mobile phones in developing countries is on the rise, most people in subsistence societies still cannot afford to own them. Despite this, even those who cannot afford this technology are still beginning to acquire access to their benefits by methods of sharing.
Indian Context:
The per capita income of India is about $820, but a quarter of the population live below the Indian government’s defined poverty line of about US $146 a year. After basic needs, even one of the cheapest cell phones on the market, at US $35 (1,350 rupees), is still prohibitive for most people. Also rural areas of India remain less networked outside their micro- and meso-spheres and have less need for mobile phone use. Although among the middle and upper economic classes mobile phone penetration in urban India is around 25 per 100 people, mobile phone penetration in rural areas is at a mere 1.6 per 100. The demand for cell phones is coming mainly from rural consumers. These buyers haven't been affected by plunging stock and real-estate prices or tighter bank lending since they typically don't own land and don't borrow. A large majority of them don't have access to regular landline phone networks -- there are only about 40 million landline subscribers in India -- so once cellular coverage comes to their towns or villages they scramble to get their first phones
2|Page
The story is the same across rural India, home to more than 60% of India's population of 1.2 billion. China, Indonesia and Brazil also continue to show solid growth in cellphone sales. The continued expansion of the cell phone industry in India stands in sharp contrast to most other industries here. Textile and software exporters are struggling. India's brand new malls are sparsely populated and the sales of cars, trucks, tractors and motorcycles have declined in recent months. But the cell phone industry recorded more than 10 million new subscribers in December, up from eight million a year earlier. The industry's overall subscriber base grew 48% in 2008 to 347 million customers.
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Some of the insights which should be brought into account while designing a
mobile phone for the Rural India:
1. Most of the Indian rural population is illiterate. This makes it literally impossible for
2.
3.
4. 5.
6.
7.
them to actually understand the text in the screen. In most of the cases they key in the numbers without even checking the screen. So it makes much more sense to make the keys bigger with some elevated signs on them by which it becomes easier for the user to know which keys they are pressing. There is rare use of SMS as a feature in rural India. This again is attributable to the fact that the consumers are illiterate. So it is advisable that the feature is completely removed from this special issue mobile phone. The navigation for the current mobile phones normally includes pressing a sequence of buttons, helped by the display on the screen, to select a particular menu. This feature presents two problems that needs to be addressed: a. Do the customers require these menu options for the rudimentary purposes that they use the mobile phone for? b. The customers actually get confused by the fact that often the same combination of keys, assisted by the graphical display, is used to select a particular menu options. In case of rural consumers, since they find it very difficult to read the display on screen, it is again a pain for them to navigate through the controls. There is very less usage of applications like Organiser, profiles etc in a mobile phone to rural Indian people. So these features should be dropped. There is dust all throughout the villages. So a touch screen phone, in the lines of Apple iPhone, is not at all advisable. Instead a robust design (Bar) is suggested to be offered and it should be made of plastic to increase the durability. The average revenue per user for both the rural and urban user is pretty low (Rs. 200 on an average). Considering the fact that for a 3G connection, a substantial part of the revenue is generated from the data usage. For rural parts of the country this portion of the country, at this point of time, is expected to be fractional at the most. So it is suggested that the network subscriber providers give it a second thought before rolling out 3G connections in rural India. For the time being optimal penetration of 2G user base should be concentrated on. Keeping in mind the fact that the average income for a rural household is substantially lower, the newly designed mobile should not cost more than Rs.2500/and for this too, the network subscriber should offer instalment plans. The adoption of subscriber pockets (say the percentage of user of Airtel is very high in some villages, then it can be called as an Airtel Pocket) could also result in potential reduction in call tariff charges (closed user group calling rates are much lower than normal tariff).
