Smartphone giant Apple is considering the greater Jakarta area, Bandung and Yogyakarta as potential locations for its research and development centers, which it must establish to comply with Indonesian regulations, a senior official said on Thursday (19/01).
The government has allowed Apple to sell its iPhone 7 in Indonesia this year after the United States-based company gave a commitment to establish local research and development centers.
A domestic investment of between Rp 550 billion and Rp 700 billion ($41 million-$52 million) would ensure that the smartphone maker complies with local content requirements. The government has stipulated that any new smartphone sold in Indonesia this year should have at least 30 percent of its total value in local content, consisting of either components or software, or both, compared with 20 percent in 2016.
Telecommunication and Information Technology Minister Rudiantara said Apple will establish one research and development center near the capital, but that the government has encouraged the company to also build facilities outside Java.
Industry Minister Airlangga Hartanto said earlier that two other locations would likely be Bandung in West Java and Yogyakarta. The government has set June this year as the deadline for Apple to establish the facilities.
Apple, which missed a chance to sell its iPhone 6 in Indonesia last year, has lost out to rival Samsung in securing Southeast Asia's largest smartphone market.
Samsung Indonesia vice president Lee Khang Hyun said his company's manufacturing plant and research and development center in Cikarang, West Java, helped it clear local content requirements. Samsung has also set itself a local content target of 40 percent this year, Lee said.
Samsung currently controls 26 percent of the Indonesian smartphone market, according to a report by global research firm International Data Corporation (IDC). China's OPPO is in second place with a 19 percent market share, followed by Taiwan's Asus with 9 percent.
Source : Jakarta Globe
