5 Types of Mobile Payment

Taken from the MobilePaymentsToday Infographics

Indonesia Operational Risk Index by BMI

Taken from

Indonesia Operational Risk Report

Published 11 September 2014

Investors in Indonesia face a variety of challenges that hinder the business environment in the country. Chief among these issues are the limitations on foreign direct investment (FDI), excessive red tape associated with trading and setting up a business, a poorly skilled labour market, a disjointed and highly variable logistics network, and the risks posed to foreign workers and businesses from crime and terrorism. Having said that, we note that there are opportunities for investment in Indonesia, which is South East Asia's largest economy. The manufacturing, oil and gas, and infrastructure sectors all represent attractive options for FDI, while portfolio investment has traditionally been a key source of capital inflows. What's more, businesses in Indonesia are able to make use of the country's strategic location on vital global shipping lanes, which keeps the cost of importing and exporting low.

The challenges faced by businesses in Indonesia mean that the country is a regional underperformer in the BMI Operational Risks Index, with a score of 46.8 out of 100 placing it 17 th out of 29 states in Asia, and 90 th out of 170 countries globally. This places Indonesia on a par with such countries as Serbia, Columbia and Moldova, which are all much smaller economies with far fewer opportunities for investment. Although Indonesia is placed just above India, it comes in below all the remaining BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa), indicating that it is one of the less attractive emerging markets for investment.

Indonesia's geography poses a number of obstacles to the development of a sophisticated logistics network. The quality and extent of the transport network and utilities coverage is extremely variable island to island, and supply chains face frequent disruption due to poor-quality roads, port congestion and high levels of trade bureaucracy.

2014 ASEAN IT Report from Business Monitor International

This table and chart is a resume from previous article of BMI report.

As we can see here, Indonesia compare to the other 4 ASEAN countries has bigger portion of IT spending, around more than one third (38%).  Indonesia also leading on CAGR (13%) followed by Vietnam.  Most of IT spending growth is generated by Software and IT Service category.

From the chart below, it is obvious that most of the countries spend their IT budget for Computer Hardware (50%-65%), except Singapore that spend dominantly on IT Service (40% - 45%). This situation represents that Singapore IT penetration is higher and more mature so IT spending switch to IT Service, such as Data Center, Cloud, and IT Managed Service.

2014 Vietnam IT Report from Business Monitor International

Taken from

Vietnam Information Technology Report
Published 03 October 2014

BMI View:   We maintain a positive outlook for the Vietnamese IT market in the Q4 update, but we highlight increased downside risk from a tightening of domestic credit conditions in H214 as a result of a build up of bad debt. Credit markets could cause short term disruption but our forecast for robust medium term growth in Vietnamese IT spending remains in place, with a forecast for a compound annual growth rate   ( CAGR ) of 12.6 % between 2014 and 2018 . We expect growth will be driven by rising incomes, enterprise modernisation and the policy environment put in place by the government. We also highlight larger opportunities in the retail market where penetration of devices and services remains below the level in neighbouring markets , which vendors will be able to tap as incomes rise. Meanwhile, Vietnam 's development as an outsourcing destination is a significant medium term factor , with the services segment expected to expand rapidly. There is also increasing momentum towards Vietnam becoming a global centre for electronics production as wages rise in China and manufacturers look to protect margins by moving to Vietnam , where wages are as little as a third of those in China.

Headline Expenditure Projections

• Computer Hardware Sales: VND 38.9 trn in 2014 to VND 58.3 trn in 2018, CAGR of +11.3% in local currency terms. Rising incomes and declining device prices, along with PC subsidy schemes, will support demand growth across all three main device categories over the medium term.
• Software Sales: VND 10.1 trn in 2014 to VND 17.9 trn in 2018, CAGR of +16.1% in local currency terms. There are considerable opportunities in business software and security solutions for vendors willing to accept narrow margins in a price-sensitive market.
• IT Services Sales: VND 14.2 trn in 2013 to VND 25.1 trn in 2018, CAGR of +15.1% in local currency terms. Domestic demand for services remains weak.

