A few days ago, I had the opportunity to be a judge at the Indosat Wireless Innovation Contest (IWIC) 2010 for the game and entertainment category. This is an annual CSR event from Indosat in the form of an application development competition for mobile devices. This year is the fifth time the event will be held and the hearing will be enlarged in scale next year.
It is not easy to make a winning application. Either the champion in a competition like this or the champion in the market later. In addition to having to be smart in programming, a developer must also be able to think about how to get money from his application; often called monetizing. Can no longer just dwell on coding without looking at what is going on in the market.
Admittedly, sometimes there is an element of hockey that makes an application that is even unimaginable that someone will glance at but it turns out to explode in the future. But of course such a thing does not happen every day. It is better to rely on observations of mobile entertainment and productivity lifestyle trends, and also hone the quality of the application.
Back to the IWIC. Hundreds of incoming apps are fighting to win. My impression is that, in the perspective of the champion application, many people quite understand in what way their application will generate money. One clear indication is that they understand how to take on the elements of social networking and location-based services that are currently popular. It follows the world’s top services and apps like Twitter, foursquare, facebook, and so on. But from another point of view, it is not to blame if it is actually seen as a copycat of the world’s top applications.
Thankfully not all are fixated on what’s going on. There are still those who are not only commodity-oriented. This can be seen for example in the work of the sixth sense winner which is a disaster detection application by Mas Andry, an alumnus of ITB.
A week earlier I also met brothers Fahma Waluya and Hania Pracika, who had made the nation proud at the international information technology forum by winning the APICTA software competition held in Kuala Lumpur, in mid-October. The two of them, accompanied by their parents, visited our office in Kebon Jeruk to do a photo shoot and interview. At a very young age, 12 and 6 years old, they have chosen to be good at making mobile applications. In the international competition, they were even forced to mix with the general age group because there was no category of children. And they’re champions.
Our younger generation is ready for what the future holds, which is when we live with a mobile device center, whether it’s to take care of finances, socialize, work, study, entertain ourselves. Many parents and educators who are visionary and without fanfare are preparing this generation in that direction. So don’t regret it first that our nation has always been a consumer of social networking services, software, applications, content, in a high ranking in the world. There they learned a lot.
The President’s Gadget
About six years ago, when SBY had just been sworn in as president, I texted Andi Malarangeng, who at that time was the spokesperson and the president’s right-hand man. The content is not political or state things, let alone trying to ask for office, but just asking for a nosy bin prank: what mobile phone is used by SBY?
Andi Malarangeng, with his signature style of communication to date, replied “diplomatically” to this: The president did not bring his own mobile phone. There is an adjutant who takes care of that. As for the brand: there’s a point.”
As for my question, it is also just a confirmation. On television that likes to broadcast the president’s daily shows there is clearly a cell phone whose form-factor and figure are very typical for the size of the time. Those years there was only one kind of mobile phone with such a big and heavy-looking figure. Those years there was only one mobile phone that was best suited for a president when it came to prestige and functionality. Yes, those years nokia Communicator was the only classy phone for a head of state because of its positioning which was indeed directed at the upper middle class and functioned for productivity.
That the brand and the series should not be mentioned, it may be understood because they are worried that it can cause a marketing impact that only benefits one party.
A few days ago, the opposite happened. When he finished delivering the statement, President SBY did not try to hide the gadget he used as a recording and presentation tool: an Apple iPad.
The incident sparked heated discussions, especially on Twitter. Some questioned the president’s point with his thick with the nuances of the marketing. Some more salute with a digital style that seems to be intentional to invite slang imagery.
That said, according to Tribun News, the Apple iPad has long been owned by President SBY. The head of the Press and Media Bureau of the Presidential Household Palace, DJ Nahrowi, when confirmed, admitted that he had forgotten exactly when President SBY bought this tablet computer produced by the United States.
However, if you listen when President SBY explained the controversy about the Yogyakarta Privileges Bill, Thursday (02/12/2010), it seems that the president is no longer awkward to use a note-taking device as well as a sophisticated reminder of this gadget device.
SBY uses an iPad to read his notes, to be then presented when the president opens a cabinet session or during a speech. “I also have, just like mr. SBY has,” nahrowi said.
Perhaps it is still fresh in memory that when Barack Obama unhesitatingly displayed his closeness to blackBerry devices, the contan of this device was also boosted in popularity. BlackBerry market in Indonesia directly
swell.
Will the same endorsing effect also occur with the iPad?
Indeed, even without this moment, the iPad has become the dream device of Gadget fans in the country. Especially if the endorser is a president. It’s just getting more and more fun.