Shotformats Digital Production inaugurates offline app stores in India

The facility to buy applications at brick and mortar stores is being offered for the first time in the world, according to the company.

Low cost, big screen and feature-loaded smartphones are now a craze in tier 2 and tier 3 cities, but most users do not know how to operate such handsets beyond calling/messaging, and only 15 percent have ever downloaded an app, Shotformats Managing Director and CEO Niyati Shah said Mumbai.

"As per our research 95 percent of mobile users are prepaid users, of which around 30-40 percent visit recharge shops at least twice a day for getting recharges. Our distribution chain will consist of such mobile recharge shops," she said.

The company aims to expand this network to 30,000 retail outlets in one year and sell one million apps in the next six months, she added.

The Offline App Store will distribute digital content ?- movies, music, games and apps across more than 10,000 mobile recharge and telephone accessory stores in the next six months.

All the products will range between Rs. 2-30, targeting students, house wives, low middle class and middle class people, Internet-savvy office goers.

"Offline app store is less time consuming as there is no downloading, it is also less expensive as the product is priced very low, and there is no hidden costs of data," she said.

The content will be available in eight languages ? Hindi (Bollywood), Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Bhojpuri, Marathi and Assamese.

Stores will initially be launched in Mumbai, Pune, Aurangabad, Nagpur, Ahmedabad, Baroda, Rajkot, Jaipur, Jaisalmer, Surat, Chandigarh, Bhopal, Indore, Rewa, Jabalpur, Lucknow, Kanpur, Allahabad, Guwahati and Siliguri.

However, for consumers who prefer consuming data online, the company also offers apps on the Biscoot website; they will be offered through digital currency ? the Biscoot Digital Wallet.

"This digital wallet is a solution for those who shy away from using their credit or debit cards for online transactions. It will be available at retail mobile recharge and telephone accessory shops," Shah said.