07 Jan 07 Handphone Software shops in Indonesia
Indonesia has high density of mobile phone users. They may even be using latest models of phones but most of these users do not own computers or broadband connections at home. These phone users find high-speed mobile data plans too expensive or too cumbersome to configure. So, how do these people get the latest games or utilities loaded on to their phones?
You will find these “Handphone Software” shops in shopping centres and malls.
A poster usually announces the latest game, anti-virus tools and utilities for the popular phones. Once you are seated they will pass you a catalog for you to choose the software you want. They have USB data cables for popular models of phones and they will transfer the software to your phone.
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Thanks for this. Learnt something new.
i never knew this. looks like the mobile is the poor man’s computer. i saw your post on the OLPC. Do you think the takeup rate is going to be high in indonesia since they prefer mobile and they have a cottage industry like the mobile software shops you blogged about?
Btw, thanks for blogging about my post on “web3.0″ in the global voices blog. I added you on msn so see ya online.
The OLPC needs a lot of institutional support and is designed for kids. I think computers are not seen as personal devices. Even if a household has a PC it is generally shared by siblings. I think mobile is one this where people can spend money and install the stuff they want. Thanks for dropping by Bjorn and Ivan.
A lot of these mobile phone software shops are springing like mushrooms in Phnom Penh, the capital city of Cambodia, too. Having no computer desktop at home one thing, but the street shops offer everything young mobile phone users need, software, games, and music.
hi tharum, how are you. yes..I see similar things in some other south east asian countries too.
Good, I’m good. I miss super-clean Singapore. Thought of coming to Cambodia?
[...] Some one mentioned Indonesia. One issue with rolling out a Indonesia-wide service is as James pointed out Internet access is still not widespread. What would work in Indonesia is deploying services via mobile phones but not via Gprs or 3g as these services are still not widespread or most people find it tedious to configure the setting. In Indonesia, you will find mobile phone shops all over offer games, ring tones and application download services. Of course most of the content they download is pirated but we can make use of the distribution mechanism. Lets say you build a Java app to help people improve their English, you can distribute each episode through the mobile shops. At the end of the week the guy goes to the shop for the next lesson. And while next lesson is being downloaded, the shop guy can read the user’s score for the previous weeks lessons and print it out for him or send it to a central database. This way you can send a progress report or a certificate to the user at the end of the course. [...]
Hello,
This looks very interesting, but which company is operating these “Handphone Softwareâ€booths ?
Because I checked Candle.com but couldn’t find anything corresponding to these services.
I’m indeed very interested in getting in touch with these people.
Thanks for your help
Best regards
Yves SANTELLI / CEO of B2B GAMES