Why WhatsApp Is Number One in Indonesia
I just browsed Tech in Asia, and found this article “5 Reasons Why WhatsApp Can’t Be Number One in Indonesia”. Which I think is an argument that is debatable or not strong enough, at least in my point of view.
[Disclosure: I used to work for KakaoTalk as Community Manager for Indonesia]
To start it off, at my post before: Messenger as a Platform: It’s a War, Not a Battle, I wrote that WhatsApp is number one in Indonesia in terms of active users (according to OnDevice Research, although Nielsen said differently I believe that WhatsApp has eclipsed Blackberry Messenger as more and more users are “upgrading” their smartphone), and I believe it has the stronghold to keep up with the rest of the messengers, moreover now that it was bought by Facebook for $19 billion.
Before I go on to put out my argument, do read this post by Sequoia regarding the acquisition, if you haven’t already.
The first point stated: No free calls
I would say this is the weakest argument of all five points. Why? Well, unless you are living in Korea or wherever has LTE (or 4G) available, this argument will not work. Indonesia, with more than 17,508 islands and 741,100 sq miles, is a huge archipelago (yep, I Googled it). 3G is here, but it is so inconsistent that even people make a joke out of the LTE - Long Term Edge. Then how would you even make a free call through unreliable network when you can’t even get your messages through? I, myself, rarely use the feature except when you have WiFi, and I believe some people also think twice to call on the 3G network because of the data cost.
This might change once we can get a consistent LTE service (which rumored to be coming soon this year or next), but if it’s really proven to be the differentiator then I believe WhatsApp can add the feature easily anyway.
Second point: No fun features
Did you read the Sequoia post on the link I put above? Then put emphasis on “No Ads, No Games, No Gimmicks” - the reason that it can grow so quickly and being used by more than 450 million active users is that it’s simple and blazing fast compared to its competitors.
Yes of course, it is fun to chat with cute LINE stickers and to play some Kakao Games with your friends, but when it came to the essential need of communication, WhatsApp is still the best option. Not to mention there is a downside of both KakaoTalk and LINE: with both having brands (Plus Friend on KakaoTalk and Official Account on LINE) and social games, there are more and more push messages that annoy people out - some friends even uninstalled their Kakao/LINE because of it. Getting one, two, or three LINE PokoPang invites are understandable, but if you’re getting more than that in a day, well I leave it to you to judge.
But okay, let’s say that we all need some fun in our life, I still see people (including or especially teenagers) having WhatsApp (a must have) + LINE/KakaoTalk/WeChat/all three. With “No Ads, No Games, No Gimmicks” WhatsApp has also - in my opinion - proven to be the best multi-platform messenger, why? WhatsApp doesn’t have to “degrade” or cutting some of its main features to port it to Blackberry or Nokia, for example.
Third point: No Marketing Impact
Interesting point and also a double-edged one as it is a fact, that all three messengers: KakaoTalk, LINE, and WeChat has spent a lot (if you ask me, it’s more than $15 million combined) in online and offline advertising to grab the market share. Yet, WhatsApp is still the first WITHOUT any huge promotion (nevermind TV Commercial).
Now, with all the money in the world from Facebook, imagine if it decides to go seriously in this market. Not to mention we haven’t seen what effect it will have to WhatsApp once Facebook integrates its own platform to WhatsApp - take a look at Instagram before and after the acquisition.
Fourth point: WhatsApp isn’t free
Yes it isn’t, it’s $0.99 - the same cost that your typical nannys or drivers in Indonesia are spending to ask for mobile shops to fill its mobile phone with mp3s (hat tip: Andy Zain’s statement - I’ve heard this from him more than once when he present about Indonesia mobile market).
The fact that we all still using it for free, might not change anytime soon, especially with the Facebook acquisition, it doesn’t even “need” to monetize (in a sense). But let’s say that Facebook choose to let WhatsApp charge its users $0.99, with a very low credit card penetration, it is left with carrier charge. I don’t think all the people will run away and abandon WhatsApp if it charge you IDR 12,000 of Pulsa (or credit). Believe me, Indonesia can and will pay $0.99.
The last one and the one that seems to be removed is that WhatsApp is tied to a phone number, which then the author corrected himself that we can actually change it or if you don’t want to, that’s all right as well - which gives you flexibility. Plus, it’s sync function is actually one of the most underrated feature compared to having to search our friends’ ID.
To sum it up, if it’s all about profitability and actually leveraging messaging as a platform, yes - either LINE, KakaoTalk, or WeChat will win (currently LINE is winning in Indonesia) as I’ve seen for myself what KakaoTalk can do in South Korea, but when it’s being torn down to the essential: communication, WhatsApp is giving the best offer (yet, at least). I would say WhatsApp + either or all of the three aforementioned messaging platform trend will continue in Indonesia. What do you think?