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“Are you sentient?” I was compelled to ask ChatGPT, the latest AI work that’s got everyone talking and educators fretting. A prompt “No, I am not,” came out of OpenAI’s chatbot, which was recently reported to have passed MBA, law, and medical exams.
I’d been dragging my feet on testing this tech, but when I finally got down to it, I was astounded. The speed at which it produced relatively good quality content is both exciting and scary.
A tool that’s likely to have a wide array of use cases truly feels disruptive. ChatGPT’s creators have even been enlisted by BuzzFeed to enhance its quizzes and personalize some content for its audiences, sending its shares up over 300% over the last five trading days.
Although new technology constantly pushes the boundaries of what’s possible, ecommerce platform Blibli has chosen to bank on Apple’s iPhone – an over 15-year-old disruptor – to leave a mark in Indonesia, the world’s fourth-largest smartphone market.
In today’s featured piece, Tech in Asia explores how bagging the Apple Authorized Reseller (AAR) status was important for Blibli to compete in Indonesia’s cutthroat ecommerce space. The article also analyzes how the potentially lucrative opportunity aligns with the firm’s ultimate goal of becoming an omnichannel heavyweight.
Further, the premium story uncovers why Blibli prioritizes omnichannel supremacy in a starkly different manner compared with its substantially larger rivals, which have primarily leveraged an online-to-offline model that caters to warungs, or roadside mom-and-pop stores, via a “mitra” service.
Today we look at:
- How iPhones could put Blibli in the black
- A social media app catching fire in Southeast Asia
- Other newsy highlights such as Sea Group’s plans in Malaysia mission and Grab’s new C-suite exec
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Opportunity knocks
Image credit: Timmy Loen
Aside from Blibli, there are only five other retailers in Indonesia that have AAR status, and all of them primarily operate offline. This creates a potentially money-making opportunity for the marketplace in Southeast Asia’s largest economy.
The firm, which is backed by Indonesian conglomerate Djarum Group, hopes to leverage the niche it has carved among affluent consumers to dominate the archipelago’s smartphone market.
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