4|Page
Features desired by Rural Consumers (as per survey conducted):
Research uncovered the vast majority of the phone’s features are untouched by nonliterate users. There is little obvious prioritization given to the phone’s bloated feature set, creating complexity and confusion. Participants cited the following features and functionality as the most important for their phone: - Calling - Texting (using voice to text or with assistance) - Music - Camera* - Microphone - Speaker - Airtime - Battery Level *While most research participants did not have mobile phones with cameras, this was cited as a desired feature.
Some of the Recommendations for the Model:
1. Sound becomes an important part of the Indian culture and especially for rural India it becomes paramount because it becomes the most used feature in a mobile phone. So the sound settings should be made explicit. An important analogy is that of radio which is hugely popular in rural India. The volume control in radio is that of knob. This could be implemented in the mobile phone as well as a volume knob at the side of the mobile. 2. The information relevant to the farmers should be made readily available. This could be provided by forming strategic tie-ups with the network service provider and the government. Information pertaining to weather, price rates, government announcements etc should be made available to the farmers in local language free of cost. The presentation of this information should be in voice format and not in Text (because of illiteracy). This voice mail support should be provided at free/ negligible charge (If charged, it should be included in the subscription and should not come as a separate add on feature). This could result in large scale adoption of the feature (and the mobile phone supporting this feature). 3. The battery backup of the mobile should be high because villages are prone to electricity cuts. 4. The torch light feature is extremely useful in rural conditions. A LED torch is a great option to include in this set. The torch light should have a dedicated button and simple ON-OFF procedure (as opposed to the current method of navigating to the torch light option to switch it ON).
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5. The radio and music forms an integral part of the rural India. The present mobile has media player built into it. But this feature may not be so useful to the rural mass as there is very less penetration of computers in the villages (computers are required for music transfer). So the new mobile is recommended to have AM/ FM radio only and could add on a feature of recording the FM song and storing it (no computers will be required in this case for song transferring). 6. The volume level for this new design phone should be made considerably higher since people in villages are accustomed to higher volume while communicating. 7. The display is advised to be colour so that it becomes more attractive to people. 8. The display icons should be large and pictographic and should facilitate visual identification. 9. SMS feature again mostly remain unused in the rural masses. So this can be replaced with a voicemail feature. The acceptability of this is dependent on the network service provider who should make this feature available at the same cost as that of a sms. (The network service provider should appreciate the fact that with the urban market getting saturated, they have to come up with innovative schemes to tap the rural market). 10. Speed dial: A typical rural consumer normally does not have a large number of people with whom he would like to talk on a regular basis. His contacts are mostly limited to single digits and to this group he talks the most. Considering the fact that the rural consumers are not comfortable with scanning the contact list (due to illiteracy), his high frequency numbers can be stored in the speed dial list and he should be informed of this easier method of dialling. This also takes care of the fact that villagers normally have to request a literate person to dial a number while making a call. 11. Usage Meter: Normally mobile phones gives out the last call duration in digital format. This should be changed to look like a clock (analog format) to assist in easier understanding of the villagers. Again this clock should start automatically ticking the moment a call is generated. In this way people can track their usage rate. 12. Battery Meter: The battery icon should be made bigger for easier readings. 13. Repairing Facility and Service Centre: People in villages do not dispose their handsets as frequently as their urban counterparts. So full scale repairing service should be provided as an option. The outlets where people would come to recharge their subscription can double up as the collection centre for damaged mobiles. 14. Camera: It can remain as an optional feature and even if present, it should be the VGA version (keeping in mind the price constraints). 15. Size: The mobile should not be too small to hold. The figure below shows a suggested size scale. 16. Alarm Clock: This feature is extremely useful and with easier control incorporated, should be of great help to the consumers.
