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Tech sector sizzles in Myanmar [Daily Tribune (Bahrain)](Daily Tribune (Bahrain) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) From navigating gridlocked city roads to playing a favourite national sport, new homegrown apps are blossoming in Myanmar as cheap mobile technology ignites an Internet revolution in the once-isolated nation. Myanmar web surfers were once paradigms of patience and ingenuity as they dodged and weaved through the former military regime's communications blocks in decrepit backstreet Internet cafes. But commuters in Myanmar's biggest cities can now be seen tapping away on smartphones as an online awakening sweeps the country, fuelled by the loosening of junta-era restrictions and foreign telecoms firms unleashing a flood of affordable SIM cards. Big brand names like Facebook, Google, Viber and Instagram have rapidly expanded their presence in the country, lured by the growing market — and web-savvy local entrepreneurs are also seizing the chance to create Internet ventures in Myanmar style. "There are so many things I want to do — I think about it not as business but as a way to find solutions to problems I face," said Ei Maung as he demonstrated his prototype traffic app in a car inching through the congested streets of the commercial hub Yangon. "Yangon commuting is worse than bad. It's terrible. You waste countless hours queuing in traffic every day," he told AFP. His Cyantra: Crazy Yangon Traffic app went live in June and allows smartphone users to share traffic problems and view potential snarl-ups on their driving routes. Internet access has already increased exponentially since the country began to throw off the shackles of military rule. Just one per cent of the population was thought to be online three years ago, as the democratic transition began, but the loosening of web controls and greater access to affordable phone cards has opened the Internet up to millions. On Saturday Norway's Telenor launched SIM cards costing just 1,500 kyat ($1.5) in Mandalay — a far cry from the $3,000 a card could cost under military rule — ahead of a wider roll-out in Yangon and Naypyidaw. The move comes after Qatari firm Ooredoo began selling its SIM cards at the same price last month, throwing open the mobile Internet floodgates. An estimated 25pc of people are already online and the Myanmar Computer Federation expects around half of the population, over 25m people, to be surfing the net in the next three years. David Madden, whose Yangon-based Code for Change group seeks to promote and support budding techies, said that unlike in the West where web design began with a focus on computers and laptops, Myanmar Internet consumers will be primarily using cheap smartphones. "People are going to be able to afford one thing and they are going to want it to do a lot," he told AFP. "It's the thing you want in your pocket, it's the thing you want when you are sitting in a bus stuck in traffic." (AFP) Nan Tin Htwe Yangon copyright (c) 2014 Daily Tribune. All Rights Reserved Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info). |