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Colombians on the European Mobile Applications Market

Seventeen Colombian companies will take part in the Mobile World Congress in Spain in order to diversify their export destinations.

After successfully exporting their products and services to countries like Canada and the United States over the last few years, the leaders of the Colombian mobile technology industry have now set their eyes on the European market.

The Antioquenian company Kogi Mobile has developed 300 mobile phone applications in the last two years. "Ninety per cent of our production is for export. We have worked for Samsung, Google and McDonalds," explained their director, Nicholas Aldrige. He confirmed that the company's objectives for 2013 are the United Kingdom, France and Germany because "there is a high demand for applications there."

With export diversification in mind, the company will participate in the Mobile World Congress from February 25 to 28 in Barcelona (Spain). This is the central event for the global mobile applications industry, gathering around 60,000 industry workers each year and 1,500 exhibitors from 200 countries.

But it won't be Colombia's only representative given that 17 Colombian companies will be present at the event with the support of PROCOLOMBIA and the Ministry of Information Technology and Communications.

"Europe is a potential market. In Spain, we know there is a demand for games and leisure applications, as well as corporate services and applications," declared PROCOLOMBIA president María Claudia Lacouture. "We also identified openings in the United Kingdom, particularly to develop social networks, virtual communities, advertising and games for the web and for cell phones."

With the support of PROCOLOMBIA, some Colombian companies have already managed to take advantage of opportunities in this market. One of these is the Bogota-based Domoti, which has maintained commercial relations with the Finish giant Nokia since 2011. "We have made several developments, such as games and geolocalization programs. In fact, we already have a full day programmed during the congress in Barcelona to discuss future business with them. We also have meetings with Spanish and British companies," said company representative, Daniel Jiménez.

Eivar Rojas from Efecto Estudios (Bogota) will take his mobile game Grabbity that has been downloaded 500,000 times from the Apple store. The game was voted among the top 20 applications in the world and hopes to win a Mobile Premier Award in Barcelona. "This is the first time that we are going to this event, partly because we might win the award, but also to see what the market is like and what opportunities are available. Our main market is the United States, but we are also analyzing Europe," explained Rojas.   

Market factors to be taken into account:

  • The main digital stores are the Apple Store, Android Market, Ovi (Nokia) and Blackberry.
  • Usually, the developed program is sold through a marketing, advertising or consulting agency.
  • There are business opportunities in the games, leisure, services and corporate categories.
  • Smart phones are becoming more mobile and less telephone. Nowadays, they have lots more uses, but are being used less to talk.
  • Monetization is necessary for mass download applications to be profitable. In other words, after downloading the free application the user must have the option of purchasing additional benefits.

Competitors may be from any country in the world, so distinguishing yourself from the competition requires creativity, product quality and a quick response to buyer requirements.