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A probable concept designing:
Fig 1
Fig 2
7|Page
Manufacturing Keynotes and Conclusion:
? Price: The price should not be more than Rs. 2500/- and with the tradeoffs suggested, the concept phone seems to be fairly implementable. Nokia colour mobile series are available now starting from Rs.1400/-. With the design changes as suggested, the manufacturing cost should be restricted between Rs.1800 /- – Rs.1900/-. ? Strategic Tie ups: The most important strategic tie up is with the network service provider which could play a very important role in making this mobile a success. In addition to aggressive tariff schemes, the network service provider has to agree to provide the voicemail support at minimal cost. The mobile manufacturer can enter into an agreement with the network service provider for an one-time payment of Rs.2500/- for the following support feature: ? Voicemail support for weather, price etc information ? Instalment schemes ? Collection centre for mobile repairing ? Lower tariff for closed user group ? Last call charge and balance left to be sent as voicemail ? Quality: Quality is of paramount importance and the mobile phone should not go for frequent servicing. ? Material Choice: High quality plastic to ensure lower price and better durability. ? Production Scale: Large scale production should be targeted to achieve economies of scale. The existing manufacturing plants can start a separate division for specially this model. ? Sourcing: Since most of the body parts would be made of plastic and plastic industry in India is prospering (helped by SMEs and recent government initiatives), the sourcing should be mostly local. ? Management Support: Last but not the least, management backup is required to support this project because the model might not see huge turnover within its introduction. It will take some time for this model and its benefit to be accepted by the rural consumers (this depending to some extent on the network service provider also). So the management should be ready to invest time and money in this project.
More than 50% of the world’s population leaves in villages. So there exists a huge market still untapped. A mobile phone with a design as shown above and built on the concept of user friendliness & usage pattern holds a great potential not only for the Indian market but also can be exported to countries with similar demographics (Asian and African countries). A product like this can add a new dimension to any global mobile phone manufacturing company and hence the business potential should be seriously considered.
8|Page
doc_975105794.docx
Introduction
Mobile phone adoption in developing countries has grown dramatically in the past several years. However there are still many obstacles to mobile phone ubiquity in these regions, particularly for people in rural areas and those living at subsistence or poverty levels. Moreover, network coverage is weak in remote areas, and the market for distributing mobile phones and a culture of using them is still at an incipient stage. Observing how inhabitants of the developing world are beginning to adapt mobile phone use to their benefit and distinctive needs is interesting to watch. Contrasting them with usage habits in developed countries provides insight into how to foster better technology design for the 3rd world, so that it can be more useful to people in those contexts. While the popularity of mobile phones in developing countries is on the rise, most people in subsistence societies still cannot afford to own them. Despite this, even those who cannot afford this technology are still beginning to acquire access to their benefits by methods of sharing.
Indian Context:
The per capita income of India is about $820, but a quarter of the population live below the Indian government’s defined poverty line of about US $146 a year. After basic needs, even one of the cheapest cell phones on the market, at US $35 (1,350 rupees), is still prohibitive for most people. Also rural areas of India remain less networked outside their micro- and meso-spheres and have less need for mobile phone use. Although among the middle and upper economic classes mobile phone penetration in urban India is around 25 per 100 people, mobile phone penetration in rural areas is at a mere 1.6 per 100. The demand for cell phones is coming mainly from rural consumers. These buyers haven't been affected by plunging stock and real-estate prices or tighter bank lending since they typically don't own land and don't borrow. A large majority of them don't have access to regular landline phone networks -- there are only about 40 million landline subscribers in India -- so once cellular coverage comes to their towns or villages they scramble to get their first phones
2|Page
The story is the same across rural India, home to more than 60% of India's population of 1.2 billion. China, Indonesia and Brazil also continue to show solid growth in cellphone sales. The continued expansion of the cell phone industry in India stands in sharp contrast to most other industries here. Textile and software exporters are struggling. India's brand new malls are sparsely populated and the sales of cars, trucks, tractors and motorcycles have declined in recent months. But the cell phone industry recorded more than 10 million new subscribers in December, up from eight million a year earlier. The industry's overall subscriber base grew 48% in 2008 to 347 million customers.
3|Page
Some of the insights which should be brought into account while designing a
mobile phone for the Rural India:
1. Most of the Indian rural population is illiterate. This makes it literally impossible for
2.
