Mobile applications failing to take a hold

Mobile applications made by domestic developers have yet to take root in the local market due to a lack of development cooperation between telecom operators, phone makers, content and application service providers and programmers.

The comment was made at recent application commercialisation conference following the Mobile Labs contest for unfinished mobile handset application. The contest was conducted by FPT, Nokia N-Gate during the last four-years.

Viettel Media director Bui Quang Huy said among three locally-made applications that Viettel offered customers, the success ratio was still limited.

The EGO developed by Punch Entertainment, a critically acclaimed social networking game, is not successful with Viettel mobile customers as there are only 1,000 users. Meanwhile, the application is popularly accepted by US customers, with 3,000 new users a day. One of the main reasons is the application was not compatible with a large number of mobile handsets in Vietnam.

The other ring email application, which used to be selected by Microsoft for applications running on its hotmail, has only 20 customers while similar EZmail offered by VinaPhone has around 5,000 users.

"That number is unacceptable for an application," said Huy.

V-talk, however, is more successful with around 250,000 customers.

Huy said developers in Vietnam should study local customer sophistication in order to complete products for market to satisfy what customer needs.

Most of Mobile Labs' winning products did not succeed as many other applications for mobiles as they do not customise customer demands.

"There is no way for winning Mobile Labs products to enter the market without repairing," said Huy.

Telcos, phone makers, content providers and application service providers have failed to work together to support and allow applications to run smoothly on mobile handsets. Telcos want a larger part of the business with developers, while phone-makers focus mostly on handset sales in Vietnam's market and content and application service providers did not receive support from telcos and makers.

Lai Anh Hung, deputy director of Punch Entertainment, said the limited number of customers was preventing it from further investing in making products compatible in the Vietnamese market.

"Once 3G is deployed in Vietnam, mobile applications will run more smoothly on mobile handsets which are mostly smart phones and customers will be more familiar with mobile broadband and how to use it," said Hung. Among 15 products in the final round of Mobile Labs 2008, there were eight applications and seven games. (SGT)