Vietnam has emerged as a bullish market for taxi-hailing apps, but the startups behind the platforms are facing stiff competition from each other over similar technology and even promotional campaigns to lure customers.

Taxi finder apps allow people to find the nearest available cabs and arrange booking with the drivers based on information regarding the distance and fare calculated by the software, thanks to GPS technology.

Taxi booking has become a fast-growing market globally, which many apps now available for iOS, Android and Windows Phone devices.

As a customer taps open the app on their smartphone, it will show them all the nearby cabs and information about the distance of their journey and the fare to pay. The selected cabbie will contact the customer directly via a phone call, from number provided by the app, and the deal is made.

The whole journey will then be constantly updated in real time via Google Maps on the app, erasing the fear of customers that they will be cheated by the drivers on longer route.

“No worries if you forget your belongings on the taxi because you already have the driver’s name and phone number,” a customer named Nguyen Thanh Thuy wrote on her Facebook after experiencing a drive booked via a taxi finder app.

Taxi drivers also say they benefit much from the apps.

“It’s very convenient: I know where my customers are and do not have to worry about having them ‘stolen’ by other cabbies,” said driver Phung Minh Duc.

“Since using the app, I received 30 percent more passengers than I did before,” he added.

Two taxi-hailing apps, GrabTaxi and Easy Taxi, have emerged as major competitors in the Vietnamese market and have both been launching campaigns to attract local customers.

Developed by two Harvard Business School graduates, GrabTaxi was launched in Malaysia in 2012 as MyTeksi, and then expanded to Singapore a year later. Its next stops included Vietnam, Thailand, and the Philippines.

Easy Taxi comes from tech incubator Rocket Internet and launched in São Paulo in 2011. The app is now available in 27 countries.

GrabTaxi has recently offerred a promotional campaign in cooperation with an online forum for local parents in April, which granting customers hailing cabs using its app with VND50,000 (US$2.6) per journey. If the ride costs less than VND50,000, customers would not have to pay anything.

Easy Taxi meanwhile also launched a similar program to get customers familiar with their service.

Other players in Vietnam are Tappxi and  myTaxiControl.

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