智能手機普及推動緬甸科技創業潮

YANGON, Myanmar — Images of Steven P. Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg adorn the walls of Myo Myint Kyaw’s creative digital agency. He says they inspire him. But he imagines neither man ever worked in an environment where Internet connections were so unreliable that a “file transfer” often involved delivering electronic documents across town by taxi.

緬甸仰光——在妙敏覺(Myo Myint Kyaw)的創意數字社，牆壁上的裝飾品是斯蒂文·P·喬布斯(Steven P. Jobs)和馬克·扎克伯格(Mark Zuckerberg)的圖片。妙敏覺說，他們鼓舞着自己。但他猜想，這兩個人應該從未在互聯網連接如此不穩定的地方工作過。在這裏，“傳輸文件”常常意味着，乘出租車抵達城市的另一頭，把電子文檔親手交給對方。

In Myanmar, that is often faster than using email.

在緬甸，這麼做通常比發電子郵件節省時間。

Mr. Kyaw said the start of a website for an American client based in Thailand involved an upload that took seven hours — a process that would have taken just minutes elsewhere. On another occasion, a client had to fly from Malaysia to hand-deliver high-resolution photographs that proved too large to send electronically.

妙敏覺說，在爲一名身在泰國的美國客戶建立網站時，他花了七小時才完成一項上傳任務——這個過程在其他國家可能只需幾分鐘。還有一次，一位客戶不得不從馬來西亞飛到緬甸，親手把像素較高的一批圖片交給他，就因爲文件尺寸太大了，無法在網上傳送。

But Mr. Kyaw, 29, the founder and chief executive of Revo Tech, remains optimistic about Myanmar’s technology scene. And thanks to a rapidly developing cellphone network, he predicts such technical difficulties may soon be in the past. Even better, he says, it presents a huge opportunity for mobile apps and web development.

不過，現年29歲的妙敏覺對緬甸的科技發展仍然樂觀。繆敏覺是Revo Tech的創始人及首席執行官。他預計，隨着手機網絡的迅速發展，這樣的技術障礙可能很快將成爲歷史。他說，更棒的是，這還爲移動應用和網絡開發帶來了重大機遇。

“It won’t be like Silicon Valley even in five or 10 years,” he said. “But maybe in three to four years time we can catch up to Singapore.”

“即使再過5到10年，緬甸也不會變得像硅谷那樣，”他說，“不過，3至4年之後，我們說不定能趕上新加坡。”

Limited telephone and Internet infrastructure, and decreasing smartphone costs, mean most of Myanmar’s 60 million people will experience the Internet for the first time through cellphones. The biggest growth potential, Mr. Kyaw says, is for mobile and web services relating to tourism, transportation and e-commerce.

有限的電話和互聯網基礎設施，以及智能手機價格的不斷下跌意味着，緬甸的6000萬人口中，多數將通過手機初次接觸互聯網。妙敏覺說，與旅遊、交通運輸和電子商務相關的移動與網絡服務擁有最大的增長潛力。

Although broadband Internet prices have declined in the last two years, they remain high. Installation costs the equivalent of about $500, and the monthly rate for a 1 megabyte-per-second connection is about $70; the monthly rate for a connection twice as fast is $120. That is steep in a country where per capita gross domestic product was about $1,700 in 2013.

儘管寬帶網絡的費用在過去兩年中已有所降低，但仍然價格不菲。寬帶初裝費大約相當於500美元（約合3100元人民幣），而速度爲每秒1M的網絡服務的月使用費爲70美元；2M的則爲120美元。對於緬甸人來說，這樣的價位難以承受。緬甸2013年的人均GDP約爲1700美元。

By contrast, a smartphone — and the Wi-Fi access it brings — can cost as little as $43, increasing the demand for mobile apps and services in Myanmar.

相比之下，一部智能手機——帶有Wi-Fi連接功能——最低僅需43美元。這就增加了緬甸對移動應用和服務的需求。

Next month, Revo Tech will introduce its first proprietary app, which will let children practice writing the Myanmar script by tracing letters on screen.

下個月，Revo Tech將推出第一款專有應用程序：兒童可以用它來描摹屏幕上的字母，從而練習緬文的書寫。

“We’re going to revolutionize the way our kids learn how to write Myanmar,” said Mr. Kyaw, describing the iPad app.

