Yahoo Vietnam introduced two new products for Vietnamese customers on April 29, including a blogging tool, Yahoo!360plus and a local music service, Yahoo!Music. It also announced that it will continue developing more services in Vietnam such as Yahoo!Search and iCafe.

The company also revealed it will launch a brand advertising campaign based on the traditional Vietnamese tale, the Tam Cam. It will also aim to increase cooperation with local partners and develop a stronger local staff base.

General Director of Yahoo Vietnam Vu Minh Tri estimates Vietnam will have 30 million internet users by 2010, calling the country a promising market that should not be ignored by world Internet services suppliers.

Yahoo’s long-term strategy for Vietnam is to make Yahoo! the favoured starting point for web surfers and a partner of choice for publishers and network developers, explained Tri.

The net company will work towards this by redeveloping the clarity and diversity of the Yahoo Vietnam home page and upgrading existing services such as Yahoo Mail, Yahoo Messenger, Yahoo 360plus and Yahoo search services for mobile phone users.

IT experts say Yahoo’s established presence and investment strategy means the worldwide company remains a strong competitor for Vietnamese businesses operating in this field.

However, the set up of the Vietnam Internet Association in late 2007, by the EVN Telecom, Viettel Telecom, Saigon Postel, VNPT and NetNam company, aims to improve domestic internet service quality and create a favourable environment to develop business in this field.

According to a survey by Asia Digital Marketing Yearbook, Vietnam has the 17th highest number of internet users in the world. The total number of the users reached 18.6 million in late 2007, accounting for 22 percent of the country’s total population.

(Source: VNA)