Archive for March, 2009

Last night we touch one of our favorite subject – update on the trends and happenings in Mobile Internet world in Indonesia. Joining us among about 120 audiences are Zibin Cheah from Opera Software (our event sponsor), Rahmadi (Dodi) from Ericsson, Pahala form Mobile-8, and Steven from mig33.

Pak Dodi opened up the session with the update on LTE – the next generation radio access technology for mobile, or I should say simply the 4G. LTE performance target is very interesting: better spectrum efficiency, achieving more than 100 Mb/s and a very short latency – this should be one key technology that can get mobile broadband on par with fixed broadband!

Regulatory-wise, LTE has not been decided by our Gov’t… so let’s watch this promising space.

For the additional details, check out his slides (link to be provided).

Then, Zibin from Opera Software explains what Opera has been doing to drive standard-based and better web browing experience including the Tjarakan (next-gen Javascript engine). Two important highlights in my views are:

• Indonesia continues to be in the top position for mobile Internet usage, second only to Russia. Data collected from Opera Mini statistics.
• Top 10 sites visited from mobile are: Friendster (got like 50% of the traffic), Google, Facebook, peperonity, gamejump, my.opera, getjar, gratisindo, digg… this already generated majority of the traffic.

Zibin’s presentation can be found in this link.

Steven of mig33 then reinforces that mobile (data) usage in Indonesia is big. About 5.4 million registered users. (So assuming the proportion is consistent, there are 1+ mio daily sessions from Indonesia). He also shared a couple of their business perspectives – caught my attentions are (quoted):

• Mobile internet opportunity is not the same as the desktop internet opportunity

• First wave of successful applications are or lead to, utility that is coadjacent to the phone’s first value proposition – Communications!

Point number 1 will be a complete opposite of what Opera Software believes… but hey, it’s ok to disagree. His slide can be found here.

Next, Pahala Sinaga from Mobile-8, discussing some observations from mobile broadband market… First, the growth of broadband subscribers and users are still very lucrative – in his slide, he shared a very valuable data collected from various sources about growth, ARPU of broadband services in Indonesia. Secondly, he also shared the characteristics of services — e.g. price, mobility, modem bundling, etc — that people expect from their Internet services.

(I personally would like welcome them to this broadband services space, expecting that they can add value and alternatives to the market).

Mobile Internet is something very interesting. For all of the players. For users, as it is promising a new services that you can enjoy on your mobile phone. For developers, as this is the next growth and monetization area. And for operators (and vendors), because Internet will change a lot of assumptions – technical and business.

Watch this space. Don’t get left behind.

Special thanks, once again for Opera Software for sponsoring the MobileMonday March 2009 event.

Dear MoMo Friends,

Needless to say that Mobile Internet usage in Indonesia has spiked recently, showing incredible trends that were previously unimaginable. But, what’s next? Is it sustainable? How to monetize this? How Indonesians and us the mobile enthusiasts can benefit more from this?

Join us on the upcoming MobileMonday on Mobile Internet with Opera Software, Ericsson Indonesia, and Mobile-8 to explore the Mobile Internet trends, market, and opportunities.

Opera Software will be represented by Zi Bin Cheah – a Web Evangelist with Opera Software. His tasks include developer outreach, networking, and ‘OpenTheWeb’ project. OpenTheWeb is an Opera initiative to promote open web standards. Zibin is also a Web2.0 enthusiast and guest write for Mobinode.com.

His team blog is http://my.opera.com/odin while his personal website is http://zibin.tehais.com.

Mig33 (www.mig33.com) will be represented by Steven Goh, the co-founder of Mig33 itself, which is currently the largest mobile chat service in Indonesia with over 5 million members (and 20 millions worldwide). Let’s hear about his insights why he’s is excited about mobile Internet in Indonesia.

Ericsson Indonesia, represented by Rahmadi Mulyohartono – Head of Radio Solution & Design, will give us an update about one of the hottest technology in town – LTE (Long Term Evolution), an evolution of the existing mobile radio, or I should say 4G… what is it? Is it coming to Indonesia? Will we ever use and benefit from ‘em?

Pahala Sinaga from Mobile-8 will share their insights from the mobile broadband market in Indonesia – “Mobile Internet for Productive Living”.

Event details:

• Date: Monday, 16 March 2009
• Time: 18.00 – 21.00, presentation starts at 18.30
• Place: Amigos Restaurant, Bellagio Boutique Mall, Kawasan Mega Kuningan.

This event is proudly sponsored by Opera Software! Thank you for our dearest friends in Opera Software, the maker of Opera Browser, Opera Mobile browser, and Opera Mini!

For registration, please go to our website: Registration Page

See you Monday!