There are some key enablers that they did right: 1. Internet connection (Landline and 3G) is so cheap relative to income. There is no locked in contract. 2. F

There are some key enablers that they did right: 1. Internet connection (Landline and 3G) is so cheap relative to income. There is no locked in contract. 2. Free wifi everywhere and all businesses have free wifi (coffee shop, pho, book store,...) 3. Huge number of iPhone are used devices. They can get it for cheap because they are either stolen (in US) and hand carry to Vietnam. 4. Most people have family in US that would buy the phone for them or bring used ones back. 5. iPhone have very high resale value. So they use it for awhile and resell to get new ones. It's not that much of a big cost. 6. Smart phone in Vietnam is like car in US. You gotta have one or otherwise, you're considered poor! The following is a lie (from the article): >> A Vietnamese government agency forecasts the market for e-commerce will generate revenue of $4 billion this year compared with $700 million in 2012. There are high percentage of mobile users but they don't spend a lot. As a matter of fact, most ecommerce revenue are cannibalizing from people who would buy these things by driving a bike to the store anyways. Most shops do offer delivery for free or small fee. Reason: it's like 2-3 miles trip max. Everything is super close together. Disclaimer: I am Vietnamese, spent most my life in Vietnam, tried to do startup in Vietnam, failed to compete with Facebook when it started with only 1M users in Vietnam.