New Delhi Times

In my previous post, I had listed the obstacles in developing software for the domestic market. Where there are big obstacles, there is a bigger opportunity. India is the 4th largest economy in the world. The Indian economy is growing at more than 6% and there is a growing middle class with greater purchasing power than ever. India is adding 2 million mobile connections each month so there is a clear willingness and even eagerness to embrace technology.
Some innovative solutions have been proposed for the hurdles I mentioned previously. For example, Rajesh Jain has proposed a networked comuting device which would access software residing on a central server. This would take care of piracy concerns and also lower the cost of owning a computer (since the access device will require minimum computing power)
Bringing computing power to the masses is only one half of the equation. But harnessing that power for providing useful applications is even more critical. People are willing to shell out Rs 5000+ for a cellphone and another few hundered a month for rent. Why? Because the utility of a cellphone is obvious. Selling a PC is much harder today. What would your mom use a PC for? Word, Powerpoint or Photoshop dont interest her. But what about a Tivo like application which records her favorite shows on the computer? That might catch her eye. Or a simple electronic medical records software suited for Indian needs might sell a PC to a doctor. A tutoring software might make the PC attractive to teachers.
Clearly there is a whole lot of software and applications just waiting to be written. The question is when will it get written and who will write it.