Mobile phone market shrugs off slump

The economy might be in the doldrums, but the Vietnamese market's appetite for mobile phones has been voracious this year, with imports approaching the US$4 billion mark.

A report in the Nguoi Lao Dong (The Labourer) newspaper recently cited the General Department of Customs as saying that as of October 15, the country had imported $3.7 billion worth of telephones, spare parts and accessories, which are mostly considered luxury goods.

It said that in the last nine months alone, about $3.44 billion was spent on importing telephones, a year-on-year increase of 92 per cent.

The report also noted that the import value would be higher if telephones imported into the country without any official quota were taken into account.

At present, the world's leading telephone companies, namely Nokia and Samsung, are holding the biggest shares of the Vietnamese telephone market, according to International Data Corporation (IDC) Viet Nam.

The company says Nokia finished the second quarter of 2012 as the overall leader in Viet Nam, accounting for more than half of all mobile phone shipments.

Samsung remains the leader in the country's smartphone market, based on strong performances by its low-cost smartphone range.

However, it lags far behind Nokia in total mobile phone shipments, including feature phones and smartphones.

Imported telephones and those made by foreign-invested companies overwhelmingly dominated the market thanks to the Vietnamese consumer's fondness for foreign goods as well as hi-tech telephones, the newspaper reported.

Economists have different opinions about this trend.

Some say that the widespread penchant for using hi-tech and luxurious goods has contributed to stimulating the market's consumption capacity and, therefore, enriched the State's coffers with import tax and special consumption tax revenues.

Others say that the increasing use of luxury goods, including hi-tech phones, would use up a lot of the country's foreign currency reserves, severely limiting access to the resource for many other important production industries, which really need it for maintenance and development.

Worse still, if the habit of using luxury goods became inculcated in young people, it would encourage ostentatious consumption and limit savings as well as investment in productive activities, they add.

IT innovators make awards shortlist

The result of the primary examination for the Vietnamese Talents Awards was announced on Tuesday to honour advances in IT, sciences and healthcare

The event, the eighth of its kind organised in Viet Nam, attracted entries in three categories: information technology, applied science and health.

This year in the IT sector, 14 finalists were selected for the primary exam. They were divided into two groups: products that have already being successfully applied and those with potential.

The applied science category is still being reviewed.

The award ceremony will be held on November 19 afternoon and broadcast live on VTV2.

New domain supplier authorised

Viet Nam Internet Network Information Centre (VNNIC) has granted iNet corporation a licence to provide domain dot vn (.vn) services, bringing the total number of domain dot vn providers in the country to sixteen.

VNNIC said with the licence, iNet will provide domains ending with dot vn (.vn) with extensions including com.vn, info.vn, gov.vn, edu.vn, int.vn, pro.vn, health.vn, biz.vn, ac.vn and net.vn.

The centre, a subsidiary of the Ministry of Information and Communications, said the new licence will help increase the number of domains ending in dot vn, which indicates the sovereignty of Viet Nam on the Internet.

As many as 21,813 such domains were registered in the third quarter of this year, bringing the total to 219,000 and making Viet Nam one of the Southeast Asian countries with the most domains.

The number, which registered an average annual growth rate of 172 per cent, was largely contributed by the country's three largest domain providers (PA Viet Nam, FPT and Matbao).

Established in 2005, iNet is one of the dominant players in the country's IT sector, especially in software, websites and IT training.

Mobifone provides roaming service

Under international roaming service for post and prepaid customers of MobiFone, customers can make and receive calls and texts on flights which deliver the service.

For safety, customers will be requested to not use mobile phones during take-off and landing. At a certain height, the crew will announce the service is available.

From October 22, outgoing and incoming calls on flights will be charged at VND69,900 (US$3.33) per minute; outgoing texts will be charged at VND15,000 ($0.71) per text; incoming text are free.

Hi-tech goods on show in town

A wide range of locally made hi-tech products such as robots, electronic devices and bar code scanners are on display at the Youth Cultural House in HCMC’s District 1 from October 25-27.

These products are made by enterprises based in the Saigon Hi-Tech Park.

Robots of Robot Vietnam Co. Ltd. attract many visitors at the exhibition. The robots, which are mostly made in Vietnam, can be used as a tool for teaching automation at universities and colleges.

Engineer Le Anh Kiet and associates designed the robots with open features. Their simulation software features 3D (three-dimension) images and can run both online and offline.

Meanwhile, biotechnology company Nanogen introduces Pegnano, a locally-made product to treat hepatitis B and C at a price 50% lower than similar imported products. Gene World Co. Ltd. has successfully invented a skincare product from cell stem and will launch it onto the market soon.

Fawookidi Technology Co. Ltd. features LED (Light Emitting Diode) light bulbs, which last up to 50,000 hours and consume 50-80% less power.

For manufacturing devices, Global Equipment Services has introduced equipment for production of chips, solar batteries and LCD screens for export to South Korea, the U.S. and Japan. Datalogic Vietnam brings to the exhibition locally-made bar code scanners and computers.

According to the Saigon Hi-Tech Park Authority, the products are an indication of science and technology development in HCMC.

This exhibition is part of 16th Annual Conference of Asian Science Parks Association (ASPA 16) hosted by Vietnam from October 24-26.

The ASPA 16th Annual Conference with the theme of “Science Parks toward Green Economy” attracted the participation of over 140 delegates from over 20 countries and territories. The conference targets sustainable and environmentally friendly development and stresses the importance of science parks in selecting science and technology projects that reflect current development trends.

Nguyen Quan, Minister of Science and Technology, said Vietnam is looking to increase the value of hi-tech projects and those using hi-tech to 40% of the nation’s industrial production value by 2020, contributing to the much-touted effort to turn the country into a modern industrialized economy by then.

China dominates mobile imports

Mobile phones and parts imported from China account for 68.3 per cent of imports, with a turnover of US$2.3 billion, followed by Taiwan $45.9 million. A report by the General Department of Customs shows Viet Nam spent $3.7 billion so far this year to import mobile phones and accessories.

Sony Xperia phones to use BKAV security

Sony and the Bach Khoa Anti-Virus Centre (BKAV) have signed a contract to use BKAV Smartphone Mobile Security for Sony's Xperia smartphones.

Launched at the end of 2011, BKAV Mobile Security is considered to be one of the best systems for stopping spam and theft.

The software also allows owners to lock and erase databases from other devices as well as back up or restore databases.

Viettel introduces cheapest smartphone

The Viettel Group has launched the lowest-priced smartphone in Viet Nam, the V8403, with 3G and two sim cards, selling for VND1.5 million (US$73).

Viettel will sell the V8403 in its smartphone distribution system and offer pilot service in 11 shops in Ha Noi.

With the new service, customers can test the 3G system and all value-added services before making a decision on what services to buy.