Facebook App Released for Cambodian Users

Posted June 10th, 2011 at 2:27 pm (UTC+7)
5 comments

Apple users can now communicate in Khmer language over social site Facebook thanks to a new free app, Facebook Khmer, released by a Cambodian software development firm.

A screen-shot of Facebook on an iPhone

Khemara-Soft, which previously released free Radio Khmer app for Apple users, has just launched Facebook Khmer that “allows you to read/view text typing in Khmer within Facebook.”

While the firm says Facebook Khmer “app does not translate Facebook contents into Khmer,” it means Khmer Unicode texts that input by users on Facebook, Cambodia’s most visited site, can be properly displayed without technical difficulties. As operating systems that power most smart phones don’t include Khmer Unicode, using Khmer language for mobile users has been a problem for users who prefer Khmer to English. But this solution by Khmera-Soft is similar to one implemented by web developers who rely on the Internet to automatically transmit Khmer fonts from Google servers to users’ devices. By injecting a few lines of scripts to the web pages, developers can tell users’ web browsers to download the Khmer script from Google Web Fonts. This means the end-users are no longer required to have Khmer Unicode software installed on their personal computers or mobile devices to be able to read Khmer texts.

According to Google Analytics that tracks visits to VOA Khmer sites (both Khmer and English), most visitors use Apple devices to read news stories.

Bun Tharum is a freelance journalist, blogger, and digital media specialist. Blogging since 2004, he’s been a contributing-writer for Global Voices Online, Asian Correspondent, and several other print publications. His main interests are information and communication technologies for development and online media. Tharum’s base is Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s largest capital city.

5 responses to “Facebook App Released for Cambodian Users”

  1. sopheakdey says:

    hi

  2. savy ros says:

    Apple does not office store in Cambodia . Therefore Khmer font does not work on Apple products. These are jail break that it can’t update apple ios regularly. Therefore it is useless.

  3. savy ros says:

    There is only a few Khmer people who read Khmer. Only about 5,000 people from Cambodia that has Internet access.
    There are about 100,000 Khmer people from oversea that are using Internet.

  4. Arnol W says:

    To Savy, you might be wrong. Khmer font for Apple Product is not 100% related to wether or not apple store existing in that Country. The apple store is related to how is well your country setting and running e-commerce on place. Look at Cambodia, corruption exist everywhere from top to bottom, online credit card not smooth working, the government take care only his power and not something else…. How can apple setup store in Cambodia while everything is not yet ready?
    for your perusal, now at new OS Lion for Mac, Khmer font is available.

    You said only 5000 people from Cambodia have internet. IT’S WRONG. I don’t know how you get this data from. If you get these data from Customs just to see the quantity of computer import, you might be right, but if you ask the computer stores in cambodia to find out the quantity of computer selling per week, you will be shock.

  5. Sopha says:

    Dear Brother,

    I am sure we will have Apple Store in Cambodia very soon.
    Look! Cambodia is developing day by day

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About

Bun Tharum is a freelance journalist, blogger, and digital media specialist. Blogging since 2005, he’s been a contributing-writer for Global Voices Online, Asian Correspondent, and several other print publications. His main interests are information and communication technologies for development and online media. Tharum’s base is Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s largest capital city.

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