Apple has responded to an iPhone 16 ban in Indonesia by offering a ten-fold boost to its manufacturing investments in the country – from $10M to $100M. Update: The Indonesian government has said that it expects more – see the end of the piece.
The Indonesian government responded aggressively when Cupertino company fell a little way short of its promised spend in the country, and Apple seems extremely keen to resolve the matter …
Apple is set to resume iPhone sales in Indonesia in just two weeks, according to areport from KompasTekno. Apple previously sold iPhones in the highly populated country, but sales halted a couple of years ago due to new local requirements.
Jakarta, capital of Indonesia, the world’s fourth largest country by population
Apple has been granted the right to sell the iPhone 7 in Indonesia following an agreement to invest around $44M in an R&D center in the country, reports Reuters. The investment was first rumored in November, and has now been confirmed by a senior government official in a text message.
“Apple has committed around $44 million to invest in R&D over three years,” Suryawirawan said. “Therefore, they can distribute devices priced 6 million rupiah ($448) and above. That means all iPhones can be distributed.”
Indonesia is an extremely important market for Apple as the world’s fourth most populous country after China, India and the USA …
With the asian market a large and growing one for Apple, the company appears to be focusing on expanding its R&D efforts in the region. Following the announcement of multiple development centers in India and China, Indonesian site Tempo reports that Apple is to setup an R&D center in Jakarta sometime next year …
A crowd-funded project aims to use an iPhone-based malaria diagnosis kit to detect and treat the disease on the Indonesian island of Bangka. The team believes that early detection and treatment can enable the complete eradication of the disease from the island, and pave the way for larger-scale roll-outs in Africa.
We want to prove that we can have a significant effect on malaria case management throughout one of these regions. The first study of this kind will take place on Bangka Island in Indonesia. With this study, we have set ourselves the goal of eradicating malaria from the entirety of Bangka Island during malaria high season.
The IanXen RAPID kit comprises an iPhone with portable microscope attachment, blood slides and lancet pen. A blood drop is placed on the slide, examined through the microscope by an app with the result available within five seconds.
By enabling diagnosis to be carried out with fully portable kit and at a much lower cost than conventional equipment, IanXen hopes that it will be deployed much more widely.
3.3 billion people live at risk of malaria across 106 malaria-endemic countries. Although the risk is widespread, cases and deaths are concentrated in Africa. In 2010, over 80% of 216 million estimated cases and over 90% of 655,000 estimated deaths occurred in Africa.
Prompt diagnosis and effective treatment are the cornerstones of malaria case management; patients recover rapidly if diagnosed and treated early.
A donation of £5 ($8.50) helps fund the project and gets you a mention in the project’s twitter feed, with higher donation levels available.
Current ordering options for Indonesian customers on www.apple.com/id
Apple plans to create an online retail presence in Indonesia, according to a report from NZWeek (via TNW), as well as open its first retail location in the country with a new store in the capital city, Jakarta. Confirmation of the investment comes from the country’s Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM). It has approved Apple’s application to open up shop in the country, and the report claimed Apple is looking to invest $2 million to $3 million USD in the capital city of Jakarta to open its first brick-and-mortar retail location.
As noted in the report, Foxconn is investing $10 billion USD to open a new hardware manufacturing plant in Indonesia with construction slated to kick off this year. TNW pointed out that Apple actually sold products in Indonesia from 2008 to 2010 before stopping due to difficulties with shipping out of Singapore.
Update: Apple confirmed with an official press release (below) the store is launching in not only seven, but twelve new countries including: Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.
A new rumor claims Apple will host an event tomorrow for the launch of iTunes Store content in seven Asian regions.
e27 just published a report, which cited a “trusted source in the industry,” about Apple planning to host a launch event in Hong Kong for iTunes Store video content going live in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. While the current location is not confirmed, it is “close to the airport,” and the publication previously noted Apple invited Asian music label reps to Hong Kong for an unspecified June 27 launch event. Another report from Philippine-based blog Mister JonJon claimed access to movies, music, books, and movie rentals has already gone live for some.
A review of the localized iTunes Stores for the various countries reveals that movie listings have already gone live, and the navigation bars also contain listings for music, although the are not yet functional. TV shows are not listed as an option in the navigation bar, so it appears that they may not be included in the launch.
Movies and music in Apple’s iTunes Store are available in over 50 countries, with the most recent addition including Latin American countries in December, while App Store apps expanded just last week to 32 new territories.
