Tags: Mobile Phone Industry, Technology Industry, Telecommunications
By Alexander Villafania
PASIG CITY, METRO MANILA – The Internet was once thought of as a mere extension of companies aiming to have a wider audience and customer base. But in the last ten years, many entrepreneurs have put up businesses using the Internet as the main platform.
Technopreneur Dennis Mendiola said that the Internet has brought out the latent talent of business-minded Filipinos.
Mendiola is the “Chief Imagination Officer” of Web communications firm Chikka, a company he co-founded exactly 10 years ago with three other friends. Chikka is already a full subsidiary of mobile telecommunications giant Smart Communications.
Mendiola said what he expects to see happening in the Philippines is more young people focusing on technopreneurship, an amalgamation of the words technology and entrepreneurship.
He said that the Internet has enabled people to find new ways of creating innovative online products and services. Some of these services could be public such as social networking sites, or applications that serve the back office needs of private firms.
In particular, the behavior of Internet usage in the Philippines is slowly shifting from stationary desktop computing to mobile. While laptops and small form factor netbooks were the norm for wireless Internet, much smaller devices such as handheld personal digital assistants and even mobile phones with Internet capabilities have expanded the horizon for development.
The 2010 Media Habit report by Yahoo! and Nielsen indicated that mobile Internet use had increased five times than in 2009. The same research showed that those who have started using mobile Internet will most likely continue using their mobile devices for online access.
Indeed, some companies are already developing mobile applications, including Mobile Arts, WolfPac Mobile, and G-XChange, for a variety of users from regular mobile phone users to corporate.
Mendiola views that this transition of mobile Internet to handheld devices would expand the horizon for development companies like Chikka, as well as technopreneurs who will create innovative applications for this space.
He notes that the Apple iPad will also change the behavior of Internet users, which will also drive software innovation.
“I think the future of what we’re seeing now is going to be on a versatile mobile device for every kind of communication needs,” Mendiola said.
In addition, he said technopreneurs can also expand their services to overseas markets, utilizing Filipinos’ affinity with Western thinking. He said innovations made in the Philippines can be marketable for foreign markets.
Mendiola, himself a winner of several awards as a young entrepreneur focusing on the information and technology space, said technopreneurs’ biggest challenge is to continue innovating fast especially as they compete for a growing market targeted by other like-minded people.
“The challenge for us now is to make sure that we remain relevant amid changing times, to avoid obsolescence.”
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