Vietnam's mobile equipment market has grown rapidly in recent years, with software companies paying more attention to developing mobile rather than PC applications. This situation has created big opportunities for domestic information technology (IT) companies to develop.

The inauguration of TMA Solution’s Mobile Lab

The Vietnamese mobile market has experienced explosive growth and become one of the largest markets in the region, with the number of mobile subscriptions increasing rapidly. World leading phone manufacturers such as Apple and RIM have become interested in Vietnam and shown interest in furthering cooperation. The latest data from the General Statistical Office show that in January 2012 an estimated 832,200 new telephone subscriptions were registered, up 15.4 percent compared with the same period last year, including 830,000 mobile phone subscriptions, up 18.1 percent. By the end of January, the whole country had 134 million telephone subscriptions, up 3.9 percent compared to the same period in 2010, and those included 15.5 million fixed telephone line subscriptions and 118.5 million mobile phone subscriptions. This means big opportunities exist for value added services and mobile applications to develop.

The results of a recent survey by the International Data Corporation (IDC) showed that smartphones remain very attractive to consumers. In 2011 the Vietnamese smartphone market grew by 44 percent and its growth is predicted to reach 51 percent in 2012. According to Google Trends, Vietnam ranks third in the world in terms of searches for iPhone-related information. This promises great opportunities for companies operating in the mobile application market. Tan Quang Sang, the R&D manager of ISB Vietnam, said that the current period is an era of smart multifunctional handheld equipment with popular operating systems offering a wide range of mobile applications. The rapid growth and widespread application of embedded software in equipment, especially mobiles, has created opportunities for Vietnam to develop the mobile application market. The development of specific products such as Q-Mobile, F-Mobile, Pi tablet and the Android operating system has drawn the attention of consumers and there are favorable conditions to develop mobile applications in Vietnam.

Tran Phuc Hong, the deputy director of TMA Solution, said that favorable conditions exist for digital content on mobile equipment to develop in Vietnam. Specifically, the number of mobile phone users in the country is high with the percentage of smartphone users growing rapidly; 3G infrastructure here in Vietnam is adequate and prices are reasonable; 4G infrastructure will be available in the near future; and means of payment via mobile are diverse. So, if the distribution of mobile applications is boosted, it will encourage investment in digital content on mobile equipment to offer consumers a wider choice.

However, due to limitations relating to distribution and payment, digital content services in Vietnam currently only include basic 2G, 2.5G services such as SMS, ring-tone and waiting tone but not pure Vietnamese software for smartphone and 3G. Tran Phuc Hong said that despite similar conditions to those found in Vietnam, digital content services in many other countries had developed very strongly several years ago because individuals and companies in those countries could create mobile applications and make a profit from this business. This explains why the application stores run by Apple and Google offer several hundred thousand applications after just a few years of operation. In Vietnam, there are lots of digital content suppliers but the number of companies capable of creating mobile applications remains low. Companies still meet difficulties and cannot make high profits in this field, so individuals are unwilling to invest. Many other countries have successfully applied the mobile technology in a wide range of fields including trade, entertainment, education, healthcare and public management, and they have gradually changed the way people access the internet and social networks for shopping, studying and communication. Vietnam sooner or later will follow this trend so that it can export mobile applications.

Hopefully, domestic IT companies will increase investment in mobile applications to promote the explosive growth of this market in Vietnam in the future.

Source: VEN