妙敏覺在描述這款iPad應用時說，“我們將爲兒童學習緬文的方式帶來一場革命。”

A Yangon-based Australian, David Madden, has similar socially conscious ideas. Mr. Madden founded Code for Change Myanmar and organized the country’s first hackathon, a gathering of developers to tackle a problem, in March. He said he hoped to “inspire the technology community and support the community to get excited about social innovation work.”

在仰光生活的澳大利亞人戴維·馬登(David Madden)擁有類似的具有社會意識的點子。他創立了“代碼改變緬甸”(Code for Change Myanmar)，並於3月組織了緬甸的首次黑客馬拉松——這種活動把開發者聚在一起，讓他們合作解決一個問題。馬登說，他希望能“激勵技術羣體，讓他們爲社會創新工作興奮起來。”

Assigned to create a technological solution to one of eight social problems presented by nongovernmental organizations, the winning team developed an Android app that allows farmers to share and receive alerts about pests and diseases from nearby farmers and the government. Mr. Madden said the team was discussing fully developing the app.

各團隊接到的任務是，爲非政府組織提出的八個社會問題中的某一個提供科技解決方案。獲勝團隊開發了一款Android平臺上的應用。務農者可以用它來分享和接收來自附近農場和政府的關於病蟲害的信息。馬登說，該團隊正在討論把這款應用完整地開發出來。

The growth of Myanmar’s telecommunications industry offers a potentially lucrative vein of work for developers. In June 2013, Myanmar’s government awarded Ooredoo Qatar and the Telenor Norway 15-year licenses to expand the country’s limited network. Ninety-two companies from around the world bid for the work, estimated to be worth about $2 billion.

緬甸電信業的增長爲開發人員提供了一個可能有利可圖的職業方向。2013年6月，緬甸政府向卡塔爾的Ooredoo和挪威的Telenor發放了有效期爲15年的執照，委託其擴建該國有限的網絡設施。此前，來自世界各地的92家公司對這個估值約爲20億美元的項目進行了投標。

A 2012 report by the Swedish telecom giant Ericsson estimates growth in the telecommunications industry could contribute as much as 7.4 percent of Myanmar’s gross domestic product over three years and employ 66,000 people full time.

瑞典電信巨頭愛立信(Ericsson)2012年公佈的一份報告估計，今後三年，電信業能爲緬甸的GDP做出高達7.4%的貢獻，並在當地創造6.6萬個全職工作崗位。

Eric E. Schmidt, Google’s executive chairman, told an audience here in March 2013 that Myanmar was about to “leapfrog 20 years of difficult-to-maintain infrastructure and go straight to the most modern architecture.”

谷歌(Google)董事會執行主席埃裏克·E·施密特(Eric E. Schmidt)在2013年3月對仰光聽衆表示，緬甸將“跨越過去20年裏基礎設施難以爲繼的局面，直接邁入最現代化的架構。”

But the lack of affordable and reliable Internet connections that is driving demand for mobile apps is also a major hurdle for Myanmar’s technology community. Thiha Aye Kyaw, 20, an Android app developer who works from home here, said of the first time he used a tablet: “I feel like I’m into the future, from what I’ve been using. That large screen, everything you can do with it.”

不過，緬甸的科技羣體還面臨一個主要的障礙，那就是缺乏價格合理且性能可靠的網絡連接，而這種連接正是催生移動應用需求的關鍵。20歲的Android應用開發員丁埃覺(Thiha Aye Kyaw)在位於仰光的家中工作，談到自己第一次接觸平板電腦時的情形時，他說：“我感覺好像超越了一直在用的東西，進入了未來世界。那麼大的屏幕，你拿它幹什麼都行。”

Like many other developers, he is self-taught and relies on online resources to keep up with technological developments. However, watching a YouTube video, for instance, can be painful with a slow Internet connection that crashes regularly.

和許多開發人員一樣，他自學成才，依靠網絡資源緊跟技術發展的步伐。不過，慢騰騰的網絡常常崩潰，舉個例子，用它上YouTube網站觀看視頻會讓人苦不堪言。

“I have to download them with download managers overnight,” he said.

