The ability to offer localised and regional-specific applications is a critical requirement for app store success, leading Indian operator Bharti Airtel has told Mobile Apps Briefing. According to the company, which is the biggest operator in the market, “making the storefront contextually relevant to the customer is a critical requirement if an operator aims to succeed in this space.” It was also noted that the Indian market is extremely price-sensitive, and the best approach is to “lower the barriers and get more customers to experience the application phenomenon for themselves.”

Reflecting the diversity of the Indian customer base, Airtel’s App Central store offers products for both featurephones and smartphones – “our vision is to be able to provide mobile apps to any device that comes onto our network right from the time the SIM is inserted,” it says. Interestingly, the company has not adopted a standardised revenue share split for developers, stating that this is calculated based on “the potential of the application in terms of customer experience and value generated.”