Cellular phones must-to-have gadget for Jakartans
Cellular phones must-to-have gadget for Jakartans
Remmy Faizal, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
Sri could not conceal her amazement when the pushcart vendor from
whom she normally buys vegetables and meat offered her his cell
phone number.
"He told me to SMS him the night before whenever I needed
meat," said Sri, who lives in Rawa Jati, South Jakarta. "I made
him show me his cell phone just to make sure. He does actually
have one."
Cellular phones have become one of man's (and woman's) best
friends. Unlike in the recent past when they were still
considered a luxury, cell phones are today owned by Jakartans of
various backgrounds, and for a variety of reasons.
Making an appointment with the family doctor, checking how the
children are at school, getting the electrician to check on the
meter at home or just ordering one kilogram of fresh clams from
the Muara Angke fish market in North Jakarta is now only a cell
phone call away.
The Roy Morgan Research organization has looked into the
phenomenon. One of its surveys, conducted in association with
Colin Benjamin, shows that over 20 million people in Indonesia
either own or regularly use cell phones.
Observers give several reasons for lower cell phone prices
nowadays, besides the tight competition among cellular phone
manufacturers that have made their products more affordable over
the last few years.
"The main market here in Indonesia is still for the obsolete
second generation cellular phones even though third generation
phones have already entered the country. That's why the prices
are lower now," explains Rudiantara, secretary-general of the
Indonesian Cellular Telecommunications Association (ATSI).
Second generation handsets, in general, can only provide
limited data access compared to the state-of-the-art technology
that third generation (3G) handsets offer.
Market researchers AC Nielsen Indonesia found in a recent
survey conducted in Jakarta that consumers were attracted to
cellular devices that had various additional functions, such as a
camera, an MP3 player, games and a large memory.
The operators and producers, according to Rudiantara, are
trying more and more to reach the lower income brackets.
"Indonesia is the largest used cellular phone market in the
world. Take Roxy (in Central Jakarta), for example. You won't
find a second-hand market as big as that abroad," he said.
Rudiantara also said that cellular operators are competing
among themselves to lower the entry barrier to subscribers.
The association of cellular service providers here expects
total subscriber numbers to reach 29 million by the end of this
year, compared to 25 million earlier this year.
"SIM cards are practically free," he added.
Some operators even offer new SIM cards for only Rp 7,500,
plus a bonus of Rp 15,000's worth of phone credits, besides the
wide variety of features they offer, including horoscopes,
foreign exchange information, ring tones and daily trivia quizzes
with prizes.
Besides the decline in prices, Rudiantara said many people
bought cellular phones as owning one made them feel "whole".
"People also realize that owning a cellular phone is no longer
an exercise in consumption but that it can also be put to use for
productive purposes," he said.