India has a very peculiar situation. With a population of
1.2 billion (2011 census), the population above the age of 7 is around 1billion,
of which 74.03% are literate, this means a yawning 273mn people who are
illiterate. This is close to the total population of The United States of
America.
| Population | 1,210,193,422 |
| Popln above age 7 | 1,051,404,135 |
| Literacy Rate | 74.03% |
| Literate population | 778,354,481 |
| Illiterate population | 273,049,654 |
On the other hand we have situation where there are 930mn+ mobile phones (TRAI Sep 2014) in India where people are comfortable using a phone and dialing numbers.
With Smart Android phones available at less than $100 in the
Indian market; we have anecdotal evidence to show that Mobile phone users
across board are quite savvy using Multimedia content both Audio and Video
which is rampantly available through piracy. Auto Drivers and maids are seen
watching movies and listening to music which is available for a few cents at
mobile recharge kiosks.
We can already see how comfortable children are with Smart
phones and even before they know how to read and write they are comfortable
navigating through various apps.
Is there now a case for creating usability for the
Illiterates to access the Internet? Can the browser now evolve to have search
on the basis of voice which then provides visual results in the form of
pictures and videos.
