IAMAI's Mobile10X to give a fillip to Indian app developers

Mobile10X is a capacity building and ecosystem enabling programme for mobile apps; Google India and Paytm are the founding partners of the programme.

The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), an industry body representing the internet and mobile industry, on September 30, launched Mobile10X, a capacity building and ecosystem enabling programme for mobile apps.

Mobile10X programme will scale up the number of quality developers from 50,000 to 5 lakh, increase revenue from mobile apps from Rs. 1,000 crore to Rs. 10,000 crore and bring Indian developed apps from zero to at least 10 on Play Store, over the next five years. The same will be achieved via a five-point agenda, set during the Mobile10X event, that comprises setting up mobile startup hubs across India in the next five years, with the first one slated to be launched in Bengaluru in October this year. Moreover, the initiative will train five lakh engineering students on Android and iOS platforms, besides setting up an online mentoring platform for interface between peers and industry experts. It will also have industry-connect and investor-connect initiatives as part of the five-point agenda.

IAMAI's Mobile10X to give a fillip to Indian app developers

The event comprising sessions saw bigwigs from the digital world such as Rajan Anandan, vice president and managing director, Google, South East Asia and India; Nishant Rao, chairman, IAMAI and country manager, LinkedIn India, and Kiran Vasireddy, senior vice president, Paytm, among others, who shared insights on the digital landscape and the era of digital startups in India. They spoke of challenges faced by young app entrepreneurs in India and opportunities as well as India's app ecosystem and how Mobile10X can help leverage it.

The event also saw discussions on entrepreneurial insights from founders of digital startups in India such as FreeCharge, OYO Rooms, CommonFloor, Lenskart etc. They spoke about taking to digital advertising as a platform and evaluated where they stand today in the segment.

Sharing his experience about how CommonFloor has come to be known as what it is today, Lalit Mangal, co-founder and CPO of the company stressed on "articulation of apt positioning" for the digital audience. Kunal Shah, founder and CEO, FreeCharge, noted that because everything today is turning tech, what started as a dream to make popular the online recharge category in India, has already garnered popularity due to its digital diligence by hiring the correct workforce, which understands how people react to the online recharge segment in the country, and what aids FreeCharge in making the targetted audience its loyal customers in the long run.

Commenting on the future of digital advertising and its role in everyday life, Anandan said, "India is at the cusp of an apps revolution. With over 213 million mobile internet users and nearly 130 million local language consumers on the internet, the growth trajectory for app development is bound to be exponential."

"With the app developer community growing at an exponential pace, Mobile10X would augur developer base, quality and market 10 times its size, by 2019," Rao said.

Kiran Vasireddy, senior vice president, Paytm opined, "Apps developers should look to improve the quality, as at present, quality of mobile apps seem to be an issue. IAMAI's Mobile 10X initiative is thus a brilliant attempt to evangalise the ecosystem."

Dr. Subho Ray, president, IAMAI, stated, "People are moving towards apps and IAMAI is of the view that the apps economy in India will drive the next level of internet growth."

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