China, India And The Internet Ecosystem
China is a closed market for most Internet companies today. Google tried hard to get a piece of the pie but failed and bailed out. The story of most others is similar, if not the same.
The three major barriers could be the language, the cultural barrier, and the political barrier. However, China is not left alone in the Internet revolution. Actually, far from that, China's Internet ecosystem is an established one, and a few companies of China do more business from their Chinese operations alone than their competitors from around the world!
Chinese prototypes of popular Internet applications like Google are immensely popular in China. Even if they roll out their services after the success of the international competition, they are accepted by the Chinese people and preferred over the others. It is unnecessary to say that the Chinese companies understand the sentiments of their own people much better and are a cultural hit.
Now, let's consider another huge demography. India, which has unofficially taken over China in terms of population, has hardly had any major names in the Internet business. While a number of successful start-ups include people of Indian origin on their teams, there is no start-up of Indian origin per se.
India's demographic structure is divided with respect to the languages spoken. Internet in India largely belongs to the English language. And English language does not 'belong' to the majority of Indians. While most people with access to the Internet may be able to comprehend English, the cultural bind would be missing, leading to the failure of 'Indian apps' in India.
The enthusiasm that is needed for a start-up is difficult to generate in India when the application 'speaks' a foreign language. On the other hand, launching a service in an Indian language restricts its reach to a small section of the country. (In India there are more than 14 languages spoken - all of them distinctly different from one another!) Localization of the application could be the answer, but a start-up with limited resources may not always be able to implement it.
There could be hope for the Indian entrepreneurs though, as the country becomes more connected, and India has quite high Internet penetration growth rates. The rise of mobile devices and 3G services may also expand the market. But, for now, trying to create a China-styled success in India is largely a dream for the Indian entrepreneurs.
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