Data pick of the day: 50% mobile users in India use Skype’s apps
Skype’s application are used by nearly 50 per cent of the mobile users in fast-growth market – India. It is eyeing such markets as potential core countries for its instant messaging application Skype Qik. The app allows users to share 42-second mobile videos that are automatically deleted from the receiver’s phone after two weeks. There is also ‘Qik Fliks’ for even shorter communications- five seconds.
The similarities to services like Snapchat are obvious. Global Web Index looks at the impact of instant messaging applications in two representative markets – India and the USA.
However, Snapchat is used by only about a tenth of mobile internet users in both countries, it has real appeal among coveted demographic segments: more than 50 percent of adult Snapchatters are aged 16-24, while more than a quarter of US teens are using the app. It’s obvious to see why Skype would want to appeal to this audience.
Through Skype Qik, the networking application hopes to bring mobile video messaging to the mainstream, just as it did with VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) calling.
