Indonesia
Indonesia: Where Blackberry beats iPhone
Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populous nation, has been a contrarian market for smartphones. It is one of the few markets worldwide where the Blackberry beats the iPhone as a consumer smartphone.
Generally, the Blackberry is seen more as a device that companies issue to their employees, while iPhone is the one that people choose for themselves.
Just look at the levels of search on Google for Blackberry vs iPhone or which phone is used more by people to look at AdMob’s online advertisements in Indonesia.
CNN recently reported cellphone salesmen as selling 5 Blackberries for each time they sell one iPhone. The Jakarta Globe quoted some phone sellers back in October as saying that the Blackberry outsells the iPhone at a pace of 12-to-1.
Why? There are a number of factors that come into play in Indonesia. These include:
1- Cost of a Blackberry
A legally purchased Blackberry in Indonesia costs just US$500 new, compared to US$900 for an iPhone. A Blackberry smuggled in on the gray market without import taxes costs just US$300.
2- iTunes Indonesia and Blackberry Fashion
The site still offers no tunes, only apps for the phone. This is a key missing element in the Apple ecosystem. (h/t Stuart) In addition, the Blackberry has become a fashion accessory for many in Indonesia, moving in on Apple’s monopoly on tech-cool.
3- Internet cost: $17 or $100
Broadband at home is incredibly expensive in Indonesia. It ends up costing US$100 to have broadband: US$70 per month for a landline + US$30 for ADSL. This is why roughly 30 million people in Indonesia may have Internet access, but only about 2.5 million have dedicated access. Even if you can afford broadband at home, the speed is often not reliable. Most people rely on shared Internet connections in places such as libraries or Internet cafe.
By comparison, a prepaid Blackberry plan for US$17 per month will give you unlimited data with some calls and sms. (Roughly 97 percent of telco customers in Indonesia use prepaid)
An additional impetus to use mobile Internet: Have you ever been stuck in Jakarta traffic? There’s plenty of time to surf the net on your mobile. Mobile users in Indonesia now outnumber computer Internet users by 5 to 1, according to Internet World Stats.
Impact on Social Media
One impact of this phenomenon in Social Media has been the rapid growth of Facebook due to their Blackberry app. Thanks to Blackberry, Facebook killed Friendster in Indonesia.
Why does Indonesia matter?
While Internet penetration is remains around 12 percent, mobile penetration in Indonesia is more than 50 percent and growing fast. In absolute terms, Indonesia will likely become the world’s third largest mobile phone market, after China and India. In other words, this demand could have a huge impact on Blackberry’s bottom line.
Any further thoughts from readers in Indonesia?
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Thomas Crampton was a correspondent for the International Herald Tribune and The New York Times for more than a decade, reporting from five continents, writing a column on Asia and covering Asian politics, economics and culture. Currently based in Hong Kong, he writes here about China, the Internet and New Media seen from Asia, while also advising companies on digital communication strategies. For more information click here...
May not be material to the overall figures, but Telkomsel (who flog the iPhone) are utterly inept — check their website — says it all. Also the 3Gs hasn't been released here yet, so many now holding off (or buying unlocked phones in Sg and bringing down). From what I've heard getting onto Telkomsel's one year program for the iPhone is nigh on impossible — money up front please.
for US$70/month households with a landline can get unlimited Speedy ADSL service — can be priced as little as $30 depending on how much bandwidth you need. In my experience, the 3G network is a joke outside of Bali and Jakarta.
Also worth noting that Indo iTunes only has the Appstore — no tunes — so perhaps less of a selling point.
Agree tho — huge potential — but I do believe that has been used with regards to Indonesia on many occasions past!
Thanks, Stuart! I will add some of the above to the posting.
In social relationship, the Blackberry PIN becomes one of the ID people usually asked. we, Indonesian people mostly are asking: “Do u have any BB (Blackberry) PIN?” at first instead of phone number or any other IM's ID.
BlackBerry becomes one of the most have gadget.
Very interesting! I love the conjunction of culture and technology.
It should also be noted how ridiculously easy it is to sign up for a prepaid plan for blackberry in Indonesia. All you have to do is dial *XXX# (where XXX is some 3 digit number assigned by your carrier), and you can choose to sign up for a daily, weekly or monthly plan. daily plan from AXIS is Rp 3900 (~39 cents), weekly Rp 25000 (~USD 2.5), and monthly Rp 125,000 (~USD12.50).
when i got my Bold 3 months ago in Indonesia I was up and running within 10 mins of purchasing. very easy and hassle free, as opposed to signing up for a broadband internet which took us a week to do with all the paperwork.
In Indonesia, Blackberry is perceived as a premium gadget which can give a boost on personal value (i.e. to be more awesome). Thus, there are still many who buy blackberry just for the sake of coolness among friends and colleague, and not for either business or personal productivity sake. Moreover, currently, there are dozens of qwerty smartphone (with price below $100) and blackberry alike sold in Indonesia. For those who can't afford blackberry, they're content with having facebook more than the premium phone. The young and teenage beggars even use their 'income' to buy such facebook gadget.
I'm glad that the Blackberry is doing better in Indonesia. I think it is a superior phone to the iphone. The iphone is one of the most overrated phones out there in my opinion and I hope that Blackberry continues to climb, especially in the U.S.
[...] where we chatted about the future of newspapers in the era of Google Newspapers nee… 5. Indonesia: Where Blackberry beats iPhone Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populous nation, has been a contrarian market for smartphones. [...]
All good…but you left out secure messaging via BlackBerry Messenger. No pay-per-sms and since it goes through BIS's servers in Canada and not through the Telco's servers in Indonesia, BBM is viewed as much more secure than SMS
Hi, I am just visiting Singapore and I could say I really envy the Singaporean. They can have iPhone in a very affordable price. This is my third day here and it seems that every hour on the street, I can spot at least three of four iPhone user. I am really puzzled why Apple let Telkomsel monopolizes the distribution of iPhone in Indonesia. If only Apple let other corporation such as Smart (who has the cheapest data plan now) to distribute iPhone as well with good pricing and promotion, I can guarantee that Apple will gain lots of profit here.
With over 70 million youth in Indonesia owning a mobile phone, this is one market on the move. Not just in terms of top line numbers but also how Blackberry and Twitter are developing key Beachheads of influence within the youth segment. Graham Brown of Youth Research Partners and Muhammad Faisal of Youth Research Laboratory Indonesia share their insights on the latest research report Youth Mobile Trends Indonesia in this 27 minute webinar.
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