We are back with the third issue of the Thai tech round-up, courtesy of Thumbsup, this week focusing on apps and gaming.
First Line app stickers from a Thai cartoonist
Line is the popular, Japanese-made chat app, which makes a lot of money from emoticon sticker packs sold as in-app purchases. In our first Thai round-up, we mentioned the exclusive stickers from one Thailand mobile telco in the Android version of the app. And now, “Mamuang” (meaning “mango” in Thai) is the first sticker pack from a Thai cartoonist, available now in the in-app Sticker Shop. Wisut Ponnimit, Mamuang‘s creator, is a famous cartoonist in the country, and draws cartoons in numerous Thai and Japanese magazines.
Mamuang is a very popular cartoon character in Japan, and so it made sense for Line’s creator, NHN, to bring it into the app. There are three main characters included in the sticker set: Mamuang, the cute doggy Manow (meaning “lemon”) and Loong Lin Yai (Thai for “big tongue uncle”). You can get all 40 virtual stickers for $1.99 within the app.
New social radio app launches
The first Thai-based digital radio streaming Facebook app – called “BandOn Radio” – has launched. Worapot Nimwijitra, a former executive at RS (a major Thai entertainment company), is the owner of this project.
BandOn Radio is a music streaming service similar to Spotify, Pandora, and Deezer (a startup already operating in Thailand). Bandon Radio programming will be arranged by various DJs who might be familiar to some local music lovers.
As for the business model, Bandon Radio’s income will come from advertising. So audiences have no need to pay for listening to the streams. One advantage of this service is that the DJs can interact with the audience directly on Facebook, and people will be able to listen to music-set re-runs. BandOn is on-air now.
Two Thai gaming companies prepare for battle against China’s Tencent
Two big players in the gaming industry in Thailand, Asiasoft and ThaiCyberGames, have announced a partnership to establish a new online game company. A big part of the reason for this is so as to better face up to Tencent, the biggest tech company from China, which is pushing into Southeast Asian markets these days.
Asiasoft runs some popular social gaming titles from South Korea and China. And it is now trying to expand into other local markers before it’s too late – specifically into Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia. ThaiCyberGames is the official operator of Warcraft III in Thailand.
The plan for the partnership company is to build a strong online gaming presence in the region.
The post Thai Tech Round-Up [20 August, 2012] appeared first on Tech in Asia.