JAKARTA. Users of Korea-based messaging application Line are now just a chat away from ordering homegrown ride-hailing app Gojek’s services as the two startups have begun a mutually beneficial cooperation to serve Indonesia's growing smartphone market.
Indonesia-made Gojek chose Line as a partner to tap the messaging app's 30 million users in Indonesia, Gojek brand director Michaelangelo Moran said on Wednesday during the launch of the cooperation.
Line users were able to order Gojek starting from Wednesday.
Another reason for the partnership is that Gojek and Line are both Asia based with the latter also providing local content for Indonesian users, Moran said.
Gojek's initial focus upon teaming up with Line is to enhance user experience as they want to combine Indonesians’ messenger-app habits and their commuting habits through the collaboration.
"We expect that Gojek users will be able to order the service as fast as possible without having to exit from the Line application when they are chatting," Gojek founder and chief executive officer Nadiem Makarim said at the launch.
Money would come later, following the enhancement of user experiences, he added.
The service would apply to Gojek in big cities in Indonesia such as Jakarta, Bandung in West Java, Yogyakarta, Surabaya in East Java and Bali.
Gojek is Indonesia's leading transportation startup having been downloaded by more than five million users on Google Play and offers extensive services with its 200,000 drivers.
As of 2015, Indonesia was home to 52 million smartphone users according to digital marketing research agency Emarkerter, who predict the number will double by 2018.
This is not the first collaboration for messaging services, as US-based cab hailer Uber announced a collaboration with Facebook messenger through a new transportation feature in December.
Still, Gojek and Line’s partnership is Line’s first online-to-offline collaboration ever, Line global business manager Jinny Kim said on Wednesday. Line's previous collaborations have been online-to-online with Cathay Bank in Taiwan and Ocean Park in Hong Kong, Kim said.
Line states that it sees big potential in its cooperation with Indonesia's leading transportation app.
Kim added that after the soft launch of the Gojek service in Line in January, Gojek was the fastest to gain followers of any partner account Line has featured.
"In just five days the Gojek account in Line reached 500,000 followers and in 20 days over 15,000 orders has been made," Kim said.
Line features not only a messaging service, but also games and news. Gojek’s presence in the app will further widen the app’s function for Line's 30 million users in Southeast Asia's biggest economy, Kim said.
Users can use the service simply by adding Gojek to their friend list and opening the tap-to-order feature for Gojek.
Nadiem said he was not worried that users would divert to Line as orders could only be made for the Go-Ride feature of Gojek. Customers still need to use the Gojek app to order Gojek's other services such as Go-Food, Go-Box and Go-Send. (Anton Hermansyah)
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