For iCentre, the future is 'definitely mobile'
Al-Haadi Abu Bakar
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
Thursday, May 12, 2011
WITH mobile application development quickly becoming the new frontier and lucrative industry in the ICT arena, iCentre is seeking more potential mobile application developers in Brunei in the hopes of grooming them to become the next generation of technopreneurs under the iCentre banner.
"iCentre is now looking towards mobile tech very seriously as part of the centre's next stage of evolution, so we are now greatly encouraging more new start ups coming into the centre as mobile application developers, mobile solutions developers or anything related to the mobile space," said iCentre Manager Hadi Shafie Othman in a recent interview with The Brunei Times.
"The future is definitely mobile. With the technology of smartphones today, the Internet is more readily available in the palm of our hands. And everyone is using mobile phones everyday. If you look at social media, 67 per cent of facebook users access facebook through their mobile phones via a facebook app, and about 75 per cent of twitter users send their tweets through twitter apps on their mobile phones," he added.
He cited incubatee Infindo Technologies as an example of a successful local mobile solutions provider that has been monetising through its various creation of mobile apps over the years. To date, Infindo has developed more than 40 iPhone and iPad applications combined.
"Unbeknownst to many, Infindo Technologies is a major iPhone applications developer, with their iphone apps such as EPL and Formula 1 apps making it in the top 20 most downloaded apps across the world. In fact, their World Cup 2010 app was the world's second most downloaded app on the iPhone last year during the World Cup season," he said.
Infindo Technologies also developed the OhMyFood App, a smartphone application which acts as an online directory for restaurants in Brunei which has amassed more than 3,000 users solely on Apple's iOS platform since early this year.
"So if a small Bruneian firm such as Infindo can do this, we believe there are many more out there (in Brunei) that can come up with innovative apps or solutions for mobile phones.
Hadi said firms such as Expansys Technologies and Modasys Technology at the centre are also currently developing various mobile solutions.
"Though they are not specifically developing 'apps', SMS-based services such as Modasys' AskRobin will no doubt take advantage of the massive mobile market," he said.
AskRobin is a unique SMS service which will allow businesses to provide call centre-like services to customers.
"So we hope to see more of this trend in the near future, and many more follow the footsteps of our incubatees," he said.
Hadi said mobile application development, as proven by the iCentre incubatees, are easy to develop, and will only require a small team and an innovative idea. "It's also the fastest way to make a lot of money," he added.
"Scalability is fast, you practically have access to the massive mobile phone market the minute you build an app for mobile platforms such as Apple iOS or Android. If one can create a really great app, it can go viral within hours," he said, citing the Angry Birds app as a prime example.
"All this is possible without having to go overseas to develop it, you can do it here at the iCentre, and we are definitely here to help out," he added.
The Brunei Times
