Over the past 5 years, the number of app developers in Cambodia has grown exponentially, with more than 30 companies now operating in the Kingdom. Despite the growth of the industry, more developers are needed in an effort to address systemic issues within the business management, financial transaction and marketing fields. Ear Uy started out as an app developer and founded Osjar Studio, a company that has been creating mobile gaming apps since 2012 and has won numerous local and international awards for their work. Looking back at the last 10 years, he said the concept of being an app developer has only recently stopped being out of the ordinary.

“If someone said, ‘I am an app developer,’ it would be very strange a decade ago, and they would have to give lots of explanations,” he said. “But now it is not like that anymore.” He pointed to his own company as evidence of the growth of the industry, telling Post Supplements that his staff has grown from 5 members to 17, and he is eager to hire more people. “Mobile apps are becoming more popular among smartphone users, while other apps offer beneficial treats, for example some apps provide convenient financial transaction solutions for buying goods or food at restaurants and cafes with a special discount, like PiPay,” he said. “Some other apps are created for business management, while others are for entertainment, such as music, games, movies, health monitoring and others. Some focus on education, with things like reading and listening, exercise and tales.” Uy said his company has been working on a educational app for the last year named ‘EySey’. The apps focuses on retelling old Khmer tales, focusing on children by letting them listen, read and watch the stories in an easy way. “We came up with this app because we’ve learnt that most kids now have their own electronic gadgets. But they only tend to be drawn to foreign movies, and I’m afraid they will forget our stories. That’s why we created EySey,” he said. “We have uploaded 16 stories into the app already, including Kroper Romeul Kun [Disgraceful Crocodile], Sdach Baksey [King Bird], Ka-ek 1 Ka-ek 10 [1 Crow 10 Crows] and Ta EySey [A priest].” He explained that each story has been scrutinised in an effort to tailor them to modern audiences and to make them easy to produce. There have been a few speed bumps as the company figures out how to manage drawing, designing, costuming the characters, animating and creating voiceovers, and illustrating transition scenes for the characters. “We have revised them and removed some violent parts, but added more short educational messages, such as ‘good doings come from good deeds’ etc.” EySey is now available for download, and you can listen, read and watch Khmer cartoon animations with both English and Khmer subtitles. Uy added that in order to make the app, he had to spend months, even years, working on the product and using a significant amount of their budget. “For my team, EySey cost us seven to eight months before we launched it,” he said. “EySey has been used and listened to by 60,000 accounts and they have access to two stories for free and then only $0.50 for each extra story.” Be Chantra, founder and managing partner of co-working space EmeraldHub, said through his organisation’s research and initiatives, such as their BarCamp competition for students, they have found that younger generations like using high-end smartphones and learning how to create something new and unique of their own. “Through BarCamp in the last 10 years, we have observed that groups of young people have discovered a new potential career: app development. There are 120 companies or groups working on apps, but there are only 30 that have been successful,” Chantra said. “We regret the some groups have failed, but it was not because of their professionalism. It was because of plagiarism. While our laws are still loose when it comes to intellectual property infringement, this factor interrupts the growth of creativity in this industry.” Chantra added that tourism, financial, health, education and agriculture apps are the most popular, with agriculture apps taking the cake as one people are most interested in. The agriculture apps available “make it easier to increase productivity and reduce daily work, as well as save capital”, he said. When it comes to financial apps, Chantra and Uy said security was the priority. That is why, they said, companies developing mobile payment apps like Wing ABA and PiPay have their own dedicated teams working on them. “They are very careful and cautious. For example, Smart Axiata has a few apps of their own, including the Smart Music app that offers music and Smart Luy for money exchanges through their own network,” Be said.