3.
4. 5.
6.
7.
them to actually understand the text in the screen. In most of the cases they key in the numbers without even checking the screen. So it makes much more sense to make the keys bigger with some elevated signs on them by which it becomes easier for the user to know which keys they are pressing. There is rare use of SMS as a feature in rural India. This again is attributable to the fact that the consumers are illiterate. So it is advisable that the feature is completely removed from this special issue mobile phone. The navigation for the current mobile phones normally includes pressing a sequence of buttons, helped by the display on the screen, to select a particular menu. This feature presents two problems that needs to be addressed: a. Do the customers require these menu options for the rudimentary purposes that they use the mobile phone for? b. The customers actually get confused by the fact that often the same combination of keys, assisted by the graphical display, is used to select a particular menu options. In case of rural consumers, since they find it very difficult to read the display on screen, it is again a pain for them to navigate through the controls. There is very less usage of applications like Organiser, profiles etc in a mobile phone to rural Indian people. So these features should be dropped. There is dust all throughout the villages. So a touch screen phone, in the lines of Apple iPhone, is not at all advisable. Instead a robust design (Bar) is suggested to be offered and it should be made of plastic to increase the durability. The average revenue per user for both the rural and urban user is pretty low (Rs. 200 on an average). Considering the fact that for a 3G connection, a substantial part of the revenue is generated from the data usage. For rural parts of the country this portion of the country, at this point of time, is expected to be fractional at the most. So it is suggested that the network subscriber providers give it a second thought before rolling out 3G connections in rural India. For the time being optimal penetration of 2G user base should be concentrated on. Keeping in mind the fact that the average income for a rural household is substantially lower, the newly designed mobile should not cost more than Rs.2500/and for this too, the network subscriber should offer instalment plans. The adoption of subscriber pockets (say the percentage of user of Airtel is very high in some villages, then it can be called as an Airtel Pocket) could also result in potential reduction in call tariff charges (closed user group calling rates are much lower than normal tariff).
4|Page
Features desired by Rural Consumers (as per survey conducted):
Research uncovered the vast majority of the phone’s features are untouched by nonliterate users. There is little obvious prioritization given to the phone’s bloated feature set, creating complexity and confusion. Participants cited the following features and functionality as the most important for their phone: - Calling - Texting (using voice to text or with assistance) - Music - Camera* - Microphone - Speaker - Airtime - Battery Level *While most research participants did not have mobile phones with cameras, this was cited as a desired feature.
Some of the Recommendations for the Model:
1. Sound becomes an important part of the Indian culture and especially for rural India it becomes paramount because it becomes the most used feature in a mobile phone. So the sound settings should be made explicit. An important analogy is that of radio which is hugely popular in rural India. The volume control in radio is that of knob. This could be implemented in the mobile phone as well as a volume knob at the side of the mobile. 2. The information relevant to the farmers should be made readily available. This could be provided by forming strategic tie-ups with the network service provider and the government. Information pertaining to weather, price rates, government announcements etc should be made available to the farmers in local language free of cost. The presentation of this information should be in voice format and not in Text (because of illiteracy). This voice mail support should be provided at free/ negligible charge (If charged, it should be included in the subscription and should not come as a separate add on feature). This could result in large scale adoption of the feature (and the mobile phone supporting this feature). 3. The battery backup of the mobile should be high because villages are prone to electricity cuts. 4. The torch light feature is extremely useful in rural conditions. A LED torch is a great option to include in this set. The torch light should have a dedicated button and simple ON-OFF procedure (as opposed to the current method of navigating to the torch light option to switch it ON).
