Mobile applications present job opportunities

Among those subscribed numbers, between Bt200 million and Bt300 million was spent on downloading mobile applications. But the market share for Thai-made software is only 10 per cent of the market value.

Currently, there are only about 500 mobile-application developers in the Kingdom. The chance for a job in this industry is still wide open.

Mobile phones made nowadays are full of options that give users an opportunity to "play", such as photography, listening to music or sending a file with Bluetooth technology.

A good example of a creative application, given by Permbun, is a ping-pong game. A foreign developer created software that could transform a mobile into a ping-pong racket by using a phone-camera lens as a sensor to play with other players with a camera phone.

"There are many kinds of applications you can develop based on those basic given technologies. It just depends on how much imagination you have," says Permbun.

Samreth of Secondsoft said application developers must not be self-centred if they want to be successful.

"Many application developers nowadays assume that people must like whatever applications they created without studying more on the demand of the consumer," he says.

However, it does not mean that you have to hire a research company to test market demand. Samreth advises to start from talking with relatives or friends to see what they think about your idea.

"You create an application for others, not yourself, to use. Don't think and work alone on your created application because you will end up and use it alone."

Success never comes overnight. It always takes time and patience.

According to Permbun, 95 per cent of mobile-application software sales on the market are imported from abroad.

"We could assume that people are more interested in foreign-made software than Thai-made software and it might be a little tough for Thai developers to find a space in the market, " he says.

But it does not mean there is no chance of success.

"This is when passion and patience are important. Everything might not go well at first. But once you establish yourself in a market, the return is worthwhile," he adds

Income for mobile software developers comes from people who download it. Pernbun says the developer might get about Bt10,000 and 20,000 per month for one application.

"An approximate lifespan of one application is about one year. So you can sit down and relax and get money in your pocket without having to do other things."

Watchara Saengsrisin

The Nation