Asian exhibits liven up CommunicAsia

COMMUNICASIA, SINGAPORE--Asia returns to this year's tradeshow with a bigger and better showing, according to the show's organizer. All four of the new country pavilions at CommunicAsia 2011 come from the region--Thailand's Telecommunications Research and Industrial Development Institute, Association of Thai Software Industry (ATSI), Goyang Industry Promotion Agency from Korea, and Sri Lanka Export Development Board.

China remains the show's biggest supporter, with over 50 exhibiting companies from the country. The Zhongguancun pavilion, in particular, occupies a floor area 150 percent bigger than last year.

All photos and captions by Vivian Yeo

The Brunei pavilion houses nine participating companies, including telco TelBru and tracking technology vendor, BruGPS. Also at the show is Infindo, which is showcasing its flagship product, Polygon App Store. The company terms this as a white-label cloud appstore that supports multiple platforms.

Infindo has also partnered software vendor, Expansys, to develop a mobile social app that taps location-based technology to provide a 360 degree-view of what is happening around them. For instance, a person seeking information about a restaurant can see what people have tweeted about the menu as well as whether their friends are there at the same time, a representative explained.

The ATSI pavilion on level 3 of the Sands Expo and Convention Center includes software company Arunsawad Dot Com, which provides cloud-based enterprise mobility products branded as "anywhere to go". One offering, anywhere2claim, allows motorists to use their mobiles to report accidents to insurers, which can then dispatch an employee to the scene and complete the necessary paperwork via a mobile device. Another product, anywhere2ER, is targeted at hospitals for improved emergency services.

According to co-CEO and president Kittinan Anuphan (extreme right in picture above), two of its offerings have made their way to Indonesia and Canada, and the company is looking to market its products in other parts of the world.

Tucked away at a corner of the exhibition hall in basement 2 is Thai mobile app developer, HLP International. It is showcasing Molome, a photo-sharing site that aims to let users easily share images across social networking sites.

HLP's project manager Nisakorn Keanmepol said the app is available for download in the Android Market and Nokia's Ovi Store, while an iOS version is currently in the works.

Korean ICT players are once again out in full force at CommunicAsia, with presence on two different levels of the convention center. Occupying a sizeable portion of Hall F in basement 2 are companies exhibiting under the banners of Kotra (Korean Trade-Investment Promotion Agency) and SBA, a Seoul-based tradeshow organizer.

Prinics, based in the Gyeonggi-do province of South Korea, claims to have created the world's first smartphone photo printer. The machine looks like an Apple iPod docking station, and specifically allows iPhone and iPod Touch devices to be connected directly. Other mobile form-factors such as the iPad and Android-based devices can be connected via USB cable.

Priced at US$150, the printer makes 4x6-inch prints of JPEG images, and each cartridge--costing US$15--can create 36 prints. To use the printer, users must download the Bolle photo application from Apple's App Store or Google's Android Market.

The company is currently looking for distributors in markets such as Singapore, according to a representative at the booth.