Why Blackberry Flourishes in Indonesia

You would find that Blackberry handsets are not so popular around the world, but is very popular in Indonesia. Why? Compared to other OSes, (current) Blackberry OS is clearly less dynamic than other OSes. One reason for its popularity is Blackberry Messenger (BBM). When all your friends (even better, colleagues and your boss) are on BBM, you would not want to miss anything. Especially in a company which employees are on BBM, you need to have one. If not, get outta here.

But then, people argue there are other messengers like Y!M, Google Chat, MSN, and the latest would be WhatsApp which popularity is rising, at least around my circle of friends. What is so interesting about BB? The reason being is the carriers. Internet connection on mobile phones were, let's say, widely unavailable and unreliable in Indonesia until BB came in. Since BB uses special APN (Access Point Name, kind of the type of connection you use on your phone) to enable its services, and the price for BB plans are comparably cheaper than GPRS and 3G (which at that time was fairly new and expensive), it became popular.

The situation may change soon. Waiting for RIM to release BB OS 10 combined with better availability of mobile internet connection from the telcos and cheap local-made Android phone, added with the new iPhone craze and its plans (even when it is clearly much more expensive compared to in other countries), you never now when the trend for BB changes. The problem becomes even bigger when you realized that for quite some time, the government and RIM has been playing Tom and Jerry. First, demand for a server in Indonesia, done. Next, factory in Indonesia, failed (and instead, the new factory is in Malaysia). Well, demographics show that BB user is almost all about Indonesians. If something happens such that Indonesians decide to leave BB and BB OS 10 is too late to help, RIM may need to find another savior.

This is my own view, may be right or wrong. Let's hope everyone gets the best.