Local Operator Billing Cooperation Should be with Google Play Store

My colleague, Aulia Masna, brought out a rumor about the possibility of cellular operator billing cooperation for app purchasing at the iOS App Store. Said operator is Indosat. Previously, Indosat managed to invite Research in Motion (RIM) to cooperate for app purchasing at the BlackBerry App World using Dompetku mobile payment system. To be honest, I think that rather than approaching Apple which has strict rules regarding this matter, it’s better than operator approaches Google for cooperation for Android app purchasing at the Google Play Store.

My reason is simple. iPhone (along with iPad and iPod) is relatively pricy looking at the niche market. This niche market is in the segment of A and B class (middle and upper class). Although there’s no guarantee that iOS device owner must own a credit card, so far I haven’t heard any complaint about this. Not being able to purchase at the App Store Indonesia is compensated by using iTunes Gift Cards at another country. Not an ideal solution, but it’s not a big problem, as well.

On the other hand, Android consumer comes from various economy classes. With a device starting in the segment of USD100 – USD200, Android device fits better for Indonesian consumer’s budget who wants more sophisticated smartphone solution – rather than messaging solution from BlackBerry. Some local vendors have also implemented Android to their devices. This market is bigger than App Store user and percentage of credit card owner in this community is lower.

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Launching IM3 Buzz, Indosat Tries to Acquire Chat App Market

Indosat releases IM3 Buzz, Indosat’s own chat app, in the event of “Serunya Liburan Bareng IM3 Seru Anti Galau” launching at Urban Kitchen, Senayan City, Jakarta last Monday. Reported by Tekno Kompas, Indosat Division Head Youth Segment, M Andre Reinaldy claims that the IM3 Buzz app is more sophisticated than WhatsApp and BlackBerry Messenger (BBM).

Although its name is IM3 Buzz, this app can be enjoyed by all Indosat users using smartphone or featured phone. Android, BlackBerry and iPhone users can use the IM3 Buzz app, while featured phone user can visit www.im3buzz.com or using the J2ME based app.

Other than equipped with standard chat app feature such as chatting, group and sending file, IM3 Buzz app also has the audio chat and video chat features. These features distinguish IM3 Buzz with WhatsApp and BBM.

As the promotion, Indosat frees the internet fee for the usage of this app until June 30. After that, this app’s charge is according to the internet package used.

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RIM Invests in an Innovation Center in Indonesia

If the Minister of Communications and Informatics, Tifatul Sembiring makes another inquiry to Research In Motion (RIM) about its investment in Indonesia, RIM will have a definite answer this time. RIM has invested more than USD 5 million to build an Innovation Center in Indonesia. The facility, set to open this year, will be built in collaboration with Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB).

It was marked by the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between RIM and ITB which was done on Wednesday, May 22, 2012 at ITB. This memorandum is a follow-up to the agreement between ITB and RIM made in early March.

The Innovation Centre will be a place for RIM and ITB to encourage ITB students to create innovative mobile applications, as well as teaching them how to market it. In addition, also listed in the MoU that the funding of this investment will also be used for scholarships, various seminars and conferences as well as other initiatives aimed at triggering the development of innovative applications and entrepreneurial spirit of ITB students.

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Data Center Dilemmas for Tech Companies in Indonesia

The question of whether it’s necessary for technology companies operating in Indonesia to create a data center in Indonesia has resurfaced.

The Ministry of Communications and Informatics has reminded that once the draft for the Government Regulation on Operation of Electronic System and Transaction has been enacted every electronic service provider in Indonesia will have to run a data center in Indonesia.

This was disclosed by Director of e-Business Directorate General of Telematics Application of Ministry of Communications and Information, Azhar Hasyim. In his written speech at the “Cloud Goes Mobile” in Jakarta last Wednesday, reported by Detik, Hasyim said that the policy regarding the regulation of data center is contained in the Draft of Government Regulation on Operation of Electronic System and Transaction Chapter II, Article 17, paragraph 2.

