A growing group of Indian consumers who want more from their phone than just talk time. [...] Indians spent some $250 million on extra services for their mobile phones last year—including text messaging, music, wallpaper for phone screens, cricket scores, games, and Web surfing—and that number is expected to reach $1.7 billion by 2010.
Why is demand for such services particularly great in India? For starters, there are just 30 million PCs in the country, so e-commerce on the Internet still has a long way to go. Cell phones, on the other hand, are becoming pervasive. Nearly 300 million Indians now have phones—making it the No. 2 mobile market on earth—and some 8 million new subscribers sign up every month.
These young, mobile-savvy folks have high aspirations but are underserved in everything from banking to entertainment. Getting to them via their cell phones is the best way to provide much-needed and valued services.