Spreading the web

INFOCUS | INDIA-CHINA | TECHNOLOGY

IndIa, ChIna onlIne

Spreading the Web Both India and China are on the threshold of a Web revolution.

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Shwetank Dixit

T

he World Wide Web has brought people together like never before.

It has been used to exchange valuable information, fuel industry, and foster a sense of connectedness amongst each other. The use of the Web is rising, and with it, becoming more influential in all our lives. In what ways is this growth happening in India and China, and what promise does it hold in the future?

Why the Web matters in India and China?

The Web matters everywhere.

However, in India and China, it’s becoming a great tool for the masses and in the coming future would be increasing in importance every year. The reason is that India and China combined are about one-third of entire humanity.

If the web is to continue to succeed, it needs to cater to this significant portion of human population. There are plenty of problems being faced by the people of both countries and the World Wide Web can help in improving at least some of these in a significant way.

One of the primary ways in which the Web matters to both countries is the exchange of valuable information.

In such huge populations, traditional education needs a supplement by which students can learn on their own. India has been working on the ‘Aakash’ Tablet, which it plans to give to every government college student eventually. One of the main aims of the tablet project is for students to use information technology and the internet in general to find additional resources and communicate with other fellow students. China is known for its large and skilled manufacturing base. However, it is aiming at being a globally known power in Information Technology in the same way (if not better) than its neighbour India.

For that to happen, the role of the Web would be crucial to disseminate knowledge and increase the right kind of communication amongst students.

Being two of the most dynamic economies of the world, the time is right for e-commerce to pick up too.

Taobao.com is already huge in China and is overall the 14th most visited site in the world. In India, E-commerce is finally taking off too, with sites like Flipkart.com receiving a billion dollar valuation, and other competitor sites doing promisingly well too. The sheer size of the growing middle class combined with the growing internet penetration in both the countries make them ripe for investment in online commerce. These are likely to provide more avenues for manufacturers to sell goods, and that too to an audience, a size never seen before.

One other promising avenue fueling commerce and industry is the large migrant populations in both countries.

There is a large portion of people who are still unbanked in both countries, especially in India. The way in which they send and receive money is through physical transfer of cash. Experiments in other developing countries, especially in countries like Kenya and Tanzania have proved that mobile banking can be a success. These types of money transferring services usually have better potential among economically weaker sections of society. If such mobile banking initiatives become popular in India and China, and online services start to support transaction using this system it will open up commerce to huge sections of society which till now thought that online services were just

something for the rich and the middle class. Other innovative strategies for transactions such as ‘Cash-on-delivery’ have been crucial to the success of many popular online services in the region and will continue to be so in the foreseeable future.

A large migrant population also strains the transport systems during peak seasons. China and India are already investing in the transport systems of their respective nations, with China being particularly aggressive in building high speed train networks, and laying down highways (its highway network is the second largest in the world). Despite all this, there is heavy strain on the transport infrastructure during peak seasons, and the Web can help with bringing people together online without actually being physically close.

As broadband and 3G internet grow, the popularity of video chat and conferencing services will increase, thereby reducing the need to frequently travel from one place to another unless really necessary. However, this is significantly dependent on the respective nation’s willingness to invest in faster internet access for people.

Commonalities and contrasts in web usage India and China are both fast growing, dynamic, developing economies.

Yet the challenges we face are still great, and there is still a long way to go. There are a few commonalities that almost all developing economies face and this translates to the World Wide Web too.

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INFOCUS | INDIA-CHINA | TECHNOLOGY

One of the key commonalities shared between the two countries is the rise of the mobile web. Mobiles have exploded in both countries, with China having around 79% mobile penetration and in India it has reached more than 75%.

It is obvious that in a country with so many mobiles, and relatively less desktop computers, the primary mode that people will use to access the World Wide Web will be on mobiles. According to research by mobile-specialist firm OnDevice, 38% of web users in China use only mobiles. According to the same firm, 90% of Indian mobile internet users browse at home. This points to a peculiar but important point -- the majority of mobile web users in India and a significant portion of web users in China are using the mobile devices as their primary means of accessing online content, which is unlike the West where it is used as a secondary means, the primary ones being their laptops or desktops.

It is clear that when it comes to the web industry in these countries, the mobile is the new frontier. However, what kind of mobile phones do the majority of the people use to access the web? In China and India, the answer is similar. According to the Opera Software’s State of the Mobile Web Reports, the majority of handsets being used to access mobile content are low-end feature phones. This co-relates well with the situation on the ground too, as the majority of the mobile phones used are indeed at the low end. In the coming years, the percolation of smartphones will increase as the costs go down.

