Everytime I travel to Indonesia, I am delighted by the fervour of mobile browsing. So what makes Indonesians and Mobile browsing tick?

1. Mobile browsing is the perfect Substitution

As a native of Malaysia, Indonesia’s neighbouring country. I always wonder what is it that Indonesians have that we don’t, as a matter a fact. We have more than them. Malaysia has better fixed line infrastructre, which means that people are already hooked to the net. And our rollout of WiMax and 3G/HSDPA has been equally fast, if not faster.

Then I realized that perhaps, this is the the very reason why Indonesians are more receptive to mobile browsing: simply because they have a bad fixed line infrastructure that they readily hop to the next substitution.

2. Indonesia’s telco is a case of Perfectly Competitive Market

Secondly, open competition. Bigboy Indosat charges 1 rupiah per 1 kbps (about USD0.80 for 10 mbps)and some newboys like SMART and AXIS are trying to beat this pricing. Compared to Malaysia, we are charging a hefty 30 times more (read Maxis, DiGi or UMobile’s prepaid and postpaid rate are at RM0.0.1/1kbps). For an unlimited plan, it’s approximately USD8 per month in Indonesia.

3. The Berry Factor

Thirdly is the berry factor. Everyone is hooked on blackberry’s messaging program. Blackberry’s messaging program is the sticking point where it gets people to start using mobile browsing. iPhone might help push the buzz further as it launches this week in Indonesia(and Malaysia too). I have to speculate that iPhone is not gonna be as big. It might get some love, but in a country where SMS is huge, touch-based phone are counter-productive.

I have started using touch-based phone for seven months now(reveal: HTC Touch Diamond) and I still can never get comfortable with texting. I (so do all Indonesians and Malaysians) inherited the ability of texting with my phone in the pocket in my teenage years where I can write an sms just by pressing the keypad in the pocket. In any case, the blackberry fever is a helping hand in Mobile browsing.

4. A browser for all

Lastly, Opera Mini. Opera Mini is Opera’s mobile browser variant that compresses everything that you request to approximately 20% of the actual size. It’s hard to argue the cause and effect here, but with lesser bandwidth consumption, it means saving 80% of your data charges – a high value proposition in a prepaid mad country.(disclosure: I work for Opera)

As for the prospect of mobile Web2.0. Just imagine – 220 million people market, booming mobile browsing. Your guess.

Note: I was in Jakarta as a guest speaker in BINUS and also spoke in Jakarta’s MobileMonday event.

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39 Comments

  1. Hi Zibin, nice meeting you up last week!Great post, I have to agree with you on both the speed of texting and Opera Mini. On Malaysia's telco front, I am not sure how hard we have to campaign before they bring down the mobile data rate. The service providers' monopoly here is quite disgusting really.

  2. Hi Zibin, nice meeting you up last week!Great post, I have to agree with you on both the speed of texting and Opera Mini. On Malaysia's telco front, I am not sure how hard we have to campaign before they bring down the mobile data rate. The service providers' monopoly here is quite disgusting really.

  3. Hi Zibin, nice meeting you up last week!Great post, I have to agree with you on both the speed of texting and Opera Mini. On Malaysia's telco front, I am not sure how hard we have to campaign before they bring down the mobile data rate. The service providers' monopoly here is quite disgusting really.

  4. Hi CK aka MalaysiaCrunch,yeaps, i just checked the average page view per user/month based on Opera Mini stats, it's just a third of Indonesia's. I am interested to know how Singapore fairs in this respect. Any idea?

  5. Hi CK aka MalaysiaCrunch,yeaps, i just checked the average page view per user/month based on Opera Mini stats, it's just a third of Indonesia's. I am interested to know how Singapore fairs in this respect. Any idea?

  6. Hi CK aka MalaysiaCrunch,yeaps, i just checked the average page view per user/month based on Opera Mini stats, it's just a third of Indonesia's. I am interested to know how Singapore fairs in this respect. Any idea?

  7. Hi CK aka MalaysiaCrunch,Nice meeting you too! I totally agree with you, i've just check Opera's State of the Mobile Web report and it says that Indonesia average page view per month is 4 times Malaysia's at 400 page per person/month.Malaysia will need to relax data rate to see a better uptake, and one way is to break the monopoly.

  8. Hi CK aka MalaysiaCrunch,Nice meeting you too! I totally agree with you, i've just check Opera's State of the Mobile Web report and it says that Indonesia average page view per month is 4 times Malaysia's at 400 page per person/month.Malaysia will need to relax data rate to see a better uptake, and one way is to break the monopoly.

  9. Hi CK aka MalaysiaCrunch,Nice meeting you too! I totally agree with you, i've just check Opera's State of the Mobile Web report and it says that Indonesia average page view per month is 4 times Malaysia's at 400 page per person/month.Malaysia will need to relax data rate to see a better uptake, and one way is to break the monopoly.

  10. Nice article about the Mobile Internet Portable simple,easy to access is that is Mobile Internet i am using the mobile internet in my Blackberry Mobile i using the verizon Network in my BB mobile..Basically mobile internet very slow But My Internet speed is simply good i tested the speed using the Internet speed test.

  11. Nice article about the Mobile Internet Portable simple,easy to access is that is Mobile Internet i am using the mobile internet in my Blackberry Mobile i using the verizon Network in my BB mobile..Basically mobile internet very slow But My Internet speed is simply good i tested the speed using the Internet speed test.

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  20. Manufacturers plan on designing a bike that works moderately well for a large section of riders and usages. To accomplish this as economically as possible, they use valving with very small venturis. These are then matched to a very basic shim stack which creates a damping curve for the given suspension component. At slower speeds this design can work moderately well, but at higher speeds, when the suspension must react more quickly, the suspension will not flow enough oil, and will experience hydraulic lock. With hydraulic lock, the fork and/or shock cannot dampen correctly and handling suffers. The solution is to re-valve the active components to gain a proper damping curve. It does not matter what components you have, (Ohlins, Fox, Kayaba, Showa) matching them to your intended use and weight will vastly improve their action. Furthermore, if you can achieve the damping curve that is needed, it does not matter what brand name is on the component. Often with stock components, when you turn the adjusters full in or out, you do not notice a difference. In part, this is due to the fact that the manufacturer has put the damping curve in an area outside of your ideal range. Also, because the valves have such small venturis, the adjuster change makes very little difference. After re-valving, the adjusters will be brought into play, and when you make an adjustment, you will be able to notice that it affects the way the way the fork or shock performs.

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