LIVE FROM APPS WORLD LONDON: The need to create apps using local languages for the Indian market, in order to tap the market beyond those able to communicate in English, was highlighted by Suresh Jayaraju, VP and head of New Age VAS for Indian operator Reliance Communications.

He said that, in the country, there are “a whole lot of people who are literate, but they are not comfortable with the English language.” Supporting this, he noted that the combined circulations of all of the English-language newspapers does not approach that of the single most popular local-language title, and that growth of desktop internet access has slowed to 15 percent per annum from 40 percent—50 percent from 2000 to 2006, as penetration among the English-speaking customer base reaches saturation levels.

“When there are no more English-comfortable users, you have to have a way of reaching out through local languages. This, we believe will happen from apps and videos,” he said.