Vietnamese technology firms are continuing to make every effort tolaunch new products into the market, even though made-in-Vietnamproducts have yet to receive a warm welcome, the English language newswebsite VietNamNet Bridge reported.
ROSA, a tablet modelintroduced by Viet Son Company, is advertised as a “made-in-Vietnam”product. Two questions were on the attendants’ minds at the productlaunching ceremony for ROSA. First, is it truly a made-in-Vietnamproduct – that is, has it been both designed by Vietnamese and producedin Vietnam? Second, can the product survive in a market alreadysaturated with low-cost tablets?
Many other Vietnamese technology firms have tried to develop hi-tech products themselves. As of yet, none has succeeded.
Hanel,a Hanoi-based electronics manufacturer, and CMS, a subsidiary of CMCTechnology Group, also revealed plans to manufacture tablets forcommercial purposes. However, after making announcements to the massmedia, neither has made any move to implement its plan.
Analystscommented that it is not difficult to produce tablets or smartphones,but it is not easy to sell them in Vietnam, where consumers all turntheir backs on domestically made products.
“By marketing ROSA,Viet Son might try to build up a Vietnamese brand and compete withChinese imports by providing good post-sale service,” a market analystsaid.
He went on to say that Vietnamese technology firms arestill hope they can find the right formula to allow them to conquer thedomestic market.
Vietnamese need to create added value ratherthan simply assembling parts and accessories imported from China. Theyalso cannot take the risk of spending too much money to set up A-to-Zproduction lines, while they are not sure if they can succeed.
Asenior executive of CMS said that it would be better for Vietnamesecompanies to make investments only in those phases of the value chainswhich can generate the added value specifically suitable to Vietnameseusers. Meanwhile, they can cooperate with partners to develop operatingsystems and applications.
This is exactly the path FPT has been following in developing FPT-brand smartphone models with the Fstore content app store.
The executive said Vietnamese technology groups should learn from the “smartphone lesson”.
2009 and 2010 witnessed a boom of Vietnamese-branded smartphones, fromQ-Mobile and Bluefone to Mobell, MobiStar and F-Mobile. However, thelow-cost models were ultimately dislodged from the home market byChinese imports.
“The time when Vietnamese firms can make moneyby importing Chinese products and labeling the products with theirbrands is over,” he commented.
“Meanwhile, no one can say forsure if assembling imported parts and accessories in Vietnam, the wayautomobile manufacturers do, is the right approach for technologygroups,” he added.
Vietnamese manufacturers face big difficultieswhen taking that path. Viettel, known as one of the three biggesttelecom groups, has to import 70 percent of the parts needed to assemblesmartphones, and those imports bear high tax rates of 15-25 percent. Bycontrast, under international free trade agreements to which Vietnam isbound, smartphones imported as completely built units (CBU) are taxedat zero percent.-VNA
ROSA, a tablet modelintroduced by Viet Son Company, is advertised as a “made-in-Vietnam”product. Two questions were on the attendants’ minds at the productlaunching ceremony for ROSA. First, is it truly a made-in-Vietnamproduct – that is, has it been both designed by Vietnamese and producedin Vietnam? Second, can the product survive in a market alreadysaturated with low-cost tablets?
Many other Vietnamese technology firms have tried to develop hi-tech products themselves. As of yet, none has succeeded.
Hanel,a Hanoi-based electronics manufacturer, and CMS, a subsidiary of CMCTechnology Group, also revealed plans to manufacture tablets forcommercial purposes. However, after making announcements to the massmedia, neither has made any move to implement its plan.
Analystscommented that it is not difficult to produce tablets or smartphones,but it is not easy to sell them in Vietnam, where consumers all turntheir backs on domestically made products.
“By marketing ROSA,Viet Son might try to build up a Vietnamese brand and compete withChinese imports by providing good post-sale service,” a market analystsaid.
He went on to say that Vietnamese technology firms arestill hope they can find the right formula to allow them to conquer thedomestic market.
Vietnamese need to create added value ratherthan simply assembling parts and accessories imported from China. Theyalso cannot take the risk of spending too much money to set up A-to-Zproduction lines, while they are not sure if they can succeed.
Asenior executive of CMS said that it would be better for Vietnamesecompanies to make investments only in those phases of the value chainswhich can generate the added value specifically suitable to Vietnameseusers. Meanwhile, they can cooperate with partners to develop operatingsystems and applications.
This is exactly the path FPT has been following in developing FPT-brand smartphone models with the Fstore content app store.
The executive said Vietnamese technology groups should learn from the “smartphone lesson”.
2009 and 2010 witnessed a boom of Vietnamese-branded smartphones, fromQ-Mobile and Bluefone to Mobell, MobiStar and F-Mobile. However, thelow-cost models were ultimately dislodged from the home market byChinese imports.
“The time when Vietnamese firms can make moneyby importing Chinese products and labeling the products with theirbrands is over,” he commented.
“Meanwhile, no one can say forsure if assembling imported parts and accessories in Vietnam, the wayautomobile manufacturers do, is the right approach for technologygroups,” he added.
Vietnamese manufacturers face big difficultieswhen taking that path. Viettel, known as one of the three biggesttelecom groups, has to import 70 percent of the parts needed to assemblesmartphones, and those imports bear high tax rates of 15-25 percent. Bycontrast, under international free trade agreements to which Vietnam isbound, smartphones imported as completely built units (CBU) are taxedat zero percent.-VNA
