Phl developers urged to ride on mobile apps trend

MANILA, Philippines - The popularity of mobile or handheld communication devices has created a huge demand for mobile applications around the world, and the Philippines is one of the countries well poised to take advantage of this trend.

On the sidelines of a Power Mac Center mobile app development seminar, resource speaker Ramon Pastor of Numlock Solutions said although the country is currently lagging behind the field of mobile apps for now, talented Filipino developers can very soon catch up and provide here and abroad a robust supply of apps for mobile platforms.

“Worldwide, demand is higher than the supply. That’s why we have to encourage developers to go into mobile apps to take advantage of this growth. The Philippines can well be on the world map for mobile apps. We want to tell the world that if they want apps, they can come to the Philippines,” Pastor said.

The country has a huge pool of software and application developers who have been supplying the requirements of the country’s global IT outsourcing industry mainly in the fields of web and enterprise solutions. Pastor said that they just have to shift focus from enterprise solutions to mobile apps.

“The opportunity is here. More people are realizing that they can do a lot with their mobile devices, and are not limited to calling, texting, or checking emails. Companies are beginning to know that they can have apps made for mobile platforms, which is not this popular before. Thus, demand for mobile apps in the next three to four years, or even next year or so, will just grow exponentially. And we are up to it,” he said.

Meantime, Pastor laments how, in the past, big-name companies have tapped foreign IT consultants to develop apps for them.

“They’re not aware that mobile app development exists locally. That is why we have to drive people to join the industry. Demand is so high, they just go abroad. We hope that next time, we will be able to take advantage of this demand.”

“Power Mac Center and developers have a symbiotic relationship. The more mobile apps are created for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad products, for example, the happier our consumers will be, and vice versa,” Power Mac Center marketing manager Joey Alvarez added.

Pastor said he commends Power Mac Center for supporting the sector of IT programmers through seminars as he acknowledged the Apple premium reseller’s key role in ensuring that consumers get the best out of their mobile devices.

“With this seminar, we are trying to make it easier for developers to go into mobile app development. Definitely, you cannot teach development in a very short seminar like this. But we can make them aware that the options are there, and that it is quite attainable even if they don’t have extensive experience in programming,” he said.