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However, for now, the majority is still using low end devices and thus accesses the web on those devices. However, the same reports point to an interesting contrast as well.

When it comes to the most popular sites in China, they are all in local languages. Websites in English rarely, if ever, do well in China. On the other hand, India has so far adopted English language sites and the most popular sites there almost all in English. These points to the absolute importance of localization in a country like China, and how important it is. In India, you can get away with an English site with no support for local languages.

However, the importance of regional and localized content even in India will be taking new heights as more and more people from economically

Taobao.com is already huge in china and is overall The 14Th mosT visiTed siTe in The world. in india, e-commerce is finally Taking off Too, wiTh siTes like flipkarT. com receiving a billion dollar valuaTion, and oTher compeTiTor siTes doing promisingly well Too.

backward backgrounds start to access the web on mobiles. A lot of the poor in India do not have the resources to send their children to an English medium school, and thus are not comfortable with that language. As more and more of them get access to mobile phones, and more and more public services get online, the demand for catering to this portion of the population will also increase, which means increased web content in localized languages. We are already seeing a reflection of this trend in other forms of media in India, such as TV where a majority of prime time content features tie-in with rural or small town india, and the increase in ad spending by industry in regional language newspapers.

Another interesting contrast is the nature of the most popular sites in both India and China. Due to the fact that English websites can be largely understood by the majority of Indian web users (though the situation may change a bit in the coming future), global properties have had more success in India than in China. That is why local variants of globally successful sites have done so well in the Chinese market. An example of this would be Weibo, which is a slick, well executed micro-blogging service quite similar to Twitter. A lot of popular sites in China are also portallike, with lots of text heavy areas and some images in between. In India, this portal like preference is not seen, with the home pages of most popular sites like google.com, facebook.com having less of a text-heavy approach.

The future The future holds a lot of promise when it comes to the Web in India and China. The great thing about the Web is that it is the World Wide Web\ and there are some developments which will affect everyone online all around the world; India and China being no exception. However, the way in which India and China adopt new developments will lead to different outcomes.

One of the biggest things to affect the Web in the coming future will be the rise of HTML5 and related technologies. HTML5 is the latest version of HTML, the markup language used to write web pages. HTML5 and its related technologies enable browsers to render webpages capable of much more than before. Examples include offline applications, access to device capabilities (like the camera, gyroscope, accelerometer etc), dynamic graphics running natively inside the browser without plugins, 3D content, faster real-time communication, more efficient processing of data in web applications and much more. This along with it’s sister technology CSS3 promises web developers capabilities to make applications much better looking without resorting to inefficient methods. Some exciting work is already being done in China to bring HTML5 based gaming in browsers, and in India people are particularly interested in offline applications and dynamic graphics.

When we look into the future, we should also look at the devices being used to access the Web. Initially, we had desktops, then laptops, and now mobile phones and tablet devices. The next wave of devices to hit the Web would likely be televisions. Major television

manufacturers are moving to have browsers in their TV sets, and having HTML5 based TV Apps supported in their products. This is lucrative to media companies too, as it provides a more direct connection to the end-user.

With the rising economy in India and China, there is a significant portion of the population buying a TV either for the first time, or replacing their old TV sets. The new ones would likely be higher-end ones, which support more than just basic television. Web on TV could very well be the next big thing, especially for markets like India and China.

The introduction of 3G/4G services by network operators is a real wild card. Mass adoption of 3G/4G services would likely result in more usage by consumers and more revenue for operators as well as e-commerce. However, it all depends on the availability and affordability of 3G capable devices, quality of service and perceived value for money by customers for 3G/4G data plans and the quality and quantity of relevant value added services and online content. China and India have had hiccups with this, especially the latter, and it remains to be seen whether the nations will fully embrace the technologies or not. If so, it will mean a huge step in a region where a significant portion of the online population do not use wired connections, but still need fast internet access.

The Web is already very significant today in India and China, and in the coming years will be even more so. It is up to the policy makers and industry of the respective nations to ensure that a faster, healthy and more vibrant Web keeps growing, so that it leads to

better sharing of knowledge, useful communication and increased spending online. New exciting technologies are coming up promising to revolutionize web applications, and might lead to a new class of web applications being used by all. In the end, the Web is bringing us all together, and with China and India being such a significant portion of world population, this can only mean a good thing. 

Shwetank Dixit works a Web Evangelist for Opera Software in India

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