Siemens Indonesia: It's your life, live it in style

Siemens Indonesia: It's your life, live it in style

Siemens Indonesia, a German-based mobile telecommunications
company, is taking a fresh new approach to doing business in the
country. It is introducing the concept of lifestyle for consumer
goods in marketing its mobile phones.

Siemens has targeted various segments of society, their
lifestyles and what they need and want in a mobile phone, and
then introduced different models that cater to these needs with
various features. The look and feel of Siemens' mobile phones
also are geared toward its target markets, with different colors,
shapes and sizes that will appeal to people across the social
spectrum.

This new approach to the Indonesian consumer is clearly paying
dividends for Siemens, which has steadily gained ground in the
tough competition for supremacy in not only the Indonesian mobile
phone market, but also the Asia-Pacific and the world markets.

With the launch of its new SL45 handset in November 2000,
Siemens has made a strong move in the local market. Robby
Darmasetiawan, general manager of PT Dian Graha Elektrika,
Siemens' distributor in Indonesia, said the sales of the new SL45
were expected to push Siemens' sales to 200,000 handsets in the
current fiscal year.

In terms of its market position in Indonesia, this will place
Siemens second in sales. This is quite an achievement for the
company. Back in 1994, when Siemens first started using the
Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), the most widely
used world standard, Siemens was placed fourth in terms of market
share in the country. It maintained this position through much of
the economic crisis.

Then beginning in 1999, Siemens moved to number three "because
of product mix", according to Robby. As he says, "People need not
only a model just like a brick, although in terms of engineering
(it is great) ... Beginning in 1999, Siemens changed its way of
thinking. It came with products that go to the demand of the
market. Small model, different features."

This change has paid off not only in Indonesia, but also the
world. According to Robby, in terms of world position Siemens has
gone from number six to number four with a bullet. Again he
attributes this to Siemens' new approach to designing and
marketing its mobile phones. The company, according to him, now
focuses on "lifestyle and emotion".

Siemens' motto Be inspired is no empty slogan. Robby says the
company takes the message behind the motto very seriously.

The SL45: Siemens' flagship

What makes the SL45 so special? Aside from its sleek and
compact design, this phone features several special features that
make it so much more than a mobile phone. It comes with Wireless
Application Protocol (WAP), allowing you to browse the Internet
and receive e-mail.

It also comes with a built-in MP3 player, allowing you to
record and play up to 45 minutes of CD-quality music on a 32
megabyte MultiMedia Card, which can be expanded to up to 128
megabytes for greater storage space. You can also store Microsoft
Powerpoint, Excel and Word files on the card.

The SL45 also is a digital voice recorder on which you can
record for up to five hours. This is, naturally, in addition to
the standard features of advanced address book, calendar,
calculator, currency converter and voice dialer. Certainly a lot
of power all packaged in a stylish and compact handset that fits
in the smallest of pockets.

Robby says: "The launch of the SL45 marks the entrance of
Siemens into the infotainment era. The mobile phone will bring a
new dimension to entertainment and is aimed at the young at
heart."

It is new and it is exciting, and all part of Siemens' plan to
appeal to the Indonesian consumers by offering them the features
they need and the image they wish to project. "To grab a bigger
market share in Indonesia, any producer must meet what consumers
want. We have to follow their lifestyles and offer what they
need," Robby says.

Lifestyle

How exactly does Siemens plan to accomplish its admirable goal
of offering consumers what they want and what they need? The
first step is for the company to build a solid relationship with
consumers. Robby says: "We want to build a relationship with
people, but we want the relationship to be based on friendship.
We want to listen to them, to know what they need. As friends,
you have to listen to the people to know what they need."

Part of this process was to conduct a survey in Indonesia to
allow Siemens to get to know the different lifestyle segments in
the market, and what the people in these segments were looking
for in a mobile telephone.

From the survey, Siemens identified five levels of lifestyle
in Indonesia. These five are: Ambitious, Performer, Cool Dynamic,
Social-Centric and Traditionalist.

Robby provides more details of what the people in these
segments want from their cellular phones. "First there is the
Traditionalist, that's the first-time user ... who likes to have
a nice phone but is budget-oriented.