5|Page
5. The radio and music forms an integral part of the rural India. The present mobile has media player built into it. But this feature may not be so useful to the rural mass as there is very less penetration of computers in the villages (computers are required for music transfer). So the new mobile is recommended to have AM/ FM radio only and could add on a feature of recording the FM song and storing it (no computers will be required in this case for song transferring). 6. The volume level for this new design phone should be made considerably higher since people in villages are accustomed to higher volume while communicating. 7. The display is advised to be colour so that it becomes more attractive to people. 8. The display icons should be large and pictographic and should facilitate visual identification. 9. SMS feature again mostly remain unused in the rural masses. So this can be replaced with a voicemail feature. The acceptability of this is dependent on the network service provider who should make this feature available at the same cost as that of a sms. (The network service provider should appreciate the fact that with the urban market getting saturated, they have to come up with innovative schemes to tap the rural market). 10. Speed dial: A typical rural consumer normally does not have a large number of people with whom he would like to talk on a regular basis. His contacts are mostly limited to single digits and to this group he talks the most. Considering the fact that the rural consumers are not comfortable with scanning the contact list (due to illiteracy), his high frequency numbers can be stored in the speed dial list and he should be informed of this easier method of dialling. This also takes care of the fact that villagers normally have to request a literate person to dial a number while making a call. 11. Usage Meter: Normally mobile phones gives out the last call duration in digital format. This should be changed to look like a clock (analog format) to assist in easier understanding of the villagers. Again this clock should start automatically ticking the moment a call is generated. In this way people can track their usage rate. 12. Battery Meter: The battery icon should be made bigger for easier readings. 13. Repairing Facility and Service Centre: People in villages do not dispose their handsets as frequently as their urban counterparts. So full scale repairing service should be provided as an option. The outlets where people would come to recharge their subscription can double up as the collection centre for damaged mobiles. 14. Camera: It can remain as an optional feature and even if present, it should be the VGA version (keeping in mind the price constraints). 15. Size: The mobile should not be too small to hold. The figure below shows a suggested size scale. 16. Alarm Clock: This feature is extremely useful and with easier control incorporated, should be of great help to the consumers.
6|Page
A probable concept designing:
Fig 1
Fig 2
7|Page
Manufacturing Keynotes and Conclusion:
? Price: The price should not be more than Rs. 2500/- and with the tradeoffs suggested, the concept phone seems to be fairly implementable. Nokia colour mobile series are available now starting from Rs.1400/-. With the design changes as suggested, the manufacturing cost should be restricted between Rs.1800 /- – Rs.1900/-. ? Strategic Tie ups: The most important strategic tie up is with the network service provider which could play a very important role in making this mobile a success. In addition to aggressive tariff schemes, the network service provider has to agree to provide the voicemail support at minimal cost. The mobile manufacturer can enter into an agreement with the network service provider for an one-time payment of Rs.2500/- for the following support feature: ? Voicemail support for weather, price etc information ? Instalment schemes ? Collection centre for mobile repairing ? Lower tariff for closed user group ? Last call charge and balance left to be sent as voicemail ? Quality: Quality is of paramount importance and the mobile phone should not go for frequent servicing. ? Material Choice: High quality plastic to ensure lower price and better durability. ? Production Scale: Large scale production should be targeted to achieve economies of scale. The existing manufacturing plants can start a separate division for specially this model. ? Sourcing: Since most of the body parts would be made of plastic and plastic industry in India is prospering (helped by SMEs and recent government initiatives), the sourcing should be mostly local. ? Management Support: Last but not the least, management backup is required to support this project because the model might not see huge turnover within its introduction. It will take some time for this model and its benefit to be accepted by the rural consumers (this depending to some extent on the network service provider also). So the management should be ready to invest time and money in this project.
More than 50% of the world’s population leaves in villages. So there exists a huge market still untapped. A mobile phone with a design as shown above and built on the concept of user friendliness & usage pattern holds a great potential not only for the Indian market but also can be exported to countries with similar demographics (Asian and African countries). A product like this can add a new dimension to any global mobile phone manufacturing company and hence the business potential should be seriously considered.
8|Page
doc_975105794.docx