Business daily The Nikkei says it learned that Amazon Japan, the country’s second-biggest e-commerce company, is planning to finally offer its e-book reader Kindle to Japanese customers. According to the paper, Amazon is expected to launch Kindle devices in April this year “for less than 20,000 yen” (US$257). Apparently, the Kindle Touch will be positioned… Continue reading Report: Amazon To Bring Kindle To Japan In April
Author: Serkan Toto
D2 Communications Acquires 0.9% Stake In Tokyo-Based Ubiqituous Entertainment
Japan’s largest mobile marketing and advertising firm, D2 Communications (D2C), has acquired a 0.9% stake in Tokyo-based Ubiqituous Entertainment (UEI). D2C acquired a total of 400 UEI shares – other financial details of the deal, which was officially announced [JP] today, weren’t disclosed. In April last year, the two companies started a program called 9leap… Continue reading D2 Communications Acquires 0.9% Stake In Tokyo-Based Ubiqituous Entertainment
Video: Girl Band JKT48 (AKB48’s Sister Band) Promoting Rakuten In Indonesia
JKT48, the Indonesian sister band of ultra-popular Japanese girl group AKB48 (Asiajin), is promoting Rakuten Belanja Online, Rakuten’s joint venture with Jakarta-based media powerhouse PT Global Mediacom, on Indonesian TV. In the 30-second commercial, various members of the group can be seen wearing different clothes and accessories and using gadgets – and apparently all items can… Continue reading Video: Girl Band JKT48 (AKB48’s Sister Band) Promoting Rakuten In Indonesia
Social Illustration Service Pixiv Hits 4 Million Members
Pixiv, the most popular of Japan’s many social drawing services, announced [ENG] it hit an amazing four million registered users last Saturday (January 28). It took the site, which launched on September 10 in 2007, exactly 1,602 days to reach that milestone. That’s about 2,500 users per day – not bad at all, especially for… Continue reading Social Illustration Service Pixiv Hits 4 Million Members
Motto TV: Japan Gets New Video-On-Demand Service
Hulu Japan, actvila, and other existing video content providers are getting competition soon: a total of seven Japanese companies are currently preparing a video-on-demand service for connected TVs that’s scheduled to launch on April 2 this year. Dubbed “Motto TV” [JP, PDF], the service is backed by: advertising agency Dentsu Nippon Television Network TV Asahi… Continue reading Motto TV: Japan Gets New Video-On-Demand Service
Yahoo! Box: Yahoo! Japan’s Online Storage Service Tops One Million Users
As the country’s biggest website, Yahoo Japan is constantly rolling out new products like mobile apps, social networking services or games. Some of them fail, and some of them turn out to be successful: Yahoo Box!, the online storage solution Yahoo Japan launched in October, belongs to the latter group. The company pushed out a… Continue reading Yahoo! Box: Yahoo! Japan’s Online Storage Service Tops One Million Users
Himasere: Geeky Home Screen Replacement App For Android
If you’re an Android user, consider yourself a geek, understand Japanese, and need an appropriate home replacement screen on your handset, consider downloading Himasere. The app was released on the Android Market earlier this week by Tokyo-based tech company Ubiquitous Entertainment. The idea here is to make it as easy as possible to access technology-related… Continue reading Himasere: Geeky Home Screen Replacement App For Android
5 Trends In Japan’s Web And Mobile Worlds In 2011
2011 is over – reason enough to take a look at some of the key trends that shaped Japan’s web, mobile, and gaming industries last year. I could think, in no particular order, of five major developments that made a significant impact last year: March 11 Triple Disaster The triple disaster that hit Japan on… Continue reading 5 Trends In Japan’s Web And Mobile Worlds In 2011
Presentation: DeNA, Mobage, GREE – Demystifying Japan’s Social Gaming Market
A few weeks ago, I gave a presentation on Japan’s social gaming sector, in which I am analyzing some key areas and companies (especially DeNA and GREE) of this rapidly growing industry. In particular, the presentation is focused on the local social gaming market, the differences to markets in the US and elsewhere, and future… Continue reading Presentation: DeNA, Mobage, GREE – Demystifying Japan’s Social Gaming Market
Japan Gets Its Own YouTube Movie Rental Service
So far, only YouTube users from Canada, the US and (since October) the UK were able to rent movies, but yesterday, Japan has finally been added to the list, too (the country is the second biggest market for movies in the world). Youtube users in Japan can initially stream content from a total of five… Continue reading Japan Gets Its Own YouTube Movie Rental Service