A case in point is construction worker Hendrarto “Hendro” Budhi Setyadji, 47, who makes use of drone technology for both leisure and work.

“I regularly shoot commercials, events or short films with drones. For my job [as a construction worker], I use drones for building inspections,” Hendro told The Jakarta Post over the weekend.

Hendro preferred drone cameras, as they allowed him to get close-up and detailed images of tall buildings, structures and towers, making inspections easier and safer than in the past, when workers had to conduct such tasks manually.

Meanwhile, Tyaswono Suhartono, 39, regularly uses drones for his job as a technical support employee for a company that offers special lighting and smart home concepts.

“When I use DSLR [digital single-lens reflex] cameras, I find it hard to take photos of [building] interiors and apartments, so I use drones,” he said.

On weekends, drones help Tyaswono with his side job of shooting videos for weddings, ceremonies, factory documentations as well as infrastructure and nature inspections.

The introduction of new drone models with varying specifications had helped the market expand to amateur and professional users over the last few years, said Andrew Jason Gunawan, chief marketing officer at online retailer Wear in Asia.

“At first, most of the buyers were creative workers, such as photographers and videographers,” he explained.

The global market revenue of drones is expected grow to more than US$11.2 billion by 2020, according to research firm Gartner.

However, data on drone sales are inconclusive, because they were usually sold by independent retailers, who in turn obtained their drones from distributors. Wear in Asia, Andrew said, was one of the retailers that had done the same.

Shenzhen-based Chinese technology company Da-Jiang Innovations (DJI) remains the top player of drones distributed in Indonesia, beating competitor brands like Parrot, Syma, Yuneec and Dobby.

“Some 80 percent of the market share is held by DJI,” Indonesia Drone Pilot Association spokesman M. Akbar said, adding that DJI’s wide range of products could satisfy a broad spectrum of customers.

Andrew of Wear in Asia acknowledged that DJI dominated the company’s sales of drones, as demand for other brands was low in comparison.

DJI spokesman Kevin On claimed that his company, founded in 2006 by Chinese businessman Frank Wang, had pioneered the drone market before other players had started their businesses.

“We have the benefit of staying ahead,” On told the Post recently, adding that DJI had 12 years of experience in developing drone technology.

On said DJI also had a closed business model, in which its facilities and supply chains were exclusively managed without using third-party’s businesses.

“We try to do everything in-house, because when somebody finds something new, they [tend to] copy,” he said, adding that DJI was also able to attract talents from around the world to help develop new technology for drones.

Even though the company still employed a closed ecosystem for its production, On said it had a research laboratory for lenses and cameras in Japan and a software development team based in Silicon Valley in the United States.

In Indonesia, DJI cooperates with publicly listed cellphone distributor Erajaya Swasembada Tbk to market its products.

Reuters reported that DJI’s valuation reached $10 billion in 2017, and the company was reportedly seeking funds worth $500 million ahead of a planned stock market debut. (ami)

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