State of Android mobile web report by Opera

INDIA: Migration to Android phones continues to soar in India, according to the latest State of the Android Mobile Web report for India by Opera Software.

The number of Android users across the entire country has increased dramatically, and more and more users are now taking advantage of e-commerce and video portals, the report further reveals.

India is home to the the largest population of Opera Mini users in the world. The Opera Mini user base in India increased by 25 percent over the past year, while its smartphone user base surged by 120%. Leading the pack is the Android smartphones user base, which increased by an impressive 160%.

The report, based on statistics gathered from millions of users of the Opera Mini mobile web browser, offers a snapshot of the browsing behavior among Android users in India.

“Opera Mini’s basic phone users are upgrading to Android smartphones at a pace we haven’t experienced before,” says Sunil Kamath, VP for South Asia at Opera Software.

“It is likely that this growth is fueled by aggressively priced smartphones by Indian OEMs. Currently, we have partnerships with 16 Indian OEMs who have preinstalled Opera Mini on over 350 models of Android devices. Opera Mini’s unique data compression technology, which lets users browse faster, make it a great fit for Indian handsets.”

Highlights from the State of the Android Mobile Web report
Android and Java users almost equally split: Opera Mini is now used by more smartphone users than basic Java phone users in India. Of all Opera Mini users, 47 percent are now on smartphones. Android and Java are the two most used mobile operating systems. According to statistics, they are on an almost equal footing, with user bases of 44 percent and 45 percent, respectively among all Opera Mini users in the country.

Micromax overtakes Samsung: Micromax has the biggest share in the category of the top 100 handsets used with Opera Mini, followed by Samsung, last year’s frontrunner. However, Samsung still dominates the top 10 devices used by Opera Mini users. When it comes to spending on handsets, Indian consumers remain price conscious. Of all Android handsets used by Opera Mini users, 77 percent are priced below Rs 10,000.

Video is the rising star: Android users on Opera Mini love watching video on their mobile devices. Unique user visits to video sites increased by 205 percent since last year. YouTube leads this category, followed by Dailymotion and Metacafe. The number of Opera Mini users visiting these sites grew by 175 percent, 450 percent and 205 percent, respectively in that timeframe.

E-commerce portals thrive: E-commerce sites witnessed a growth of over 240 percent in Opera Mini users over the last year. Within this category, shopping portals experienced a massive 356 percent growth in user visits. The most accessed site is Flipkart, followed by Amazon and Snapdeal. Online classifieds websites are also becoming more popular among users. The category jumped 150 percent, with Quikr in the lead, followed by OLX and Sulekha.