Tomoko Namba, the CEO of Japanese mobile social gaming giant DeNA (and one of my personal heroes), gave a pretty interesting interview at web industry conference LeWeb’10 earlier this month. LeWeb organizer Loic LeMeur asked her for a full 20 minutes about her company’s history, present and future plans Namba, speaking in excellent English, doesn’t… Continue reading Video: DeNA CEO Tomoko Namba’s Interview at LeWeb’10
Author: Serkan Toto
Rakuten Enters Indonesia With “Rakuten BELANJA ONLINE”
Rakuten just doesn’t stop internationalizing. In May, we reported about the joint venture the Japanese e-commerce giant (market cap at the Tokyo Stock Exchange: $10 billion) entered with Indonesia’s biggest media company, Global Mediacom. And today, Rakuten announced the result of the deal, an online mall, which will be opened next year and give Indonesian… Continue reading Rakuten Enters Indonesia With “Rakuten BELANJA ONLINE”
Docomo To Unveil Feature Phone-Only App Store On Monday
Japan’s biggest business daily The Nikkei is reporting that the country’s leading mobile carrier, NTT Docomo, is to unveil a a new app store of sorts on Monday, December 6. The portal will offer 1,200 apps from the get-go, in addition to 1 million music titles and a total of 30,000 e-books – exclusively for… Continue reading Docomo To Unveil Feature Phone-Only App Store On Monday
Preview: 14 Startup Demos From The Infinity Ventures Summit In Kyoto Next Week
One of Japan’s biggest web industry events is the so-called Infinity Ventures Summit (IVS), a two-day, invitation-only event that takes place twice a year (Asiajin is a media partner). The fall event will happen in Kyoto next week, namely on December 7 and 8. Organized by VC firm Infinity Venture Partners, the IVS this time… Continue reading Preview: 14 Startup Demos From The Infinity Ventures Summit In Kyoto Next Week
More Employees, More Games: CyberAgent To Expand US Presence
Japanese Internet behemoth CyberAgent (listed with a $1.2 billion market cap) is ready to expand its activities in the US. The company today announced it will establish a development base in San Francisco this Wednesday (December 1) with the goal of creating smartphone apps for international markets. CyberAgent has been active in the US since… Continue reading More Employees, More Games: CyberAgent To Expand US Presence
Hit List: Japan’s Top 20 Products In 2010 (And 2011)
What are Japan’s top products in 2010? That’s a question Japan’s (and one of the world’s) biggest advertising agency Dentsu recently asked in a survey [PDF] it has been conducting since 1985 (n=1,000). For the first time, Dentsu has also compiled a “hit list” that’s supposed to shine a light on what’s going to be… Continue reading Hit List: Japan’s Top 20 Products In 2010 (And 2011)
Yahoo Japan And Online Fashion Store Zozotown Announce Tie-Up
Yesterday, Japan’s biggest website Yahoo Japan announced a tie-up with Chiba-based Start Today, operator of popular online fashion store Zozotown. Under the agreement, Yahoo has listed around 100,000 items from Zozotown’s catalogue in its Shopping category. As you can see on the screenshot below, big Y already began promoting Zozotown on its shopping site. If… Continue reading Yahoo Japan And Online Fashion Store Zozotown Announce Tie-Up
JAFCO Invests $6 Million In Japanese Groupon Clone Luxa
Like everywhere else, the Japanese market is full of Groupon clones. Market share-wise, the “original” Groupon (Groupon Japan) is leading after it acquired one of its local clones earlier this year. It’s followed by Piku, the first Groupon-like service in this country. But Japanese venture capital companies still see room for even more coupon services.… Continue reading JAFCO Invests $6 Million In Japanese Groupon Clone Luxa
Japan’s Itochu Invests In Hong Kong And Taiwanese E-Commerce Sites
Major Japanese trading (and Fortune 500) company Itochu is making a foray into the Asian e-commerce space. According to The Nikkei, Itochu made two investments recently, having bought into Hong Kong-based online shopping company Fortune Link (website is currently down) and Taiwan-based PChome. About 10% of each of these sites have been acquired by Itochu,… Continue reading Japan’s Itochu Invests In Hong Kong And Taiwanese E-Commerce Sites
Rakuten Brings “Super Points” Loyalty Program To Buy.Com
Japan’s biggest e-commerce company Rakuten, which currently boasts a market cap of US$9.7 billion, has been relatively quiet after having acquired US-based Buy.com earlier this year (for US$250 million). Now Buy.com is announcing it has introduced a loyalty program called “Rakuten Super Points” on its site. The way it works is pretty simple: much like… Continue reading Rakuten Brings “Super Points” Loyalty Program To Buy.Com