337 million Indians to use smartphones in 2018
New Delhi, May 3: More than a quarter of India's population or 337 million people would use a smartphone in 2018 -- a 16 per cent growth which is the highest rate of any country in the world -- market research company eMarketer said on Thursday.
Since its last forecast, eMarketer increased its estimate for the smartphone audience in India by more than 31 million people.
This uptick is thanks to the growth in smartphone usage in urban areas, where affordable smartphones are becoming widely available, the research firm said in a statement.
"India still faces technological challenges that are holding back mass smartphone adoption. "Mobile Internet speeds are among the slowest in the world, around two-thirds of the population still lives in rural areas and feature phones are by no means obsolete," said Chris Bendtsen, Senior Forecasting Analyst, eMarketer.
Advertisers can still be optimistic about the future.
"Smartphones are getting cheaper, mobile data prices have fallen and urbanisation continues. Over the next four years, as speeds and rural reach improve, eMarketer expects the smartphone audience to reach close to half a billion users," Bendtsen noted.
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BJP sees AAP as challenge, it has launched 'Operation Jhaadu' to crush us: Arvind Kejriwal
New Delhi (PTI): Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday claimed the BJP has launched a campaign -- "Operation Jhaadu" -- to crush the Aam Aadmi Party as the saffron party sees the AAP as a challenge.
Addressing party workers and leaders ahead of the AAP's proposed protest march to the BJP headquarters here, he said there will be bigger challenges ahead and asked the cadre to be prepared to face them.
"Prime Minister Narendra Modi is worried about the rise of the AAP. The party has risen too fast. They have started 'Operation Jhaadu' to crush the party. In the coming time, our bank accounts will be frozen and we will be brought on the road since our office will also be taken away," he said.
"There will be bigger challenges ahead. Please be ready to face them. Remember one thing we faced many challenges in the past. We have the blessings of Lord Hanuman and God. We would have not survived these. Walk on the path of truth. We want to work for the society," he told them.
Kejriwal, who is out on interim bail in the excise policy case, had said on Saturday that he and other AAP leaders would go to the BJP headquarters on May 19 "so that the prime minister can send anyone he wishes to jail".
"We will peacefully march to the BJP headquarters and if the police stop us, we will sit at that spot. We will wait for half an hour and see if they arrest us. If they do not arrest us, it will be their defeat. You can send us all in jail and see for yourself if the party ends or it rises more," he said.
Recalling the period he was lodged in the Tihar Jail, Kejriwal said he read the Bhagavad Gita twice and the Ramayan once.