2014 Philippines IT Report from Business Monitor International

Taken from

Philippines Information Technology Report
Published 13 August 2014

BMI View: We have a bullish outlook for the development of the Philippines ' IT market , which we believe   will be a regional out performer over the medium term . Low penetration of products and services has left an opportunity for vendors to target the market as incomes rise and device prices decline , creating a fertile environment for a period of robust catch-up growth . Meanwhile, the booming business process outsourcing ( BPO ) industry presents a huge opportunity for enterprise sales for hardware and software vendors . Taking the market as a whole, we forecast IT spending growth of   10.9 % in 2014, with the market expected to reach a value of PHP 181.8 bn.   Over the medium term emerging technologies will add to the growth momentum, particularly in the latter years of our forecast, with cloud services, big data analytics, smart infrastructure, tele-health and e-government all expected to contribute to growth .

Headline Expenditure Projections

• Computer hardware sales: PHP91.7bn in 2013 to PHP99.1bn in 2014, growth of 8.1% in local currency terms. Desktop and notebook shipments remain under pressure, but this is compensated for by the boom in tablet volumes, but, with demand shifting to lower-cost devices, increases in market value will not keep pace with unit growth.
• Software sales: PHP24.1bn in 2013 to PHP27.0bn in 2014, growth of 12.2% in local currency terms. Enterprise software penetration is low but, with the modernisation of local companies, we expect strong growth in spending, particularly for low-cost cloud enterprise resource planning systems.  
• IT services sales: PHP48.2bn in 2013 to PHP55.6bn in 2014, growth of 15.4% in local currency terms. The booming outsourcing sector provides the main impetus for outperformance, but cloud computing demand is also growing.

Key Trends And Developments

• The development of the BPO industry in the Philippines is an important trend for the IT market.

2014 Thailand IT Report from Business Monitor International

Taken from

Thailand Information Technology Report
Published 10 October 2014

BMI View: Thailand's IT market continues to be impacted by economic and political uncertainty, which is a drag on enterprise and consumer confidence . H igh household debt and baht depreciation also weigh on our forecast in 2014, but we expect the situation to improve markedly from 2015. Over the medium term s trong growth is forecast across all IT segments mak ing the Thai IT market one of the largest and fastest growing in the region. Drivers such as high private final consumption and the economy's strong growth trajectory will support the market's expected expansion. In addition, fundamentals such as increasing connectivity and the falling price of devices are enabling a wider range of potential users to enter the market. We see strongest growth in product categories such as tablets , cloud computing, big data analytics, real-time business management systems and enterprise software adoption among SMEs.

Headline Expenditure Projections

• Computer Hardware Sales: THB108.9bn in 2014 to THB130.2bn in 2018, with CAGR of 4.6%. Desktop and notebook demand expected to stabilize after withdrawal of support for XP and cuts to Windows OS licensing fees, but low-cost tablets will remain fastest area of growth.
• Software Sales: THB36.6bn in 2014 to THB48.2bn in 2018, at a CAGR of 7.1% 2014-2018. Key drivers will include enterprise OS upgrades and productivity enhancing investments, particularly among SMEs that are looking to control costs and achieve scale.
• IT Services Sales: THB51.1bn in 2014 to THB76.9bn in 2018, with a CAGR of 10.8%. We expect IT services will be the outperforming segment of the IT market as cloud computing demand drives growth.

Key Trends & Developments

The cloud computing market is developing rapidly in Thailand as international vendors target the growth opportunity, while local firms and telecoms operators are also looking to get a foothold in the market. Vendors targeting the growth opportunity in Thailand.

