VietNamNet Bridge – The growing trend of converging computer, TV and mobile phone has prompted firms to focus on generating contents to earn money.

App stores brought to TVs

IT firms now focus on developing app stores on next-generation TV models, smarter with web integration. The growth rate of the smart TV models in 2009-2011 was 50 percent per annum, higher than expected, while the products’ life circle has shortened and the prices have been decreasing rapidly.

With 22 million households nationwide, the TV screens at households have become the “aiming points” of the manufacturers in the process of bringing websites to TVs.

VNG pioneered the race when it joined forces with Sony to integrate Zing entertainment app store, including Zing News and Zing MP3 into Sony Internet TV. One just needs to press Zing on the TV interface to be able to directly access to Zing’s store to enjoy the contents. Sony has also cooperated with Thanh Nien online in a project on sharing contents on TV.

LG Vietnam has reached a strategic agreement with VC Corp on developing contents for LG Smart TV, under which some websites like muachung.vn, kenh14.vn, sannhac.com, socnhi.co would be posted on TVs. It has also joined hands in the contracts on sharing contents with big websites like VnExpress and Nhaccuatui.

According to Nguyen Thanh Hai, Head of the Electronics Marketing Division of LG Vietnam, more and more users tend to access Internet with smart TVs. Therefore, it is necessary to build content stores in order to increase the value of the products.

To date, the total number of apps designed specifically for Samsung’s smart TVs has reached 1600, of which Vietnamese clients can use 400 apps, including 14 in Vietnamese, mostly in entertainment and education. Most recently, Karaoke app has been launched, allowing users to sing on TV without player.

According to Nguyen Van Dao, Deputy General Director of Samsung Vina, household electronics nowadays all are integrated with new technologies allowing to provide the features like computers.

Therefore, the software pieces for computers have also been re-designed to become compact and easy to use, thus suitable to smart phones and next-generation TVs.

From web to mobile phones

A survey conducted on 6000 users in 12 big cities in Vietnam by Cimigo, a market survey firm, showed that the number of people accessing to Internet from desktop computers has dropped from 84 percent in 2010 to 81 percent in 2011, while the number of people accessing to Internet from mobile phones has increased from 27 percent to 56 percent.

It is expected that by 2014, the number of people using mobile phones to access to Internet would exceed the number of people using desktop computers. The downward trend of smart phone prices and 3G service fees would help increase the number of smart phone and 3G services, which would also create the habit of accessing Internet, checking emails, reading news or listening to music and watching TVs on smart phones.

Vuong Quang Khai, Deputy General Director of VNG, said that the growing tendency has urged enterprises to launch more applications for mobile phones. In 2010, Zing launched Zing Me social network on iOS, then on Android, Java and Symbian. The apps on iOS and Android have been integrated with all three services of Zing MP3, Zing News and Zing Me.

Samsung Apps store now contains 160,000 apps. BlackBerry has App World with more apps for the Vietnamese market and supports the community to develop apps for RIM operation system.

Source: SGTT