The mobile race in developing markets

SOFTWARE makers and advertisers must figure out how to better work with mobile carriers, or they will lose out fast in emerging markets, warned Dippak Khurana, chief executive and co-founder of mobile platform and solutions vendor Vserv.

Mobile usage in developing markets continues to surge, though cashless payment modes are still slow to catch up in many parts of the world. And the latter is blocking software makers and advertisers from making inroads into these markets, according to Mr Khurana.

He told BizIT that because of low credit card penetration rates, most users rely on their pre-paid carrier wallets to transact with mobile apps, or with other users. This stops them from using the central Google Android wallet, or Apple App Store account, and as a workaround, many developers end up selling content through their own app stores instead of going the mainstream route.