Nepalis living abroad need not miss the music of their native land these days, because they can now carry Nepali fm and Nepali music with them at all times. While Nepali fm allows you to tune in to any fm station in Nepal without the inconvenience of an fm antenna, Nepali music allows you to listen to thousands of Nepali songs without bulky cassettes or cds. In fact, these Smartphone applications can easily fit in your pocket. Technology-savvy youngsters are now using these and many more locally made applications to make their lives easier. For example, there are many news apps that let them keep track of news in Nepal. Converting Nepali dates into English and vice-versa, a tedious task, now just takes seconds, thanks to calendar applications like hamropatro and nepalipatro. Users can easily view festivals and public holidays in advance, and these applications have been especially popular among Nepalis living abroad who often lose track of Nepali dates. [break]
While the trend of easy to use apps was sweeping the global market, Nepali consumers often felt at a loss because few applications seemed to be geared at them. For example, once we had nothing to equal Yelp, an app that provides location specific information about nearby banks, restaurants, medical institutes among many other things with complete reviews and ratings. But now, there is a deluge of new apps hitting the market which are specifically geared at consumers inside Nepal. nLocation, an app similar to Yelp which is tailored for Nepal, has become very popular among Nepali youngsters. Also useful in Nepal is Battigayo, an app that provides the load shedding schedule and regularly updates it, so that people do not have to scramble for the newspaper which prints the schedule. Hulak lite lets you send emails from sms, SMS Central lets you send messages in bulk, Nepali type and Nepali keyboard let you type in Nepali, NEPSE live provides up to date information of Nepal’s stock market. The latest app to create a buzz is taximeter, which calculates distances based on google map, and taxi fare based on the rate provided by Nepal Bureau of Standards and Metrology.
Such proliferation of Nepal specific apps is welcome for many reasons. First of all, the apps provide tools at our fingertips that make our lives easier. They are an outlet for the creativity of youngsters who grew up with technology and can think up new angles to old problems. Worldwide, the apps market is a huge one, with successful app makers, both individuals and companies, raking in profits. The same opportunities are open to Nepali app makers, though on a smaller scale. Although the Nepali market is small, with just 18 percent internet penetration (according to the latest census) and even fewer users with Smartphones, it is also a market that will continue to grow for a long time. Besides, apps are known for their simple user interfaces which can even be used by the technologically challenged, which means that they have the potential to reach out to the broader section of Nepali populace that are not familiar with traditional software. We look forward to a future where more and more creative applications will digitize the nuances of Nepali life and enhance digital communication.
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