Google with Globe Introduces Free Services for Not-So-Smart Phones in the Philippines

Even if President Aquino didn't have a fancy phone, he could enjoy some smartphone-esque features. Photo: Reuters. 

The Philippines may have one of the most wired populations in Southeast Asia—with a mobile-phone penetration of 100%—but only a minority can afford the latest smartphones and the hefty data plans that accompany them.

Google, in partnership with local telco Globe Telecom, is hoping to change that—allowing users of even the most basic Internet-enabled phones access to some smartphone-esque functions they once envied. Launched in Manila Thursday and unique to the Philippines, Free Zone powered by Google lets them check their Gmail inboxes and use the tech giant's search functions, all for free.

Free Zone's offerings—the ability to surf websites, check Gmail and use the Google+ social-media app—is undoubtedly stripped down from the myriad of functions that smartphone users enjoy, and limited to the staple offerings that define Google.

Gmail, for example, won't be as sophisticated as the versions that run on iPhones, Android-powered smartphones and RIM's Blackberry devices. And Free Zone users can't surf the Web for free by typing websites into their phone's browser; they have to go through Google's search function.

Still, the new software—available only to Globe subscribers—will bring the mobile Internet to many more in the Southeast Asian nation without worry about the availability of WiFi or heavy data charges.

"The open Web is only as open as it is affordable," said Abdel Karim Mardini, a product manager at Google. "We're hoping Free Zone will make the mobile Internet feel like a necessity that everyone can use, rather than a luxury."

Google declined to say whether it or its partner, Globe Telecom, will be footing the data costs of Free Zone, initially available to more than 30 million Globe subscribers until the end of March, but says it designed applications accessible via Free Zone not to be too taxing in terms of data or the phone's processing power. Plans for the service after March 2013 remain undecided.

Multinationals are increasingly trying to tap Southeast Asia's growing consumer class—not just people with incomes allowing for leisure holidays and the latest Blackberry or iPhone models, but budget conscious, low-income earners who are benefitting from high growth rates and record foreign investment.

In the Philippines, mobile is a growing phenomenon; it's the 12th largest mobile phone market in the world, according to a report by Mobile Monday, an open community of those in the industry that shares market trends and reports on mobile growth. The penetration rate will soon surpass 100%, with some Filipinos owning more than one handset. Still, only about 30% use smartphones, which means companies like Google and local telcos have huge untapped opportunities in mobile internet connectivity.

Google hopes to introduce the technology to more countries in coming months. For now, Globe subscribers in the Philippines can access Free Zone through http://libre.ph on the phone's default browser, or text LIBRE to 8888 on their phones.

The Wall Street Journal

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These are heady days for the "Tiger cub" Philippines as Prime Minister Stephen Harper visits

MANILA — What Prime Minister Stephen Harper brings to the Philippines on Friday is his presence.

That counts for a lot in the Philippines. It has been a sleepy hollow since long before Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos were pushed from power in 1986 by Corazon Aquino's "People Power" revolution. As a consequence, few foreign leaders have bothered to stop by.

The Philippines only got added to Harper's Asian itinerary — the first by a G8 leader in several years — because Indonesia got fed up waiting to find out the details of the prime minister's plan to visit Jakarta. Nevertheless, Harper's visit to the Philippines, which provides

While most of the rest of Asia took off — led by South Korea, Taiwan and China, followed by the equally export-driven "tiger economies" of Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia — the Philippines languished far behind. Its soap opera-like politics, too often populated by movie stars and crooks, has forever been rife with coup rumors, and scandal and corruption of every kind.

But the Philippines is finally waking up and the world is taking notice. Not quite yet a "tiger," the Philippines may now accurately be described as a "tiger cub." Its economy grew by 6.4 per cent in the first quarter of this year.

Even with a global economic slump, Philippine GDP will probably grow by more than five per cent in the fourth quarter, according to the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank and others such as Merrill Lynch. Even that perennial weakling, the Philippine peso, has shot up six per cent in value against the Canadian dollar over the past 10 months.

Goldman Sachs and HSBC reckon the country will jump from 43rd place to at least 16th place in the global GDP table by 2050 and to 20th spot in GDP per capita. Incidentally, the same survey predicted that based on GDP, Canada would move up to fifth, eclipsing Britain and France.

While not exactly middle class yet, many Filipinos have already benefitted from the stronger economic numbers. Crowds swarm swank new shopping malls or take their families on brief holidays. Presaging the coming boom and relaxed visa regulations for tourists from countries such as Russia, for the first time in decades half a dozen luxury hotels are being built in a country that has never until now really been on Asia's well beaten tourist track.

The Philippine economy is poised to take off partly based on explosive growth in its service sector, led by offshore call centers and international bookkeeping and auditing operations that take advantage of Asia's only English-speaking population and their American-style education. Its future success will be underpinned by mining exports.

The sudden change in the global outlook for the Philippines partly stems from the fact that for the first time in years the Philippines has a president  — Benigno Aquino III (Noynoy) — who is regarded as untouched by corruption. He follows years of misrule by Joseph Estrada (Erap), who was hounded from office and convicted of "plunder," and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who is now awaiting trial on charges of fraud for allegedly fixing elections and of misusing $8 million in lottery funds.

Getting clearer mining rules for foreign investors is an issue that Harper must raise with Aquino. The current investment situation in the mining sector is unstable and uncertain. Canada and Australia are unhappy because of dithering over new regulations that affect major projects in the south of the country. Many Filipinos are unhappy because of environmental concerns and because royalties from mining either don't make it back to where the mines are located, or wind up in the pockets of local governors who still rule what are essentially fiefdoms.

Harper and Aquino will also undoubtedly celebrate the little-known fact that Canada's biggest immigration office overseas is in Manila, not in Beijing or New Delhi. In fact, Canadians might be shocked to learn their embassy here has about 180 Canadian and local employees, and that Philippine Airlines is from the end of this month adding non-stop flights to Toronto to the daily flights it already has to Vancouver.

Canada has a lot to offer the Philippines. It can help upgrade its woeful infrastructure so that it can realize some of the potential that the banks have been talking about. The roads, airports and the power grid are in a terrible mess. Nor has the country been able to fund any mechanisms to prevent or mitigate the widespread flooding that comes with every typhoon.

For the nonce, however, the Philippines will remain overly dependent on remittances from the nearly 11 million Filipinos working abroad. They contribute more than $21 billion a year or nearly 10 per cent to the national economy. In fact, it is the perpetual smiles and strong work ethic of these noble expatriates, the Philippine Economy Army – The Overseas Filipino Workers who are everywhere but especially in the Middle east, that have until now fed the 92 million Filipinos at home.

The Vancouver Sun

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