Through "Google for Indonesia", Google Offers a Variety of Product Innovations and Development Activities

Yesterday (04/12) Google Indonesia announced some information about product innovation and activity achievements through an event titled Google for Indonesia. Managing Director of Google Indonesia Randy Jusuf said, throughout 2018 Google Indonesia has carried out a series of activities, not only helping users access information more easily, but also helping SMEs develop their businesses.

"So far, Google Indonesia has trained as many as 110 thousand people developer in Indonesia, trained more than 1 million SME owners. The target is that by 2020, Google can increase that number to 2 million," said Randy.

Not only that, Google Indonesia's initiative also includes a mission to bring healthy internet to users. Google has trained 2000 journalists through the Google News Initiative program, next year the target will be increased to 3000 journalists. The training is also related to verification of inspections and verification of news to combat hoax.

In the social sector, through its philanthropic organization, Google.org, it provides grants to organizations in the education sector with a total value of $875.000. Some of these organizations include the Maarif Institute, Peace Generation, RuangGuru and Love Frankie; to teach 12 thousand students about tolerance, multiculturalism, and positive values ​​in life.

Launched Google Go and Google Search development

In their presentations, several representatives from Google conveyed the latest products that users in Indonesia can now enjoy. One of which is Google Go. The application is claimed to be lighter than browser, but has complete quality and technology. There are also similar applications to access video content, namely: YouTube Go.

Google Go also comes with Google Assistant. Also equipped with AI technology, helping owners smartphone Newbies who are first time accessing search engines find various sites and applications easily.

To make it easier for users to access Google Search, currently a new feature offers easier access to information for Indonesian citizens. This was done because of the lack of information available on the Google search engine specifically for the Indonesian language.

"More than half of online content is available in English, but only 1 percent of web content is in Indonesian. To make up for this shortcoming, we collaborated with Wikipedia to make English-language content accessible and useful for Indonesians," said Google's Product Management Director. Search Ken Tokusei.

Now the Google Search system will identify Wikipedia articles that are relevant and only available in English, translate them into Indonesian using the system neural machine translation, then bring up the article in Google Search.

Job search and Google Assistant development

Another feature developed is job vacancies on Google Search. In particular, Google has categorized job options for users based on the latest vacancies, nearby locations, types of jobs, to the distribution of cities. Job seekers can also get notifications about relevant job vacancies.

To market the Google Assistant feature, Google also completes several features that can help users access Google Go in the application and on the internet browser. Among them are embedding the Book a Ride feature, connecting users to the application ride hailing as Gojek and Grab, without having to open the associated app and type in a location.

Also attending the event was CEO Gojek Nadiem Makarim. It welcomes Google Assistant integration with Gojek, especially with regard to voice commands. According to Nadiem so far Gojek already has a fairly good collaboration with Google, by utilizing Maps technology and others. Next Gojek also plans to expand collaboration by utilizing other features that are already present in Indonesia.

"Public transportation problems can be overcome by combining existing technology Gojek and Google, utilizing user data to improve people's lives," said Nadiem.

In addition to integration with Gojek, Google also presents a special Google Assistant for Indosat Ooredoo users. Only by accessing Google, Indosat Ooredoo users can get help from the Google assistant to easily manage their quota and monitor their monthly bills.

Meanwhile for Google Maps which is a favorite feature in browser has been equipped with information real-time the position of the Transjakarta bus that can be. Previously Google Maps has also presented information real-time position commuter line in Jabodetabek. Google Maps is now also equipped with a destination location notification when you have to get off the vehicle.

Immediately launch the phone feature cheap WizPhone

To make it easier for various groups of people to access the internet easily, in the near future Google will launch the first Indonesian-made cellphone equipped with Google Assistant named WizPhone.

The cellphone, which can later be purchased at Alfamart, is sold at a price of 99 thousand Rupiah. Even though it is very affordable, WizPhone is equipped with a full range of applications such as YouTube, Facebook, Google Maps, and browser.

WizPhone uses Kaios, a lightweight mobile operating system that delivers sophisticated applications and services inside a mid-range phone. KaiOS allows feature phone and IoT devices to deliver user experience which is good for users, although it has memory limitations.

According to Scott Huffman, Engineering Lead of Google Assistant, the launch of WizPhone was deliberately done to help the middle class get easy and affordable internet access.