Mr. Marc Woo, General Director of Google Vietnam, assessed that the domestic application development field is growing strongly on a world scale.
“Vietnam is now not just an emerging market, but a global application powerhouse,” Mr. Woo said at the Google Apps Summit 2025 event – the first regional consolidation conference held in Vietnam on November 12. “The impressive export revenue has proven the talent of the Vietnamese programmer community.”
Mr. Marc Woo, General Director of Google Vietnam. Image: Bao Lam
Citing figures, Mr. Woo said the app economy is forecast to reach a scale of 750 billion USD by 2030 globally. The Asia-Pacific market is leading the growth momentum, with Vietnam being the country with the fastest revenue growth rate. According to data from AppMagic, Vietnam leads with a 65% increase in revenue from games and applications, achieving the fastest growth rate in the region.
Along with that, application developers in Vietnam are gradually asserting their position on the global technology map. In 2024, games and applications developed by domestic programmers will reach more than 6 billion downloads with 5.7 billion coming from international users, meaning up to 12,000 downloads of Vietnamese applications are recorded every minute. Through Google Play, domestic developers have brought in more than VND 2,000 billion in revenue from international users, while creating about 490,000 direct, indirect jobs and related industries, including equipment manufacturing.
Mr. Aditya Swamy, Director in charge of Google Play, assessed that developers are becoming more and more flexible in applying new technology, especially AI. Up to 90% of global game developers have integrated AI into their workflow, such as using Gemini API and Google AI Studio to review source code or check resources, helping to save time for other complex tasks.
Mr. Aditya Swamy, Director in charge of Google Play. Image: Bao Lam
Besides, developers are also growing revenue through a combination of in-app purchases (In-App Purchase – IAP) and in-app advertising (In-App Advertising – IAA). For the first time, regular in-app purchases reached higher levels than game apps.
Mr. Swamy also proposed some tips to help developers be more successful, including applying AI and testing new channels to attract users. However, he emphasized that developers need to continue to focus on improving application and advertising quality, and invest in developing original creative ideas to maximize value from users in a sustainable way.
“The future of the app economy will be based on smart and personalized experiences. Vietnam is at the forefront of this trend,” Mr. Swamy commented.
Within the framework of Google Apps Summit 2025, Google announced the Google Play Apps Accelerator program. This is a 12-week training program for early-stage, high-potential app development companies.
Google Apps Summit 2025 brings together more than 700 application developers and senior leaders from Southeast Asia, India, China, Korea and Australia. For the first time, Google is combining three major regional events including Playtime, Think Apps and Apps Summit into one seamless experience. The conference focuses on the future of the games and apps industry, introducing growth secrets for developers and sharing AI application solutions for global expansion.