Japan’s e-commerce giant Rakuten announced today that it would acquire U.S.-based e-commerce portal Buy.com for USD250M. Buy.com will be a subsidiary wholly owned by Rakuten next month. Buy.com has 14 million consumers and more than 1,000 stores in North America. Rakuten is running e-commerce business in Taiwan[C] and Thailand[TH], and also preparing for launching… Continue reading Rakuten To Go Global By Acquiring Buy.com for USD250M
Category: Japan
Softbank Mobile Ties Up With 60 Restaurant & Coffee Shop Chains For More Public WiFi Spots
On Monday, Softbank Mobile announced it had agreed to partner with some 60 companies to provide their restaurant and coffee shop storefronts with the telco’s public WiFi service called Softbank WiFi spot[J]. The service’s subscribers are also allowed to use BB Mobile Point as well, which is a public WiFi service operated by the telco’s… Continue reading Softbank Mobile Ties Up With 60 Restaurant & Coffee Shop Chains For More Public WiFi Spots
Many iPad Loss Cases Are Reported At Int’l Shipping Phase
Prior to the iPad sales start in Japan which is scheduled on May 28th, some people who can’t help waiting for the day have ordered it on e-commerce sites based in the U.S. where it is already on sale. Japan Post have got many complaints from recipients that no iPad is enclosed in the parcel… Continue reading Many iPad Loss Cases Are Reported At Int’l Shipping Phase
TEDxTokyo 2010, Annual Ideas Spreading Conference Is Going On
TEDxTokyo, an independent local-based version of the world’s popular innovation conference, is now being held at Miraikan, Japan’s National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation[J]. This is the second edition of the conference which has been held in Tokyo, and all the sessions are bringing you all around the world via YouTube in English and… Continue reading TEDxTokyo 2010, Annual Ideas Spreading Conference Is Going On
What is iPad – Japanese dub in Hiroshima Dialect
Another great work on NicoNico Douga and YouTube. This is a presentation “What is iPad”. Not in English nor in typical Japanese but in Hiroshima dialect. You may not be able to find what is funny if you don’t understand Japanese but a dub made on this video is gaining lots of applause from Japanese… Continue reading What is iPad – Japanese dub in Hiroshima Dialect
CyberAgent Acquires 20% Stake In Chinese Android Development Firm mAPPn
The Japanese and Chinese web industries keep getting closer together. Yesterday Tokyo-based Internet behemoth CyberAgent (currently listed at the Tokyo Stock Exchange with a $1 billion market cap) announced it will take a 20% stake in mAPPn, an Android development firm with offices in China, Taiwan and the US (the press release in Japanese is… Continue reading CyberAgent Acquires 20% Stake In Chinese Android Development Firm mAPPn
April 2010 Japan IT Links (Part 2)
Continued from (Part 1) Second half of April news which we did not write as a dedicated article. Referred pages are all in Japanese, unless otherwise stated. First Twitter TV Drama Synopsis Twitter Drama’s First Episode Viewing Rate Was 11.9%, which is not so great Yahoo! Japan News Editorial Chief Published A Book “How to… Continue reading April 2010 Japan IT Links (Part 2)
Mobile Content Provider Voltage To List On Tokyo Stock Exchange Next Month
It’s time for another tech IPO in Japan. Voltage, a Tokyo-based mobile contents provider, has received approval to list on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s Mothers market on June 11 (code: 3639). The company plans to issue 200,000 new shares to the public, next to 220,000 shares coming from its existing shareholders. If demand is bigger… Continue reading Mobile Content Provider Voltage To List On Tokyo Stock Exchange Next Month
10-centimeter Cubic Satellite Keeps Tweeting From The Space
Nakasuga Lab., the University of Tokyo, introduced a bot account tweeting the real-time state of a satellite which is located in the earth low orbit. The tweet(@XI-V) keeps us update with parameters like the satellite’s surface temperature, battery voltage and where it is located over of the planet and also shows us still images shooting… Continue reading 10-centimeter Cubic Satellite Keeps Tweeting From The Space
Finally Google Out, Goo In On Half Of Japanese Cellphone
As I reported on Monday, NTT comrades – #1 cellphone carrier NTT Docomo and Japanese portal Goo owner NTT Resonant – tried to get back search initiative in Japanese mobile web by switching their i-mode iMenu mobile web search from Google on April 30th, but failed with (I guess by too much traffic) trouble and… Continue reading Finally Google Out, Goo In On Half Of Japanese Cellphone