morning – mobile learning application

“It’s always morning, for learning”

Morning! merupakan aplikasi yang dikembangkan PT. ConverGain Indonesia untuk keperluan penyampaian layanan pendidikan kepada masyarakat dengan media perangkat bergerak (ponsel dan PDA). Morning! tidak hanya mengenai teknologi atau menyediakan layanan, tetapi juga mengenai paradigma perubahan nature pendidikan ke arah pembelajaran yang dapat dilakukan dimanapun dan kapanpun. Aplikasi yang dikembangkan diarahkan sebagai portal pendidikan berbasis mobile di mana pengguna dapat mengakses berbagai pengetahuan dengan berbagai fitur.

Lalu apa yang menjadi dasar pemikiran dikembangkannya morning!? Berikut adalah poin penting yang membentuk konsep morning!.

• Mendukung aktivitas pendidikan di Indonesia.
  • Memberikan kemudahan atau menciptakan sarana belajar yang seluas-luasnya. Sistem morning! dapat diterapkan pada skala nasional. Apabila diupayakan materi pelajaran pada morning! adalah materi pelajaran yang berkualitas, dengan cara penyampaian yang baik, maka melalui sistem ini kita dapat mendorong pemerataan kualitas pendidikan di Indonesia.
  • Menerapkan paradigma pembelajaran yang dapat dilakukan dimanapun dan kapanpun dengan lebih mandiri dan interaktif.
  • Penggunaan media baru dalam belajar, diharapkan dapat memberikan experience yang baru dan menarik bagi pelajar, sehingga pada akhirnya dapat meningkatkan semangat belajarnya. Persepsi “belajar adalah menyenangkan” dapat ditanamkan melalui penerapan aplikasi ini.
• Terdapat faktor pendorong yang memperbesar kesempatan penerapan morning! sebagai sebuah kecenderungan baru dalam belajar.
  • Tingkat penetrasi perangkat bergerak yang sangat tinggi, dengan spesifikasi teknis yang sangat memadai.
  • Tingkat penggunaan perangkat bergerak yang relatif mudah.
  • Harga perangkat yang semakin terjangkau, dibanding perangkat komputer personal.

Pada ajang lomba tingkat nasional IWIC 2008 yang diselenggarakan Indosat baru-baru ini, morning! yang dibawakan oleh Indra Purnama mendapatkan juara pertama pada kategori pengembangan software aplikasi solusi. Apa yang menarik dari aplikasi pembelajaran morning! ini? Morning! adalah aplikasi yang sangat layak untuk diimplementasikan dan dipercaya mampu memberikan sumbangsih yang tidak kecil bagi dunia pendidikan Indonesia, mengingat:

• Jumlah siswa SMP & SMU yang sangat besar, lebih dari 13 juta siswa seluruh Indonesia (sumber : http://www.depdiknas.go.id).
• Tingkat penetrasi telepon seluler di Indonesia yang mencapai lebih dari 46 juta pengguna (sumber : http://www.nationmaster.com), dengan jumlah nomor yang beredar per tanggal 31 Januari 2008 sebanyak 96,41 juta nomor (sumber : http://www.antara.co.id).
• Dominasi teknologi J2ME (teknologi implementasi morning! versi mobile) pada telepon seluler yang beredar di Indonesia, sangat tinggi, yaitu lebih dari 74% (sumber : http://www.getjar.com).

Selain itu, morning! memiliki banyak fitur, yang semuanya mendukung pembelajaran. Khusus untuk fitur-fitur morning! dan bearer komunikasi yang digunakan, akan dijelaskan pada tulisan selanjutnya.

Sumber: Indra Purnama dan Budi Daryatmo

Untuk info lebih lanjut hubungi: indra@convergain.com atau 0816602323

KINASIH Naila Purnama

There was a time.. I was everything and nothing all at once..

(Something about the way you looked tonight – Elton John)

—

In career, I am currently nobody. But in life, I am pretty sure I am already somebody. I am a husband, and on my way to be the perfect one. And having Kinasih three days ago made me feel more than just being somebody… I am everything, I have everything.

—

My wife, Irma, always wanted to give birth normally. She took the pregnant exercise everyday during her last 2 months of pregnancy. On the day that Kinasih was born, Irma had already tried to give the normal birth. The process was started at 2 PM. She had a contraction and her fetal membrane (ketuban) had already broken. By observing her belly, all of the nurses and doctors predicted that the contraction must be very painful. It makes me realized that my wife is actually a very strong woman, since she always kept silent during the process. She made no sigh at all.

