Khalti Android app reaches 500,000 downloads

In a sign that Nepalis are fast adopting digital payment methods, digital payment service provider Khalti’s Android app has crossed 500,000 downloads. The app has hit this milestone shortly after two years of its launch in the Nepali market, according to a press note issued by the company.
Elated by the achievement in this very short period, managing director of Khalti Manish Modi said that tens of thousands of users everyday load money to their Khalti wallet and consume it to make various digital payments. “Similar to Android app users, feedback from Khalti’s iOS app and web users is also equally exciting,” he said, adding that the company is working to create digital payment habits among all Nepalis. “We are extremely overwhelmed and excited to get love and support from users like this.”
According to the Nepal Telecommunication Authority’s (NTA) latest MIS report, Nepal has over 137 per cent mobile telephony penetration and 65 per cent broadband internet penetration. Likewise, the central bank’s latest statistics also revealed that over 8.3 million people use mobile banking in Nepal, apart from some 900,000 internet banking users.
But the World Bank’s 2017 Global Findex Database revealed that only 45 per cent of Nepalis are banked, giving a big role for the digital payments system like Khalti to bring unbanked population to the digital platform and provide financial services.
Started in January 2017, Khalti is an emerging mobile payment solution in Nepal. Khalti's service so far has reached 70 districts of Nepal and it's working to enable people in the remotest corners of the nation to use digital payment service. “Payment facility on mobile means one doesn't have to travel to district headquarters to perform tasks as simple as electricity bill payment, ultimately saving countless productive work hours for the nation,” Modi said, adding that Khalti has recently also conducted 'Smart Chhori' campaign and trained 10,000 girls and young women with digital and financial literacy and skills. “With its digital payment service and various such initiatives, Khalti is working to transform the lives of people in Nepal.”
Khalti has been providing various utility bill payment services including mobile recharge, DTH recharge, domestic flight booking, movie ticketing, event ticketing, hotel booking, newspaper subscriptions, online shopping payments, and insurance premium payments among various other digital payments services.
A licensed Payment Service Provider from the central bank, currently more than 800,000 people regularly use Khalti for various bill payment services.

Global smartphone growth to slow to 11.3 per cent: IDC

Worldwide smartphone growth is expected to slow further to 11.3 per cent in 2015, down from 27.6 per cent a year ago, according to the latest data from the International Data Corporation (IDC).
Although the researcher is sticking to its forecast of 1.9 billion annual shipments by 2019, the previous forecast of 11.8 per cent growth this year has been revised down slightly due in part to saturation in the Chinese smartphone market, it said. "In fact, 2015 will be the first year that China’s smartphone growth – just by 2.5 per cent – will be slower than the worldwide market."
Android smartphone growth is also expected to be slower than the worldwide market at 8.5 per cent in 2015 due to the fact that China accounts for around 36 per cent of total Android smartphone shipments.
The report also points out that Apple faced a similar situation in 2012-2014, when its year-on-year growth rates were slightly below the worldwide market. But its recent shift in product line to bigger screen models with a broader country reach has had an immediate impact on volumes and IDC now expects iOS smartphones to grow by 23 per cent in 2015 and remain above worldwide market growth rates throughout the forecast, it added.

Tablet shipments split evenly between iOS, Android

Apple took a 50 per cent share of global tablet shipments in the first quarter, but Android tablets will inevitably overtake iOS, according to ABI Research.

No single vendor is expected to challenge Apple’s dominance in the short term, however. Android tablet makers have focused on the 7-in segment rather than challenge Apple in the 10-in space, driving average selling prices and sizes downwards since last year. Android is benefiting from a push for sub-$200 tablets in developed and emerging markets alike.

A big variable for Android is China, writes ABI Research senior practice director Jeff Orr. Chinese consumers are passionate about the Apple brand and the ability of the mass market to afford technology devices. ABI Research estimates that the 7.9-in iPad mini accounted for 49 per cent of unit sales and 39 per cent of total iPad revenues in the first quarter, putting a dent in sales of larger iPads.

Orr expects the iPad mini to be the predominant iPad model after the second quarter.