Report: RIM rules Indonesia’s mobile Internet market

Apple Inc.’s iPhone may be seen by most around the world as the uber-mobile device, but a report out of Indonesia suggests that the device has run into stiff competition from rival Research In Motion Ltd.
The report, from mobile advertising solutions provider InMobi, found that mobile ad requests on RIM’s BlackBerry devices increased 842% during the first half of the year compared to a 205% increase for requests from Apple’s iPhone.
While RIM’s devices did have a three month lead in getting to market when they launched in January, results from the report show that beginning after the iPhone launch in April, BlackBerry-based ad requests took increased dramatically compared to the Apple device.
The InMobi data also showed that Indonesia’s mobile Internet user base has more than doubled within the last 12 months. InMobi estimates 9 million mobile Internet users currently in Indonesia, with 591 page views per user, which is more than double the global average of 250 page views per user based on data from mobile Web browser developer Opera.
Not surprisingly InMobi found that 53% of mobile Web users are between the ages of 18 and 27 and that 82% of total mobile Web users are male. The total number of mobile Web users in Indonesia is expected to reach 146 million by 2010.
The market is currently dominated by Inosat, which claims 75% market share among mobile Internet operators. Telekomsel is a distant second with 18% market share, followed by Excelcomindo with 3% share of the market.
In Mobi also claims that 80% of handsets sold in Indonesia are Web-enabled, and that “costly ISP plans, unreliable fixed line infrastructure, and inexpensive mobile data plans with unlimited mobile Web usage are also encouraging the adoption of mobile Internet browsing.”