"We have the Social-Centric and the Cool Dynamic. These are
the middle level; housewives who want to have a phone they use to
send SMS and young people who are active. We have the Performer,
these are the businesspeople.

"And then at the top is the Ambitious. We produce mobile
phones according to these lifestyles. The features should also
touch their emotions."

As a result of its findings and its commitment to cater to
individual lifestyles, Siemens has introduced a number of very
exciting mobile phones. It came out with the light, easy and
affordable A35 for the Traditionalist. This phone has dual-band
technology, text messaging, telephone book, call lists, clock,
changeable design panels and many other features that consumers
have come to expect from quality phones.

The M35 is for the Cool Dynamic. It comes with WAP, has
picture messaging, games, DJ ring tones, calling faces and other
special features. Plus, to meet the physical demands of those
consumers in this lifestyle group, this phone has improved water,
shock and dust resistance.

The S35 is for the Performer, with WAP, currency converter and
calculator, dual band for international flexibility, mobile
office and voice memo, complete organizer functionality and voice
dial, all packaged in a compact and smart-looking handset.

Superior Service

Robby says that what is most important is the "man behind the
gun", meaning that Siemens stands behind its product and ensures
that its customers get the best service possible.

This commitment to the customer influences the way Siemens
sells its phones. Robby explains its unique approach to selling:
"If you explain a feature, don't tell your customer the phone can
do that, that, that. Take the other way ... explain the benefits
of a feature, where your touch his emotions ...

"The principle is don't give the impression that you are
selling, the customer must feel that they are buying something
from us."

He gave an example that many of us can understand. Imagine you
are running late and have to cancel a date, instead of just
canceling, use your Siemens mobile phone to send a picture of
flowers and a message that you are sorry for missing the date.
You touch people's emotions.

The end result of this approach is that the customer benefits
from improved service. "Customers wants good service and they
want you to know their needs. You have to respect them ...
everybody knows the customer is king. Besides having a good
product, if you have lousy service you can forget it. Customer
care and service and selling, they have to go hand in hand."

Siemens ensures this quality is maintained by holding training
sessions for its distributors every three months and by sending
its staff out into the field to see how the distributors are
performing and correcting any problems that may exist. Besides
selling, Siemens also has 13 workshops in Indonesia, and is
strict in ensuring these workshops provide quality customer
service.

A glimpse of the future

What can we expect from Siemens in the future? First it must
be noted that Robby is high on the potential of the cellular
market in Indonesia. He believes that by 2004, there will be more
mobile subscribers in the country than fixed line subscribers.
And he points to Indonesia's population of 210 million as
promising good things not only for Siemens, but the cellular
market as a whole.

According to Dian Graha Elektrika manager Farid Manan, "Mobile
phones are becoming personalized phones and everybody would like
to have one." With that in mind, he provided a peek at the new
Siemens mobile phones and services that the Indonesian market can
soon expect to enjoy.

Coming at the end of February is the S40, a refined phone that
comes fully loaded. It comes with WAP, world-ranging triband,
built-in data and fax modem, infrared interface, Microsoft
Outlook synchronization and voice and conversations memo. It is a
smart-looking and a smart phone.

And expected to hit the market sometime in July is Siemens'
K45 series operating on the GPRS system. These 2.5 Generation
phones will provide users with faster data transfer, 34 kilobytes
per second from 9.6 kilobytes per second. This is all part of the
growth in infotainment and mobile Internet.

Siemens' K45 phones will offer such advanced features as
Formula 1 racing, so mobile phone users can compete against other
phone users. You also will be able to transfer credit card and
electricity bills to your mobile phone.

All these and other features will be made available by its
strategic alliances with such companies as Toshiba, Sun and
Yahoo. Siemens believes the way forward and the way to provide
customers with the widest range of advanced features is through
such alliances.

So, expect the K45 series to boast animal names such as eagle,
panther and dolphin to reflect the different lifestyles of users,
to be sleek and attractive in design, lightweight and able to fit
in any pocket, while at the same time offering customers numerous
advanced services that make these so much more than phones.

And can you imagine what Siemens will unveil when the Third
Generation phones hit the market here sometime in 2002? To top
these new phones it will have to be something extremely special.