他說，“我必須用下載管理器下一晚上。”

The industry also lacks experienced developers. Myo Myint Kyaw of Revo Tech said he had been looking for a web designer for more than a year, but could not find qualified talent.

緬甸互聯網行業還缺乏有經驗的開發員。Revo Tech的妙敏覺說，他一直在尋找網頁設計師，可是都一年多了還是沒找到合格的人才。

“What happens in Myanmar is, they get a computer science degree, then they work in an agency, or come to our agency, to get experience,” he said. “Once they think they are good enough, they go to Singapore.” Developers can earn $1,600 to $3,200 a month in Singapore, compared with $500 to $600 for senior developers in Myanmar.

他說，“緬甸的現狀是這樣的，開發人員獲得計算機科學學位後，就會去一家機構打工，或到我們這裏來積攢經驗。一旦他們認爲自己足夠優秀了，就會去新加坡。”在新加坡，開發人員每個月能掙到1600到3200美元，比較之下，在緬甸，一名資深開發員的月薪只有500到600美元。

Soe Naung Win, 31, owns a mobile phone shop in Yangon and is helping consumers. The lack of international credit cards and limited access to iTunes and Google Play makes it difficult to download apps and pay for additional features.

31歲的梭瑙溫(Soe Naung Win)是仰光一家智能手機店的店主，一直在給顧客提供幫助。緬甸缺少國際信用卡，也只能有限地接入iTunes和Google Play。這讓智能手機難以下載各種應用，或是購買附加功能。

“There is no Myanmar iTunes yet, so we created a fake U.S. iTunes account,” said Mr. Win, who holds a medical degree and retrained as a software developer. “After that, we can use an iTunes gift card to redeem the gift card code.” A friend in the United States buys iTunes gift cards and sends Mr. Win the codes, which he resells at a small profit.

“緬甸還沒有iTunes，所以我們創建了虛假的美國iTunes賬號，”梭瑙溫說。他擁有醫學學位，通過再培訓成爲了一名軟件開發員。“之後，我們可以利用iTunes禮品卡兌換禮品卡號。”梭瑙溫在美國的一名朋友負責購買iTunes禮品卡，然後把卡號發給他，他再把卡號轉賣並從中獲得小筆利潤。

This use of gift cards, applied around the world to circumvent geographic licensing restrictions, allows people in Myanmar to make purchases. In a similar fashion, developers who sell apps rely on relatives and friends living abroad to collect payments on their behalf.

全球各地都可以用禮品卡規避地理上的授權限制。通過利用禮品卡，緬甸人也能進行購買了。銷售應用的開發人員則能採用類似的方式，依靠在海外的親朋好友替他們收費。

The hope is that the next wave of infrastructure investment will help drive more technology businesses. Although neither Telenor nor Ooredoo would disclose a date for its networks to begin operations, each aims for the last quarter of 2014. Telenor plans to introduce 3G and the older, slower 2G networks. Ooredoo has chosen an all-3G strategy.

讓人寄以希望的是，下一波基建投資將有助於催生更多的科技企業。不管是Telenor還是Ooredoo都沒有披露，他們的網絡會在哪天開始投入運營。不過，他們的目標日期都落在了2014年的最後一個季度。Telenor計劃推出3G和更老更慢的2G網絡。Ooredoo則選擇了全面3G的策略。

While mobile phones are already widely available, users are excited about improved connectivity from the thousands of towers the two telecoms are building across the country and the release of more SIM cards. Only a limited number of cards are available through a lottery system for 1,500 kyats, or about $1.50, from the state-owned Myanmar Post and Telecommunications. On the black market, cards can cost $80 to $100.

人們已經能夠普遍購買到智能手機，即便如此，這兩家電信商在緬甸全國興建數千座基站併發放SIM卡以改善網絡連接的前景，依然讓用戶們興奮不已。目前，國有的緬甸郵電公司(Myanmar Post and Telecommunications)通過搖號系統，發放數量有限的SIM卡，其標價爲1500緬甸元（約合9.6元人民幣）。不過在黑市，SIM卡的價格炒到了80到100美元。

“There is huge pent-up demand,” said Ooredoo Myanmar’s chief executive, Ross Cormack.

Ooredoo駐緬甸首席執行官羅斯·科馬克(Ross Cormack)說，“這裏的市場有巨大的潛在需求。”