Hasyim considers the issue of data center placement as one of the most important issues in the implementation of cloud computing services. According to Hasyim, the data center is an important asset in the operation of public service and contains risks. Therefore, the government found it necessary to implement this policy in order to protect strategic national data and ensure data sovereignty.

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[Music Monday] Selling Your Music On Foreign Shores

I’ve written previously on how we need to move on from the frame of mind that making money from music is confined to selling copies of our music recordings. I’ve even explained how selling digital files of your music will not work in Indonesia, and that we might even need to just forget about the issue of piracy altogether and think of new ways of reaching your fans with your music. But if you think that selling digital copies of your music internationally is a crucial part of your band’s planning, then there are a few ways to do it, and it might make a lot of money for you and your band, too!

Expanding on the post that Widi Asmoro wrote responding to a previous post I wrote, he explained at length on how to prepare your music to be distributed through music aggregator Valleyarm to be sold at iTunes, Spotify, emusic, Amazon Mp3, and the Nokia Music Store. Going through Valleyarm will ensure your music will be distributed internationally, although I think only Nokia Music has official sales channels in Indonesia. But Valleyarm is not the only music aggregator company you can work with; there are many others to choose from.

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Is the Facebook Camera App Worth Using?

Facebook finally launched its long rumored photo app for iOS, called Facebook Camera. For now though, the app is only available from certain App Stores, in other words, it hasn’t been made available worldwide for some reason. As of this writing, it’s not yet available from the Indonesian App Store.

Word of this app dated back to last year when TechCrunch published details of the app including some screenshots. The released version however, turn out to be quite different from the leaked images, but that’s almost a given since it’s been a year after all.

Facebook Camera is the second component ripped out of the primary Facebook app, with the first being Messenger. It seems to make sense to have parts of the Facebook app running as their own separate app rather than a collection of functions inside one app. Apps are clearly different from websites in which you can shove all services into one place. With apps, people seem to want speed and focus. Having multiple and directly unrelated services in one app would only serve to bloat the app and slow it down, even though Facebook seems to have managed to make its primary app intuitive and attractive.

The release of Facebook Camera app posed the immediate question of, “Why would Facebook need two different photo apps?” Facebook of course, is waiting for the regulatory approval to acquire the popular photography-based social network Instagram, for a billion dollars. If it has Instagram, why would it need Facebook Camera?

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Will Facebook Camera Suffer the Same Fate As Facebook Messenger?

When Facebook spun off Messenger as a separate app, it was a no-brainer. Facebook had long planned to make itself the default messaging service for people to use in place of SMS, email, and instant messaging. Having multiple messaging solutions seems pretty clumsy in the age of connectivity and with Facebook being the one network that almost everybody online is connected on, it seems like an obvious solution. It was a no-brainer and a brilliant idea. Unfortunately it hasn’t caught on.

The latest update to Facebook Messenger app features notices to let people know not only whether the message has been read but also, if it’s a group message, which of the group members have actually seen or read the message. The Messenger app is more functional, more ubiquitous, and more accessible than BlackBerry Messenger or any other messaging app out there yet hardly anybody uses it.

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[Simply Business] Stick to What You’re Good At and Outsource the Rest

After reading about the winner of Imagine Cup 2012, I remembered my days as a finalist when I was in senior year for Imagine Cup 2005. I was with a team representing University of Indonesia and brought an app that can calculate the fastest way to get to one place to another using a public transportation. Back then we didn’t have Google Maps so we made our own version of it.

It was an awesome app, at least in our heads. We made our first prototype on an HP iPaq PDA using the Windows .Net mobile (or something.. can’t really remember). But two problems arose: We didnt’ know how to draw a correct map and we couldn’t get the right data from public transportation because there was just not enough information on the net.

We ended up getting the map from a screen-printed version of Cybermap, and generating random possible spots of public transports because we couldn’t get the right data. Everything was hard-coded, the app was a mess and even with those compromises we couldn’t finish the app in time. Even so, we won second place.

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