It’s the end of typing as we know it.
The newest generation of smartphone users is communicating primarily with images and audio. Incumbent tech companies are being forced to rethink how they can meet the demands of these newcomers and compete with local startups that beat them to the punch.
Dubbed by the tech industry as “the next billion,” this wave of newcomers is a large chunk of the developing world, many of whom are less-educated than earlier Internet adopters. According to the Wall Street Journal, they’re finally getting access because of low-cost smartphones, inexpensive data plans, and apps that overcome a user’s literacy barriers.
As such, “the next billion” are different smartphone users, both in behavior and software choice. They opt to send voice and video messages instead of emails and texts messages. Some of the most popular apps in the developing world are engineered to run on slow connections and with minimal hard drive space.
Wall Street Journal reports that UC Browser, MX Player and SHAREit are three of the most popular apps in India, but have never cracked the top 100 in the U.S. It’s a trend echoing throughout the rest of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.
This article was featured in the InsideHook newsletter. Sign up now.
