By Nuno Simões
Brazil continues to surprise the world with the growth of our technology market. After reaching the Top 3 in the global PC market in 2012, the country has also become the 7th largest software market on the planet, leaving behind giants such as China. It is estimated that in 2015 Brazil will host more than 500,000 developers, which will make the country the sixth largest software community in the world.
Despite the good estimates for the growth of the sector, other factors that can positively affect national companies that work in software development must be considered. For example, the fact that Brazil still exports very little, focusing its efforts more on the domestic market. According to ABES, of the US$ 24.9 billion moved by the software and services industry in the country, only US$ 2.24 billion, or less than 10%, comes from exports. There is still a huge lode unexplored by our industry in the international market, and a lot of room to grow.
But the opportunities don't stop there: the explosion of new computing devices and the arrival of new technologies, such as interfaces that obey gestures and voice, open new fronts for Brazilian companies. As they are relatively new changes in the dynamics of the market, national companies find in these segments a more pleasant terrain for new companies, although there is no lack of competition.
An important part of this experience will be in the domain of new interfaces – after the popularization of touch screens, the industry is preparing for the next step – the recognition of gestures, voices and facial expressions. Developers more attuned to the future are already beginning to familiarize themselves with the new technology, which will soon fall into popular taste, to come out ahead when devices with such capabilities hit the market next year.
When talking about the mobile software market, you see a myriad of small companies competing on equal terms on huge distribution platforms. The barriers to entry are small, and reaching the international market is relatively simple, but your application will be competing with hundreds, if not thousands, of other applications that serve the same purpose as your product. Here, more important than ever is to innovate and deliver unprecedented experiences, winning over the consumer.
The enterprise market also presents good opportunities – cloud-based services and Big Data are on the rise, and there is plenty of room for specialized applications that deliver low-cost solutions for the enterprise market. But on all the new fronts open to software developers, innovation will be essential. It is with it that Brazil will continue to establish itself as one of the great powers in the global software market.
EN 
PT 
