Just like any other country in the world, there are a lot of Android smartphone users in Indonesia. According to research firm IDC, Android held 81 percent of the smartphone OS market in Indonesia last year. That means there are over 32 million Android users in the country at present.
As a result, many players are looking to launch their own Android app stores in order to feed download-hungry users in Indonesia. Here are five contenders looking to win the market1:
1. Jalan Tikus
jalantikus-website
Launched in June 2012, Jalan Tikus is one of the early Android app store players in Indonesia. The app store guarantees that all of its apps are safe, legal, and free. Besides Android apps, the website also has PC apps, and an app-related blog.
In September the team told Tech in Asia that they had served more than 10 million downloads to more than six million unique users. The startup recorded 1.3 million monthly pageviews back then.
(See: Forget the funny name, Jalan Tikus may be Indonesia’s biggest app store startup)
2. Gudang Aplikasi
gudang-aplikasi
Gudang Aplikasi has serious backers. Created by Indonesian telco XL Axiata and developed by Huawei, the telco reveals that they are readying an investment of up to US$1 million for its Android app store.
Launched two months ago, Gudang Aplikasi now has 10,000 apps with 150,000 unique visitors in total so far. Unfortunately, only XL subscribers can purchase premium apps through carrier billing.
(See: XL Axiata launches an Android app store)
3. TemanDev
telkomsel-temandev
This is the closest thing Telkomsel – Indonesia’s biggest telco player – has to an app store. The telco launched TemanDev in August 2013, with 68 local apps to commemorate Telkomsel’s own 68th birthday.
Telkomsel users can purchase the premium apps via carrier billing. Besides Android, users can also see apps from other OSs like Windows Phone, Symbian, BlackBerry, and feature phone on TemanDev.
(See: Indonesia’s biggest telco strengthens its commitment to help local developers)
4. WePlay
weplay-indonesia
This is the odd one in this list. WePlay is created by Singapore-based telco SingTel, offers only games, and is only available in the form of an app (while the other three are web portals). The app expanded to Indonesia in March and has racked up over 100,000 downloads so far.
As SingTel is a partner of Telkomsel, only Telkomsel users are allowed to purchase premium games via carrier billing.
Having the restriction to only using one carrier for each app store is a drag. I wonder if one day there will be a third-party Android app store which lets users from all operators purchase premium apps inside. Until then, most people will probably stick to Google Play.
We did not include native Android app stores installed on smartphones like the ones on Speedup and Smartfren Andromax gadgets.↩
(Photo from Flickr user etnyk)
Editing by Josh Horwitz and Paul Bischoff
