VO Official Lao keyboard for their smart phones and tablets running Android, Apple iOS and Windows Phone operating systems will be available soon INTRO: In less than three months, device users will be able to use an official Lao keyboard fo...r free after cooperation between Laos and Vietnam. Deputy Minister of Post and Telecommunications, Thansamay Kommasith announced about the move that, this is for unity and prosperity, using the official Lao language in those technologies for the future development of IT in Laos STORY: Lao people have been waiting for a long time to use an official Lao keyboard for their smart phones and tablets running Android, Apple iOS and Windows Phone operating systems. The Ministry of Post and Telecommunications and Viettel Group from Vietnam signed an agreement to support US$500,000 for developing the official Lao language font and keyboard for these devices and Microsoft Windows computers. The project will run for one year and during the first three months it will complete Lao language fonts and keyboards for smart phones and mobile devices. Six months later the project will implement Lao language fonts and keyboards for Microsoft Windows, then they will continue to campaign and promote the use of the official Lao language throughout Information Communication Technology or ICT. Deputy Minister of Post and Telecommunications Mr Thansamay Kommasith said Laos has been developing the language for ICT for a long time and recently the government just adopted Phetsarath alphabet to be the official Lao font and local engineers from various government offices are developing them for ICT. The assistance from the Viettel Group is another step in the cooperation between Laos and Vietnam to develop the language completely for ICT. Representative from Viettel Group, Tran The Cuong has asked local engineers to focus their attention on developing the keyboard and font for those technologies to ensure they are completed on time. Device users in Laos as well as some people abroad can now use Lao keyboards and download them on App Store for iOS or Play Store for Android but most of them still don't use the official font. Moreover, those people who use iOS was also face complications to download the Lao font for their devices because they often need to ‘jailbreak' the iOS systems in order to run the fonts. In less than three months time smart phone and mobile device users, in particular people using iOS systems, won't need to jailbreak their operating system to use the official Lao font and keyboard.
