Informations about cooking and where to find restaurants are increasingly becoming attractive commodity in the mobile realm. Launched in late July, with the official launching ceremony on last Saturday, Detikcom, under PT Agranet Multicitra Siberkom, released an “Makan Apa” (What To Eat) application for 3 mobile platform, BlackBerry, Android, and iOS (iPhone & iPad). Everything is available for free. The application doesn’t need much, you just have to use BlackBerry OS 5, Android 1.6, or IOS version 3.0. Previously, Detikcom has issued “Makan di Mana” (Where To Eat) for those 3 mobile platform.

As a leading online media in Indonesia, Detikcom seems to be more aggressive in making mobile applications. The reason is none other that the more rapid growth of mobile penetration compared to desktops in the country which caused such great potential for mobile. However, for the time being this is a new implementation in the smart phones area.

Detikcom has made a special Mobile Apps portal that lists what applications created by Detikcom and for what platform. However, it seems that Detikcom only the focus on 3 platform, BlackBerry, Android, and IOS (iPhone or iPad).

Aside from “Makan Apa”, the closest competitors which cover cooking recipes including “Sajian Sedap” from Kompas-Gramedia, “Selera Nusantara” from Apps-Foundry, and Sedapur [the latter is web-based only for the moment]. The most appropriate monetization concept here is of course B2B, in cooperation with a number of FMCG companies engaged in this business. For me monetization in this area is quite interesting because the chances are quite extensive and not many companies engaged in this segment has gone online.

Of course reading recipes from a 3-inch wide screen while cooking is certainly not as comfortable as if you read a recipe book. As for me, tablets would be the most fitting platform for this application.

For the time being, “Selera Nusantara” is the only application that has been implemented for iPad. But of course there are special considerations of why developers prefer to launch their applications for smartphones, including the consideration that the amount of penetration of 3 mobile platform is greater than tablets. If you’re interested, you can access the links above directly. Happy fasting and vary your fast-breaking and sahur (pre-dawn meal) menu with this application.