T here is a fly in the Indian telecom “minutes factory” ointment. Operators used to churn out voice minutes at lower cost and prices, and consumers used to keep buying more of them. Not anymore. Indians seem to have lost interest in talking. The time each one spends every month on voice calls has dropped from 505 minutes in June 2008 to 401 minutes in June 2010.

Funnily, the same customers are spending more time on their mobile phones. But voice calls, says Informate, a telecom research company, form just 9 percent of the 271 minutes spent by an average Indian mobile user on his phone every day.

Much of the remaining time is spent browsing the internet, on social networks, listening to music or playing addictive games. Third party mobile applications, or “apps” as they’re known more popularly, are increasingly the preferred way to do most of these things. According to research firm Gartner 4.5 billion apps will be downloaded around the world in 2010, adding up to a revenue of $6.7 billion. Gartner, adds that by 2013 that revenue might shoot up to nearly $30 billion.

Read more: http://business.in.com/article/real-issue/mobile-aps-in-india-not-an-apt-offering/19692/1#ixzz16yN5e8P7