Tech Scene in Myanmar Hinges on Cellphone Grid
nytimes.com
nytimes.com
It was an incredibly striking country -- probably the most interesting place I've been other than immediate post invasion Iraq or post-fuckup Afghanistan.
The strangest thing is it is politically in the same position it was in 1997 -- new elections coming, and if things go well, it could IMO surpass Thailand, Malaysia, etc. in 50 years. If things go poorly, it'll remain the basketcase of Asia.
It was crazy seeing so many people with cellphones, virtually none of which had SIMs or cell network service -- they were just using them as wifi tablets. Everywhere I stayed tended to have wifi (ranging from independent smaller hotels to the UN-hq Trader's Hotel in Yangon), and I had a BGAN, but getting a SIM was quoted as hundreds of dollars, so I didn't bother with buying a local SIM.
It was also probably the country with the friendliest and most pro-American people I've encountered in a long time, too -- and they really liked Obama specifically because he has been the one to lift most sanctions (but not US direct investment, yet).
If I had to make a far out of the money bet on an Asian success story, I'd bet on Myanmar -- the free trade zone near Thailand looks like it could be a big win.
There are more and more "start-up" who are doing (or want to do) product companies Such as nexlabs.co (Disclaimer: They are my very close friends), is a good example. The lack of payment solutions are stopping us. So, my personal advice is to go global rather than focusing local. Startups incubation and accelerations by companies such as (Ideabox, Project Hub etc) are offering lots of exciting opportunities.
And please, please don't get high hopes with the new telecoms (They even are struggling). We've been told lots of "this will happen, that will happen" and in the end, nothing happened. However, this is not to discourage or demoralize people who're hoping, especially, the "faster Internet". This is very likely the only hope we have.
Another thing I'd like to address is the lack of talents. As new companies and lots of opportunities are there, there aren't much people who are capable and catching with cutting edge techs. Recently, I attended RedDotRubyConf in Sg and had a chat with some folks. I told them there are only about 3 to 5 companies who are familiar with rails (and ruby) and using it in production. Half of my day is spent by 'bundle install' and the electricity is gone for the other half. They were very surprised. This is to say, the basic infrastructure such as electricity is not there yet. The education system in Myanmar is completely broken. But we're all doing whatever we can. Personally, I've been running and trying to help with Google Developer Group Yangon, Android User Group and trying to reaching out to the universities.