As i suspected, the Yahoo acquisition helps Koprol land deal more smoothly especially with big brands. As Aulia Masna hinted, Koprol can actually cut a deal with Nexian, a mid-low handheld manufacturer with strong features and 25% market share. Recently Nexian launched Journey which is powered by Android, introducing a sophisticated modern mobile platform to a mid-lower level consumer.
This could actually be a good move for both Koprol and Nexian, Koprol gets more exposure to potential user and Nexian can get more localized app. Which can set them apart from their competitors such as Nokia and Samsung.
Koprol’s co-founder, Fajar, is also hinted about a potential SMS verification mechanism usage for the location based service. Not clear whether this is a separate mechanism from the potential partnership with Nexian or it’s a completely different partnership with telcos.
I personally think that going traditional can help Koprol to reach more user with traditional phones. I love Brightkite’s SMS-based checkins at a time my smartphone/internet connection is unreliable and i can switch using SMS for checkins. If Koprol could adopt this features and add more Social features into it, they could actually grow significantly.
