Smartphones are no longer just gadgets for the wealthy. Fierce competition among mobile phone manufacturers began after Apple launched the revolutionary iPhone and captured huge market share. And as far as the gravity of economics goes, the heavier a segment gets with competition, the quicker prices start to plummet. In India, phones that cost close to Rs. 30,000 (about $ 650), cost no more than Rs. 18,000 – 20,000 (about $ 400 – 450) a month later. Some smartphones are initially priced even less. As a result, more people can now afford 3G enabled smartphones. Similarly, the competition in the telecom industry has compelled telecom
companies to offer cheap voice and internet services.
A May 2011 press release by the
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India reports a decline in the
share of urban landline subscribers within April and May 2011, even though the total number of
subscribers (urban and rural) grew from 861.48 million to 874.68 million. Even the number of
wireline internet subscribers reduced from 34.55 million to 34.40 million. The number of wireless subscribers (GSM, CDMA and FWP), on the other hand, rose drastically from 826.93 million to 840.28 million within the same period.
The data shows trends of landline phones and wired internet services being slowly pushed out
of urban areas and being replaced by mobile connections. Affordable computers and broadband connections have already
exterminated the internet café business. Nonetheless, if current developments persist, the smartphone revolution might just result in landline and home
broadband connection providers running out of business.
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