An Empirical Study of Shift from SMS to Chat-Apps among University Student
Bhopendra Singh1, Vinod Kumar Shukla2, Sonia Singh3
1Bhopendra Singh, Department of E&T Engineering, Amity University, India.
2Vinod Kumar Shukla, Department of Information Technology, Amity University, India.
3Sonia Singh, Department of HR, Linscan LLC, India.
Manuscript received on 22 April 2019 | Revised Manuscript received on 04 May 2019 | Manuscript Published on 17 May 2019 | PP: 1-6 | Volume-7 Issue-6S4 April 2019 | Retrieval Number: F10010476S419/2019©BEIESP
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© The Authors. Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering and Sciences Publication (BEIESP). This is an open access article under the CC-BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Abstract: Due to the high penetration of smartphones and growing availability of mobile internet in India, there is a shift from SMS to Mobile Messaging Applications (Chat Apps). This is expected as Chat Apps provide several advantages over SMS as group chat, sharing of media, privacy, emotes or stickers, and several more features at almost no cost. This study attempts to further understand the shift from SMS to Chat Apps by analysing the mobile usage patterns of over four thousand Amity University students across India. Unlike previous studies where questionnaires and other self-reporting data collection tools are used, this study makes use of a Mobile Application, which automatically collects relevant information from the participant’s smartphone. This eliminates misinformation or bias since the data is collected without any direct involvement of the participant except for his or her approval. The sample was significantly diverse with information from students under 95 institutions under 6 Amity Universities across 4 adjoining States of India. Using statistics and data mining techniques, six different domains were assessed: Demographics, Smartphone Devices, Network Service Providers, Internet Usage, SMS and Call Usage, and Mobile Application Usage. Not only is this paper relevant to Telecommunication Industry, but also to Mobile App Developers by determining the most popular app categories and the average amount of internet data consumed by students of Indian Universities.
Keywords: Mobile Messaging Apps, Telecommunication Industry, OTT Apps, SMS, Call, Social Media.
Scope of the Article: Empirical Software Engineering