2014 Singapore IT Report from Business Monitor International

Taken from

Singapore Information Technology Report
Published 10 October 2014

BMI View:   W e have a positive outlook for the growth of Singapore's IT market , which will underperform emerging market growth rates, but is expected to outperform against other developed markets. Strong income growth, exposure to the APAC growth story and government policy will all support IT market growth over the medium term. Growth from the sales of PC and devices will slow as high device penetration in the city state means little prospect for first time sales , but short replacement cycles and strong demand for premium devices will ensure it remains a lucrative market for vendors . Considering the government active push to promote Singapore as a destination for cloud, big data and analytics services, Singapore should be a strong contender in the data centre space against peers such as Australia, Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong.

Headline Expenditure Projections 

Computer hardware sales forecast to increase from SGD 2.926 bn in 2014 to SGD 3.333 bn in 2018, equating to a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.5% in local currency terms. The slowdown in tablet sales represents downside by a stabilisation in desktop and notebook volumes will see the market continue to grow over the medium term.

Software sales forecast to increase from SGD 1.436 bn in 2014 to SGD 1.733 bn in 2018, representing a CAGR of 5.2% in local currency terms. SME demand for basic enterprise software (particularly SaaS), complex deployments by large enterprises and investments in security software will all be growth areas.

IT Services sales forecast to increase from SGD 3.236 bn in 2014 to SGD 4.091 bn in 2018, equating to a CAGR of 5.9% in local currency terms. Growing demand for cloud computing, big data and analytics services from telecoms, healthcare, logistics and government will support IT services outperformance.

Key Trends And Developments

Like most developed markets, the boom in tablet sales has been the most prominent development in the PC market in recent years.

2014 Indonesia IT Report from Business Monitor International

Taken from :

Indonesia Information Technology Report

Published 18 August 2014

BMI View: our bullish outlook for the Indonesian IT market is reflected in the latest consumer confidence survey released by Nielsen in July 2014, which found Indonesians to be the second most optimistic from a cross-section of 60 markets. This supports our forecast for the Indonesian IT market to be a regional out performer over the medium term   - with IT market growth expected to benefit from strong economic growth, a low PC penetration rate , enterprise and public service modernisation and an emerging middle class. Retail hardware, enterprise software and cloud computing are expected to be key drivers of medium - term growth.   However, there is short-to-medium term downside in Indonesia as vendors face depreciation of the rupiah, which has raised the cost of dollar denominated hardware and software imports, or required vendors to absorb the costs . In the immediate future, IT spending is forecast to increase to IDR 142.5 trn in 2014 , up 17.3% from 2013, with the IT market accounting for 1.4% of GDP .

Headline Expenditure Projections

Computer Hardware Sales: IDR 85.5 trn in 2014 to IDR 131.7 trn in 2018, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.2% in local currency terms. Growth boosted by deepening of the market as Android tablet vendors and Microsoft notebook vendors compete aggressively on price.

Software sales: IDR 23.9 trn in 2014 to IDR 43.7 trn in 2018, at a CAGR of 17.5% in local currency terms. Piracy is a major drag on software market growth, but despite this demand growth in 2014 will be strong as enterprise software deployments drive spending, with modernisation in the manufacturing, mining and tourism verticals offering the greatest opportunities to vendors.

IT Services Sales: IDR 33.1 trn in 2014 to IDR 56.0 trn in 2018, at a CAGR of 15.0% in local currency terms. Cloud service adoption remains low in 2014, but as telecoms infrastructure improves and end-user education levels increase cloud services are expected to gain...

Microsoft will acquire Mojang for $2.5 billion

Microsoft will acquire Mojang for $2.5 billion and expects the acquisition to be break-even in FY15.

Microsoft announced it has reached an agreement to acquire Mojang, the company’s iconic “Minecraft” franchise.

Microsoft’s investments in cloud and mobile technologies will enable “Minecraft” players to benefit from richer and faster worlds, more powerful development tools, and more opportunities to connect across the “Minecraft” community.

Available across multiple platforms, “Minecraft” is one of the most popular video games in history, with more than 100 million downloads, on PC alone, by players since its launch in 2009. “Minecraft” is one of the top PC games of all time, the most popular online game on Xbox, and the top paid app for iOS and Android in the US. The “Minecraft” community is among the most active and passionate in the industry, with more than 2 billion hours played on Xbox 360 alone in the past two years.

