Google's Asia-Pacific director of market insights, Georges Mao, said Indonesians use eight of the 31 apps daily, seven apps regularly, and eight others occasionally. The remaining 10 apps are never used.

"Only 16 apps are installed by the user himself. The rest are pre-installed apps. It is a big challenge to retain your apps in the heart of a user," he said in Jakarta on March 31.

Google developer expert Yohan Totting said that nine out of 10 Indonesian startups failed because they only tried to copy ideas from existing global apps and create Indonesian versions.

Most app developers in Indonesia were motivated at the beginning of the projects, but then failed to maintain the user engagement. Therefore, Yohan continued, many users discarded the apps.

"Most Indonesian developers do not think about the problems they need to solve," said Google's developer relations program manager, Erica Hanson.

According to Google, Go-Jek is one example of a successful Indonesia-based app. It is the only application from Indonesia that is included in the top global 1,000 on Google Play.

"For a market like Indonesia, there are three things to consider: Build small apps for people, optimize data usage because the memory and data speed are limited, and think about how to integrate the offline and online platforms," said Google Indonesia's head of marketing, Veronica Utami.

Sharing economy

Meanwhile, the sharing economy concept behind the ride-hailing applications like Go-jek, Grab and Uber was being questioned. Observers say the app-based transportation providers have exploited the concept to exploit drivers and avoid taxes.

The proliferation of app-based companies has stirred protests among conventional taxi drivers as it has reduced their incomes significantly. Conventional taxi drivers carried out massive demonstrations in Jakarta on March 22 to demand a ban of app-based transportation.

A researcher at the Consumers Cooperative Institute, Dodi Faedlulloh, said the rise of app-based companies had created the myth of a sharing economy. “It’s impossible to see an equal partnership as the drivers are subordinate to the app-based companies, which regulate all of the policies,” he said.

All drivers, he continued, must use their own tools with no insurance protection and employee benefits. They have to maintain them by themselves. This way, the app providers could set lower prices for the services.

Hence, Trisakti cooperative chairman Suroto proposed the idea of a multi-sided cooperative for the ride-hailing apps, in which all stakeholders jointly run the business. The stakeholders would consist of IT providers, financial supporters, drivers and other staff members who could share profits and benefits together.

“In a multi-sided cooperative, a group of drivers could also form a labor union to negotiate with the management side,” Dodi said. (vps/ags)

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