Smartphone Powered Smart Living in Urban India-An Overview on Emerging Trends

Mobile technology provides enhanced mobility and improved usability that improves delivery capabilities, increases efficiency and reduces costs besides offering maximum flexibility, transparency and efficiency. Technology and digitally enabled Smart cities will soon encompass smart governance, smart citizenship, smart infrastructure, and smart healthcare-in short —Smart Living‖. Mobile connectivity is the bond that will connect the urban dweller to the benefit of the Smart City concept. Smartphones are interacting and influencing urban life in real-time to navigate and coordinate daily routines to the advantage of the urban dweller. In the urban landscape that is characterized by fragmentation, the Smartphone provides a form of aggregation and centralization of daily routines that involves business transactions, commuting, providing for product and services and providing options for entertainment and leisure. This paper has analyzed four anticipated high growth segments in the Smart living space in Urban Indian context in 2016 that will be powered by Smartphones. These are Smart Homes, Hyper-local Home and Local Services, Ride Sharing and the Mobile Wallet. The use of technologies while extremely beneficial is engulfed with numerous challenges as well. The biggest challenge is the Quality of Network and poor signal strength that inhibits internet services. Digital technologies in the coming years will enhance the quality of living and there is great hope and anticipation that the year 2016 is likely to witness a connected digital India. Smartphones and Mobile services are going to play a crucial role in this transformation.