The rise of the third platform (cloud computing, big data, mobile and social networks) will require Vietnamese service and solution providers to change themselves to adapt to the new circumstances.

Mobile game booming

Experts believe that 2014 would witness the boom of the mobile game market, following a hot year 2013. The era of smart connected mobile devices has been bringing new opportunities to businesses.

The development of the game industry after a long period of interruption due to the restrictions set by the watchdog agencies would be supported by the Decree No. 72 issued in 2013.

IDC has estimated that the number of mobile game players had reached 2.68 million by the end of 2013, while having predicted a 39.1 percent growth rate in 2014.

Vietnam leads the region in spending on IT

Vietnam’s spending on IT is expected to increase by 15.5 percent in 2014 following the slight increase of 8.4 percent in 2013. This is believed to bring the total market value of $13.05 billion in the year.

If the prediction comes true, Vietnam would be one of the countries with the highest spending on IT in Asia Pacific.

Vietnamese brand smart phones struggle for their market share

Vietnamese smart phone brands mostly have been targeting the low cost market segment, trying to provide affordable products to the people who want to use hi-tech devices.

IDC thinks that the domestic brands like Viettel, Q-Smart, MobiiStar would be more competitive in 2014, which would become the redoubtable rivals to foreign brands in the same market segment.

2G frequency band to be used for 3G networks

Telecom groups have been put under a hard pressure that forces them to upgrade the 3G service quality after they raised 3G service fees. Therefore, they think of reusing the 2G frequency band for 3G networks.

Mobile network operators reportedly have spent a big sum of money on setting up the 3G infrastructure system, estimated at $2 billion. Therefore, the solution, as admitted by the Ministry of Information and Communication, is worth considering.

Mobile network operators will cooperate with OTT app providers

Having realized that it will be of no use to confront OTT app providers, telcos have decided to cooperate with OTT app providers for mutual profits.

The cooperation is believed to help telcos increase the turnover which has been decreasing due to the lower popularity of traditional telecom services, such as SMS and MMS. The biggest mobile network operators have reported the decrease of trillions of dong in turnover due to the rise of OTT apps.

The mobile application ecosystem

The cooperation model in mobile app ecosystem for Vietnamese businesses has been taking shape. The most typical evidence of this is the cooperation between MobiFone, Samsung and FPT Software.

The tendency is believed to be growing and clearer in 2014, when more and more services to be marketed.

Desktop computer market sees continued growth

IDC’s report showed that the desktop computer market still developed well in 2013 with the growth rate of 21 percent over 2012, though experts have warned about the setback to occur in the near future.

The demand for desktop computers is believed to continue increasing in 2014, especially from the second-class cities and newly set up businesses. It is expected that the number of desktop computer imports would increase by 3 percent in 2014.

IT firms to access new services

Vietnamese IT service providers have been warned that they may not get adapted to the new circumstances because most of their business models have been set up on the second platform (PC, LAN, Internet).

However, the rise of the third platform (cloud computing, big data, mobile and social networks) will require force them to renovate themselves.