As one of the most popular chat applications on Android in Indonesia, BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) has wide appeal, and new BBM Money updates have given BBM users on iOS, Android and BlackBerry 10 the ability to pay for goods and services online and in stores – regardless of who they bank with.
According to BlackBerry:
Firstly, with 250 million people experiencing rapid economic development, e-commerce in Indonesia is booming. In fact, e-commerce is growing at the second-fastest pace globally, behind only China.
Secondly, while the use of mobile messaging seems commonplace in Indonesia, smartphone penetration has only just reached 20%. The rate of adoption is among the highest in the world, however, meaning the first experience of the internet for most Indonesians today is from a smartphone. This presents an amazing opportunity for the growing number of innovative and entrepreneurial online retail startups in the country to attract new customers via their smartphones – and is where the BBM Mobile Ad Platform and BBM Channels come into their own.
“we are actively looking at other markets with traits similar to Indonesia”
Thirdly, less than 20% of Indonesians have access to a traditional bank account. Moreover, just 11% of the 250 million inhabitants of Indonesia have debit cards and only 3% have credit cards. This means there are more BBM users in the country than there are debit and credit card users combined. For anyone without access to a bank account or payment card, what could be more convenient than a mobile payment service deeply integrated with the mobile messaging service they love so much?
BBM isn’t the only messaging app trying to get its foot in the e-commerce door. LINE Pay and Facebook Messenger’s payment systems are examples of other attempts to bring mobile payments to the social realm.
BlackBerry also shares some information on the future of BBM Money in markets outside of Indonesia:
“I know a lot of you – and indeed, most of the press we met with this week! – are keen to understand whether we will launch services like BBM Money in markets beyond Indonesia. The answer is that payment services aren’t simple to replicate from one market to the next, given the complexity of local regulations and banking systems. However, we are actively looking at other markets with traits similar to Indonesia, where it would make sense for us to invest in similar BBM-linked payment services.”