Viki Video App Comes Pre-Installed on Smartfren Android Devices

From the left: Danny Ritonga (PT Ironroad International), Eddy Lim (Liga Game), Dellawati Wijaya (Viki Inc.), Herman Suharto (Smartfren).

International video site Viki announced a partnership with Indonesian telco, handset manufacturer, and internet provider Smartfren a couple of days ago. The deal will see all Smartfren Android smartphones and tablets come pre-installed with Viki’s apps. Viki will also benefit from visibility on Smartfren’s USB modem through its user interface screen.

Viki is rapidly solidifying its presence in Indonesia. Previously the startup partnered with telcos Axis and Three, handset maker Nexian, and Samsung on its Smart TVs. The site now has a total of 15 million users worldwide, with two million of them part of Viki’s subtitle community.

Viki was one of four new Smartfren features announced yesterday. The other three are:

• A similar pre-install partnership deal with video messaging app VMS (Video Messaging Service)
• Smartfren’s daily deals to be called Smartkupon, which will enables users to receive discounts from Smartfren’s merchants
• Smartfren Games Credits, allowing users to top up their online game credits directly using Smartfren’s credits or top-up vouchers.

Regarding this last addition, Detik cites Smartfren’s Herman Suharto yesterday as saying that they now have 15,000 unique gamers who spend around IDR 11,000 ($1.14) every month. Smartfren claims that the total revenue from its digital games business reaches IDR 35 billion ($3.6 million) every year, with Smartfren receiving 20 to 30 percent of the income. The team is looking to add eight more game titles next month, accounting for a tally of total 30 game titles this year.