The contraction continued until 10 PM,

DO WE NEED Carefour? Do we lack of self-confidence?

Indonesians had been doing trading and selling for several centuries, perhaps more than a millennium. Indeed for some ethnics of Indonesia, trading and selling are highly correlated with them and almost being their middle name, ha ha. Let’s name it: Padang, Tasik, Solo, Indonesian Chinese, Indonesian Arabic, and many other ethnics. They had played a great role in selling and trading in Indonesia -if it can not be said to be dominating-, even though most of them do their business in conventional markets. Their significant roles can be found in each levels of the selling / distribution chain.

Some of them had successfully transformed their trading business into a kind of powerful modern market as well. Yogya Supermarket & Department Store is one of the examples. Yogya is a dominant player for modern market in West Java, with hundreds of outlets spreading across the province. It is becoming the main choice for most families due to their aggregate-lower price; since we all know that some retailer extremely lowering the price only for best seller products, while keeping other products’ prices normal or even higher.

The previous description showed us that Indonesians are highly capable for running a retail business; even more, they have been proven. In fact, retail business is quite a simple business. It is not requiring specific knowledge and technology as many other businesses might require -like mining, chemical and telecommunication.

If Indonesians can do it, so why are there many foreign retailers in Indonesia then?

MARKETING Fee’ Misleading: When Someone is a Marketer and a Buyer at the Same Time

Marketing fee is a reward being given to someone who generates sales transactions, i.e. marketer, on per transaction basis. It is a win-win solution for both marketer and the company, since marketers are rewarded based on their achievement and the company is subjected to only variable, not fixed, costs to trigger marketer for being productive.

But what happens in business today (esp. in Indonesia) is the misleading of the ‘marketing fee’ term. Not only to marketers, company gives also marketing fee to someone in client organization who made decision whether or not to use the solution being offered.

A MARKET Leadership of Jamu Tolak Angin

If you have read the topic about Coca Cola and Teh Botol Sosro (you better read the article first), you will find that Jamu Tolak Angin did something that Coca Cola should have done.

Several years ago, Jamu Tolak Angin created a tagline Orang Pintar Minum Jamu Tolak Angin which is used up to now. The tagline to me is just so-so, nothing special.

WHEN the International Giant had to follow the Local Champion

It was in 1997, when I was in the high school, that I first knew that Coca Cola is nothing compared to Teh Botol Sosro for sales volume in Indonesia. For those who have never come to Indonesia Teh Botol Sosro is the first and market leader for ready-to-drink tea in bottle packing in Indonesia. While for someone who have ever stayed in Indonesia for more than 2 days, I am sure they know the product.

At that time, I was looking for a sponsorship for an event held by our student body, and Coca Cola was one of our targets. After a while, we met the person in charge for promotion in Bandung area. We then presented our proposal, explaining the concept and sponsorship cooperation being offered. The PIC responded our explanation by only one sentence “You should go to Sosro, their budget is much higher,.. several times of ours”.

TOPIC of the age

What did you ask to your friend when you met them? It’s depend on your age, isn’t it? While you were eighteen, you might ask to your friends “which college are you heading?”. Probably, while you were 23 years old, you might ask “Hey,.. have you graduated? Where are you working now? What about our friend Paijo,.. has he graduated as well? Where is he working now?”.

The topic is always changing, following the biggest issue in our daily life at that time. While we were teenager, the biggest issue must be about love and education. The topic was changing to carrier when we reached mid twenties. Late twenties to mid thirties is all about carrier,.. and so on.. and so on.

But it was shocking to know what the topic will be when we were above 70s.

WHAT makes Hady Mirza be the 1st Asian Idol

What do you think that makes Hadi Mirza won the Asian Idol? Cute face? Nice voice? Or interference from cellular operators (since Singapore is dominating some of the ASEAN cellular operators, and the voting was only held over the SMS)?

Cute face is quite makes sense. Nice voice,.. mmm.. most of the judges said that whether Malaysian, Philippines or Indonesian that have a great chance to be an Asian Idol, but not Singaporean. An interference from cellular operators? Mmm.. I think that’s too far.