Facebook, which opened a Tokyo office back in February this year, has just pushed out the long-awaited “optimized” version for Japanese “feature phones”. Well, kind of, as the company itself isn’t too sure about the result and is quite cautious in the wording of the announcement (see screenshot below). The site can be accessed through… Continue reading BREAKING: Facebook Rolls Out Special Mobile Version For Japanese Feature Phones
Author: Serkan Toto
Mixi To Enter Asia, The US And Europe
Earlier this week, I read a quite interesting interview Fumiaki Koizumi, the CFO of Japan’s biggest social network Mixi, gave to the Nikkei (the country’s leading business daily). In the interview, Koizumi touches upon a few interesting points on how Mixi wants to internationalize after all these years. Here’s a summary: Mixi now has over… Continue reading Mixi To Enter Asia, The US And Europe
UPDATE: In English: All 32 Japanese Startups On The Vote List For “WISH 2010”
UPDATE August, 30: WISH 2010 is over, Akky covered the event here, and I changed the article below accordingly. I was very impressed with WISH 2009, a startup demo event organized last year by Tokyo-based online marketing and advertising company Agile Media Network (basically Japan’s version of Federated Media); here‘s my full report over on… Continue reading UPDATE: In English: All 32 Japanese Startups On The Vote List For “WISH 2010”
Report: Rakuten To Link Japan And Taiwan Online Malls
Japan’s biggest business daily, The Nikkei, today reports that the country’s biggest e-commerce company, Rakuten, is planning to links its Japanese and Taiwanese online malls so that customers from these countries can order products from both Japan- and Taiwan-based merchants. According to the paper, the integration will take place by the end of this year.… Continue reading Report: Rakuten To Link Japan And Taiwan Online Malls
“Top 50 Apps In Asia”: Help Accelerate 2010 Identify The Best Asia-Related Mobile And Web Apps
Can you think of a great mobile or web application that’s either made in an Asian country or specifically geared towards users in this region? Or have you developed such an application yourself? Then you should nominate and/or vote for your favorite app in the “Top 50 Apps In Asia” program that e27, a startup… Continue reading “Top 50 Apps In Asia”: Help Accelerate 2010 Identify The Best Asia-Related Mobile And Web Apps
DeNA (Mobage-town) Shuts Down Social Game “Bandit Nation” On Facebook
Back in May, Japan’s mobile gaming juggernaut DeNA ($3.8 billion market cap at the Tokyo Stock Exchange) took a serious step to bring Mobage-town (its highly successful mobile game community) global. DeNA formed a separate company for that endeavor (MiniNation KK) and localized a total of four games for Non-Japanese players, which were offered to… Continue reading DeNA (Mobage-town) Shuts Down Social Game “Bandit Nation” On Facebook
Japan’s Mobile Web Market Now Worth $17 billion. Virtual Items: $500 million.
Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications published an interesting report [PDF] about the country’s market for mobile content and services this week. According to the ministry, that market grew by 12% to hit 1.52 trillion yen ($17.3 billion) last year, including mobile advertising. The $17.3 billion breaks down into mobile commerce, which was worth… Continue reading Japan’s Mobile Web Market Now Worth $17 billion. Virtual Items: $500 million.
GREE’s operating profit jumps 130% to $222 million in last fiscal
Japan’s mobile social gaming giant GREE is becoming so successful, it’s scary. According to Japanese daily The Nikkei, the Tokyo-based company’s operating profit ballooned to 19.5 billion yen ($222 million) in the fiscal year that ended in June. That’s $17 million more than the company expected and a whopping 130% more than in the year… Continue reading GREE’s operating profit jumps 130% to $222 million in last fiscal
GREE Opens Its Platform, Attracts 30 Game Companies From The Start
Major Japanese mobile gaming social network GREE has taken a significant step yesterday: it’s now possible [PDF] for third parties to release games on the site (the move was announced back in January). Before, GREE offered its almost 20 million users self-developed titles only, meaning the company doubled as a platform and content provider. It… Continue reading GREE Opens Its Platform, Attracts 30 Game Companies From The Start
Mixi Introduces New Function To Find And Connect With Colleagues
Japan’s biggest social network Mixi (which crossed the 20 million member mark in April) may have just found yet another way to expand its user base and boost engagement. Mixi yesterday introduced a new function that makes it possible to find colleagues from your company on the site and befriend them. Background: Unlike Facebook and… Continue reading Mixi Introduces New Function To Find And Connect With Colleagues