Is your next app Asian?

“Traditionally, our focus when it comes to mobile Internet services has been the Silicon Valley area and leading Internet companies such as Google, Facebook, Twitter and so forth. Now, we see from our customers that more and more exciting and innovative services from Asia are hitting the global market, especially when it comes to mobile games and apps for smartphones. We see this change in the new partnerships we enter,” says Rolv Erik Spilling, Executive Vice President and Head of Digital Services, Telenor Group.

Access to Internet is the driving force behind the rapid spread of information online, making it easier for a wider audience to follow trends across the globe. If you’re successful in one market, the chances of making it in other countries are greater than ever. The increased competition and innovation among the IT companies is beneficial for Telenor and our customers creating more services to choose from, higher quality and better prices.

Asian apps going global

Examples of Asian mobile apps companies penetrating a global market are Tencent, Kakao and NHN. The latter is a Korean company experiencing great success with the chat app Line passing 100 million mobile users after 19 months in service. Line has been downloaded in 120 countries and is the most downloaded app in over 42 countries including European countries Spain and Switzerland.

dtac – the fastest growing operator on Line

With 1 million followers in less than 11 hours (!), dtac is the fastest growing official account among operators on Line. dtac went live in February and has already surpassed 3 million followers. When you compare that with the 1.2 million ‘likes’ on their Facebook account, it says a lot about the popularity of this service. With 14 million Thai users, Line is huge in Thailand.

“Line as a chat service has become the main communication method for most of us to talk to our circles. It’s very personal, and very direct: people check their Line chat all the time, more than they check Facebook, and they expect messages from their friends, not least marketers,” says  Elizabeth Man, Head of online marketing in dtac. “Our main goal being present on Line is to maintain a close relationship with our customers to remain relevant to target segment of data consumers. It is also a new way of broadcasting our products, offers and promotions.”

A bright Asian future?

The future looks bright for the Asian companies offering innovative digital services. Maybe your next app will be Asian?