A mobile phone-based business solution for a global insurance firm and a keypad game set to music and played on cellular phones are among the applications that are putting the spotlight on the Philippines in the mobile domain worldwide.More specifically, both solutions have been featured by Nokia in its product catalogues of winning solutions and services from developer companies all over the globe.
eScience, a Philippine software developer focused on the mobile market, created both applications. Its mobile phone-based product, which boosted sales for a European insurance firm by providing on-the-spot computations and feedback, topped other regional entries in the Productivity/Business Applications category in the 2004 Nokia Forum PRO AWARD. In 2003, eScience was also a regional winner in the Nokia Series 60 Challenge in the Consumer Category for Thumbeat. The game features an animated character dancing to a beat as te player keeps pace through appropriate keypad strokes.
Last year, eScience also won second place in the Secrets of Australia IT Innovation for its Mobile Karaoke Product. The karaoke for the cellular phone makes use of a MIDI file to supply the accompanying music.Lyrics flash onscreen and are highlighted so the user can concertize wherever his mobile may take him.
The five-year-old eScience is considered a granddad in the frenetic wireless arena where the shelf-life of winning products is limited to few months. Says Richard Dagelet, its president, "Mere survival in the wireless domain means coming up with a steady stream of applications. Staying ahead demands that you always know where the market is going and predict its preferences each time."
Dagelet observes that Philippine developers are well positioned to come up with cutting-edge mobile technologies. He observes that in the US and Australia from where eScience markets itself regionally, the cellular phone is used primarily to make calls. In the Philippines, data as opposed to voice accounts for over 30 percent of total revenues of the dominant operators. In Norway and Germany, the percentage of the business devoted to data is well below 20.
Filipinos use their mobiles for business as well as for entertainment-not just voice. For their part, Philippine operators indulge the market by making available the latest phons while stimulating developers of applications to constantly innovate by investing in sophisticated equipment. Note Dagelet: "We are set up in the Philippines and Australia to provide the world with wireless innovations."
An indication of its keen knowledge of the market, eScience was recently appointed by American software developer Macromedia to distribute Mobile Flash Lite in the Phillipines. Flash is carried by 98 percent of all Internet-connected computers.
eScience has also provided the government with a solution aimed at curbing what once was a rampant form of corruption. In the response to a sleuth of cases involving the diversion of tax payments, the company devised a system for the Bureau of Internal Revenue to acknowledge payments from the top 1,000 corporations. Through a sponsorship from the Bankers Association of the Philippines, eScience developed in 2003 a system that would allow paying corporations to simply receive confirmation via a text message that their payment had been officially noted by the agency. These days, cases of tax diversion have practically been eradicated.
Dagelet remarks thee eScience's performance in Australia could lead to greater appreciation in the world market for Philippine talent. The company competed against 200 other developers including American and German firms aside from Australian companies. Only a tenth recieve citations."We definitely proved that Filipinos have the creativity and skills to deliver innovative products," Dagelet says.
Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer, Monday, January 31, 2005, Business Monday pg B2-5.
Published also in: The Philippine STAR , Monday, January 31, 2005, BUSINESS pg B-8.
Manila Bulletin , Monday, January 31, 2005.