SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son Donates $120 million In Quake Aid, Live On Ustream

SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son is known to like to think big, and the announcement he made today is no exception: Son said that he will donate a total of 10 billion yen ($120 million) of his personal money to the victims of the quake and tsunami that hit Japan on March 11. Son made the… Continue reading SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son Donates $120 million In Quake Aid, Live On Ustream

Japan To Get Disney Android

Disney Mobile announced [J] to release new Android 2.2 smartphone in February. Disney Mobile is one of few successful MVNOs in Japan. Since 2008, they sell Disney feature phones [J] using Japan #3 Softbank Mobile network. This time they have not opened on which carriers the Disney smartphone works yet. But the silhouette seems to… Continue reading Japan To Get Disney Android

CyberAgent Rumored To Buy Off Tokyo-Based Baseball Team Yakult Swallows

Japanese sports newspaper Nikkan Sports reported [J] on December 4th, Saturday morning that Tokyo Yakult Swallows, one of 12 professional baseball team in Japan’s top league Nippon Professional Baseball(NPB), is planning to sell itself to web service company CyberAgent (Asiajin), which runs Ameba blog, Pigu(Japan)/Pico(US), etc. Yakult, a beverage company who owns and has been… Continue reading CyberAgent Rumored To Buy Off Tokyo-Based Baseball Team Yakult Swallows

Softbank Sends 6 Walking WiFi Ninja To Comiket To Cover Up Cellphone Demand

The 78th Comiket(Comic Market), the world’s largest self-published comic book fair, was held again this summer in Tokyo bay side. This summer, there were 35,000 groups had booths and 560,000 people visited the fair for 3 days. As such many people gather in a huge but single conference hall, logistics are always problem. Convenience stores… Continue reading Softbank Sends 6 Walking WiFi Ninja To Comiket To Cover Up Cellphone Demand

Softbank To Launch JV With Zynga To Spread Social Games In Japan

On Thursday, Softbank had a briefing on the first quarter financial result of FY2010, and unveiled they would invest in Zynga Game Network and launch a joint venture called Zynga Japan.   Softbank and Zynga will make capital contributions on a 50-50 basis.  Softbank’s CEO Masayoshi Son says, it is expected to launch a social game… Continue reading Softbank To Launch JV With Zynga To Spread Social Games In Japan

Softbank To Stop Further Development Of Japan-Made Mobile Technology And To Take Chinese 4G Standard?

Softbank, a Japanese telecom and media company who will take over the next-generation PHS service called XGP[J] from the service’s predecessor Willcom in corporate reorganization proceedings, is reportedly considering to adopt China Mobile‘s TD-LTE standard instead for the service in Japan, several Japanese news sources reported. If Softbank adopts TD-LTE, Softbank’s subscribers in Japan and… Continue reading Softbank To Stop Further Development Of Japan-Made Mobile Technology And To Take Chinese 4G Standard?

Yahoo! Japan And Taobao To Connect Their Shopping Networks This Summer

Nikkei reported [J, subscription required] that Yahoo! Japan and Taobao are discussing to interconnect their shopping services between Japan and China in summer. Yahoo! Japan holds Yahoo! Shopping, No.2 online shopping service after Rakuten Ichiba. Taobao is China’s largest shopping site in Alibaba group. Yahoo! Japan and Alibaba are related via the common investor Softbank.… Continue reading Yahoo! Japan And Taobao To Connect Their Shopping Networks This Summer

January 2010 Japan-IT Links (part 2)

News on the latter half of January 2010 which we did not write as a dedicated article. Part 1 is here. Referred pages are all in Japanese, unless otherwise stated. METI Lottery In Exchange For Used Cellphone Campaign Collaborates Hatsune Miku Chinese Guy In Saitama Arrested By Providing Proxy Servers For Chinese Gamers To Play… Continue reading January 2010 Japan-IT Links (part 2)

New Ustream Investor Softbank 3Q Results Briefing Starts On The Web Now

I have just read the breaking news that Softbank invests $75 million to Ustream Inc., live video streaming service. When Softbank will exercise all option, it will be the lead investor with over 30%. Yesterday, Softbank announced that they would broadcast their third quoter results report over several different channels like follows, Softbank Website Yahoo!… Continue reading New Ustream Investor Softbank 3Q Results Briefing Starts On The Web Now

iPhone 3G Is Still As Popular As 3GS in Japan

BCN’s cellphone sales ranking, which once was used to declare iPhone triumph in Japan, showed interesting status these weeks. Last week, iPhone 3G (8G) sales was ranked at the 3rd, whilst the latest 3GS (32G) ranked at the 4th. This week 3GS (32GB) takes back the highest position among iPhones ranked by 5th. 3G (8G)… Continue reading iPhone 3G Is Still As Popular As 3GS in Japan