Indonesian Instagram Users Now Can Print Photos on Instalogi

How can you take Instagram photos to the next level? Print them. Instalogi is a local printing service for your Instagram photos. It not only lets you print your Instagram photos, but also lets you have your own photobooks and stickers.

I met the founder, Kemas Dimas on our recent networking RoadTrip stop in Surabaya. He said Instalogi was started on one fine day when he randomly browsed the internet and bumped into the Printstagram site.

I realized that such a service hasn’t been created in Indonesia, it was very tempting to start a new one and become the first kind of service in Indonesia – the first Instagram printing service.

Is it a Prinstagram clone? He says, “It’s okay to say so.” And while Printstagram is good, it’s not a local startup, and the only way to pay for the service is through a credit card. And, because credit cards are not as widely used for online payment as it is in other countries, Instalogi might be the easiest way to print your Instagram photos.

The process is quite simple. You only need to sign in to your Instagram account on the Instalogi site, pick the best photos you’ve got, check out, pay, send a confirmation notice, and wait until your masterpieces are delivered to your place.

Although this service seems promising, Kemas didn’t reveal how many users Instalogi has had so far, but he notes that since it opened to the public on September 1st, there have been “quite a few transactions recorded.” It’ll be interesting to see how many transactions the startup will get in one year.

We all know that Instagram has a huge community worldwide, including Indonesia. And Instalogi has already gotten close to the local Instagram community. Kemas says, “We are currently holding an event with the biggest iPhone based photography community in Indonesia, iPhonesia.”

So what’s next? “We’re developing the mobile web version of our site,” he added, “And we’re also progressing in forming a cooperation with one of the new Indonesian-based T-shirt startups.”

Indonesia is, of course, a unique market, so it indeed needs a different strategy. They might be the first, but I think it won’t take so long to see the second or the third print service appear. Then the competition will be more tough.

Also, Instagram is kind of a new service to the country, limited to just iPhone and Android – not the broader swathe of BlackBerry and feature phone users. So Instalogi needs to spread the word of its existence and wait for Instagram – and new smartphones – to take off even more.