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RI more mobile-connected than ever: Report

Indonesia is no longer a “mobile-first” country — where most people access the internet using smartphones — but a “mobile-only” one, in which almost all people access the web using mobile devices, according to the latest report by tech giant Google

The Jakarta Post
Jakarta
Mon, December 17, 2018

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RI more mobile-connected than ever: Report

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span>Indonesia is no longer a “mobile-first” country — where most people access the internet using smartphones — but a “mobile-only” one, in which almost all people access the web using mobile devices, according to the latest report by tech giant Google.

In its report titled 2018 Google Insights for Brands released late last month, the company found that 139 million Indonesians — 94 percent of the 148 million internet-connected population — used smartphones to do everything online, such as socializing on Instagram, shopping on Lazada and gaming on Mobile Legends.

In comparison, in 2013, only 28.6 million Indonesians — 40 percent of 71.19 million connected users — used mobile devices to access the internet.

Similarly, smartphone shipments to Indonesia in the second quarter reached a record high of 9.4 million, an 18 percent increase from the same period last year, according to the International Data Corporation.

The Google report found that 68 percent of consumers relied on smartphones when looking for information on upcoming purchases.

“These devices are an integral part of consumers’ online life and are also an important part of their path to purchase,” says the Google report.

The growth in smartphone purchases follows a global decline in smartphone prices over the past five years from US$305.80 in 2013 to $229.40 this year.

In Indonesia’s case, increasing smartphone consumption was also driven by aggressive marketing from lower priced Chinese vendors, such as Xiaomi and Oppo, which control a market share of over 43 percent.

Similarly, Google recorded that searches doubled for “affordable smartphones” this year compared to last year.

The rising demand for smartphones even inspired the establishment of start-up TukarTambah.id, an online smartphone retailer that accepts old smartphones as a down-payment for purchasing newer ones.

The company, a subsidiary of online pawn shop Pinjam.co.id, sells smartphones ranging from LG, Lenovo, Oppo to Samsung, displayed in sleek elegance on its bright pink-and-white website.

“People need smartphones, yet we saw that many lower-middle class Indonesians had to wait for months to either save up or sell their old phones before they could buy new ones,” said Pinjam.co.id digital marketing manager Garciano Arnold.

Hence, TukarTambah.id was launched this year with operations in Greater Jakarta, where demand for smartphones remains the highest, earning a profit from selling the new smartphones at a markup.

The company, for example, sells a 64GB Apple iPhone X for Rp 18.6 million ($1,275), higher than the between Rp 14.5 million and Rp 17 million price for similar models on e-commerce platforms Tokopedia, Lazada and JD.id.

However, the increasing availability of smartphones has had a spillover effect as Google also recorded increasing internet search activity from non-metro cities, which are cities other than Bandung, Greater Jakarta, Medan, Semarang, Surabaya and Yogyakarta.

“This new [non-metro] digital population has a significant impact on driving search growth in sectors such as beauty, baby care and personal care,” says the report.

A case in point, the non-metros accounted for 46 percent of all mobile internet package searches and 52 percent of all beauty product searches — double the growth of metros.

Wesley Harjono, president director of start-up accelerator Plug and Play Indonesia, was not surprised with the proliferation of internet activity on islands outside of Java, as many promising digital startups were also emerging beyond Java.

“There is definitely potential outside of Java but the problem is the areas and its startups lack media exposure,” he said. (nor)

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