Minecraft fans are loyal, with nearly 90 percent of paid customers on the PC having signed in within the past 12 months.

“Gaming is a top activity spanning devices, from PCs and consoles to tablets and mobile, with billions of hours spent each year,” said Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft.

Telstra & Telkom Indonesia formed JV NAS (network application services)

Taken from Total Telecom's article : Telstra, Telkom Indonesia form enterprise JV
By Nick Wood, Total Telecom
Friday 29 August 2014

Telstra and Telkom Indonesia on Friday formed a joint venture that will provide network application services (NAS) for Indonesia-based enterprises and Australian companies operating in Indonesia.

NAS monitors applications and services deployed on an enterprise network in order to improve their performance and reliability, and safeguard corporate data. The aim is to identify and fix problems, thus freeing up the enterprise to focus on their core business and customers.

The JV will offer an integrated end-to-end service, unique in the Indonesian market, by enabling NAS to be bundled with Telkom's connectivity and sold through Telkom Indonesia and Telstra's enterprise sales teams.

"We believe the JV NAS will grow significantly not only because of the partnership with Telstra, but also considering Telkom's capabilities in network and data centre, as well as Telkom's strong position in the enterprise market segment," said Arief Yahya, CEO of Telkom Indonesia.

Global Internet Usage

Taken from Forbes article : Giant Chart - Global Internet Usage By The Numbers

In 2000, there were a mere 394 million Internet users scattered across the world. Fast forward to 2014 and that number has grown to 2.923  million – that’s nearly 40% of all people on Earth. 

The majority of these can be found in East Asia (756 million or 41%), followed by Europe (26%) and North America (14%).

In North America, the Internet is dominated by real-time entertainment, which accounts for 59 percent of peak period aggregate traffic. In 2013, 31.6 percent of this alone was caused by Netflix.

South Koreans are able to enjoy that sort of online entertainment most comfortably – they have the fasted average connection coming in at a blistering 23.6 Mbps.

Almost one third of time spent on app is Gaming category (32%)  followed by Social Networks (28%)

PayPal initiatives across remote and in-store payments

Taken from The Juniper Research Blog: PayPalOneTouch provides further fillip to mobile shopping

PayPal unveiled an app payment feature, which enables uses to pay via a single touch to the handset screen. The "OneTouch" has been enabled using technology from Braintree, which parent company eBay acquired in September 2013 for around $800 million.

The feature will also be integrated into mobile apps which support PayPal. In the first instance that the consumer makes a payment for a product using one of these apps, he or she will be redirected to the PayPal app for authorization. For subsequent purchases, the one touch feature kicks in and purchases can be made within the merchant app.

PayPal is already one of the behemoths of mobile payments: in 2013, it was responsible for around $27 billion in mobile and tablet transactions, representing 15% of global payments by transaction value, and the introduction of this feature on a commercial basis is likely to give those volumes a further boost.

Furthermore, not content with being a big fish in the online payments space, PayPal updated its Windows Phone app to enable in-store payments, to accompany the iOS and Android apps which have had this facility since 2012. Last autumn, it also unveiled an in-store payment mechanism, enabled by a combination of BLE and Wi-Fi. The PayPal Beacon runs on its own Wi-Fi and plugs into an outlet at a retailer with a compatible POS system. When a consumer who (a) has the PayPal app and (b) has opted in to the ability for retailers to use Beacon enters a store, the technology triggers a vibration or sound to denote a successful check-in; the handset owner’s photograph appears on the screen of the merchant POS system so that the customer can be greeted by name.

PayPal have said that if a consumer enters a store and either does not wish to check in or ignores the check in request, no information will be transmitted. The customer set up preferences as to where they can be automatically checked in and then automatically charged when collecting goods or when they leave; payment requires only a verbal confirmation.

In short, PayPal continues to be a very busy bee across remote and in-store payments. Its competitors will have to up their games to keep up.