Hi App and its Optimism Seize "Business Cake" in Instant Messaging App

Local instant messaging app Hi App inaugurated its presence to the public on Tuesday (20/10) yesterday. As newcomers, they are quite optimistic that they can reap the cake in the instant messaging application business that is "biased" because it is controlled by outside players.

In writing DailySocial previously, one of the informants said that one of the root issues was why there was no application messaging dominant in their own country is not successful in creating a network effect (network effects), the most important part because this is the fundamental of the application messaging.

Network effects is an effect that makes users and those around them use the same application to communicate with each other.

Hi App has a view that to create this, it is correlated with the features it offers. Managing Director of Hi App Michelle Kusuma said, this feature is very important and creating it will not happen overnight.

“What element is missing in our society that could revolutionize the way we communicate with one another? There is no one absolute answer to this question and it will always evolve," Michelle told DailySocial.

The current and future development of the Hi App relies heavily on comprehensive data analysis and market research to determine which features will be particularly useful for the Indonesian market. The company will conduct surveys and interviews with various groups of people to gain a better understanding of the communication problems many people face in Indonesia.

Also, collaborate with communities according to their segmentation, so that users can try and recommend Hi App to people around them.

In Indonesia itself, there are currently several messaging applications made by local developers. Besides Hi App, there is ChatAja, liteBIG, Catfiz, and others. Even some who had been present in the market eventually fell.

Hi App features and targets

So far the features contained in Hi App are translator, organizer chat, share fillet, light and dark modes.

Product Specialist Hi App Fanny Febriani Susilo explained, the translator feature is presented for Indonesians who currently also interact with other people who do not speak Indonesian, so it becomes an obstacle when communicating. Currently, the languages ​​that can be translated are Indonesian to English and vice versa.

Then, features organizer chat which separates private and group chat rooms, so they don't get mixed up like similar apps that already exist. This is adjusted to the characteristics of Indonesians who tend to be communal, like to talk, and share information in groups.

To support user discretion in sharing fillet, Hi App provides a maximum shareable file capacity of 100 Mb. Users can share documents, photos and videos in their chat rooms.

Another aspect that Hi App pays attention to is making use of end-to-end encryption in a manner default for every message sent and never save the user's message in server in the usual format. This is to ensure data protection and user privacy.

Plus, implementing an identity system end-to-end secure by using phone number authentication via OTP verification. Fanny said, the Hi App application is designed to be very light, so it can be used smoothly on various types of cellphones, both Low-end to high-end.

"This application can already be installed on phones with a minimum operating system of Android 5.1 Lollipop and iOS 11."

Michelle continued, currently Hi App only plays in the B2C segment first, then proceeds to B2B. “The Hi App development team is currently working on the next feature that we hope will help businesses adapt.”

He can't reveal the feature yet, but he believes that the feature will be designed by considering the synergy between the formal and informal business sectors, especially regarding support for the micro, small and medium enterprises sector.

From this launch, he expects Hi App to be able to attract at least more than 700 thousand downloads by next year. "Forecasts like this may change as we release more features and analyze more market data going forward," he concluded.