Three of Japan’s four biggest mobile carriers, namely NTT Docomo, KDDI au, and eAccess, are about to make it easier for their combined subscriber base of roughly 90 million people to exchange emails with other. The plan is to standardize the display of emoticons, or emoji in Japanese, across handsets offered by the three networks. As… Continue reading Three Of Japan’s Top Telcos Standardize Display Of Email Emoticons
Category: News
Rakuten To Dissolve Lekutian In China, Joint-Mall With Baidu
Japan’s largest e-mall company Rakuten today announced [J] that they would shut down its Chinese e-mall Lekutian(rakuten.cn) planned in May, 2012. Rakuten jointly established Lekutian with China’s search engine giant Baidu in January 2010, and began the mall in October 2010. The reason is explained as Lekutian did not show the growth they had expected,… Continue reading Rakuten To Dissolve Lekutian In China, Joint-Mall With Baidu
Jeff Bezos Wants Amazon Japan’s Sales To Grow 30%, Bring Kindle Over This Year
There can be no doubt that with a US$15 billion market cap, 75 million user accounts in Japan alone, and over 10,000 employees worldwide, the 800-pound gorilla in Japan’s e-commerce sector is Rakuten. Amazon Japan however, launched as early as 2000 (3 years later than Rakuten) continues to be a formidable opponent for the country’s… Continue reading Jeff Bezos Wants Amazon Japan’s Sales To Grow 30%, Bring Kindle Over This Year
Hulu Japan Cuts Price 2/3 To 980 Yen
Hulu Japan lowered its subscription fee from monthly 1,480 yen (US$18.3) to 980 yen (US$12.1) . 2 weeks ago, Hulu Japan succeeded to receive contents first from major national broadcast network’s key station, TV Tokyo, though the network is the weakest one among 5 private networks. At the launch, it was essentially an online video… Continue reading Hulu Japan Cuts Price 2/3 To 980 Yen
FxCamera: Tokyo-Based Bitcellar Buys Popular Android Photo App
Tokyo-based photo storage service startup Bitcellar today announced it has acquired FxCamera, the biggest camera app on Android phones at the moment: according to the company, FxCamera currently boasts 15 million registered users around the world. Details of the deal weren’t disclosed. Morifumi Yamashita, who single-handedly developed the app, has joined Bitcellar’s board and plans… Continue reading FxCamera: Tokyo-Based Bitcellar Buys Popular Android Photo App
NHK Starts News Program Interacts With Twitter Messages By Watchers
In Japan, April is the start of school year, and many TV programs also begin this season. Japan’s public broadcasting network NHK began weekday midnight news program News Web 24 [J] works with the popular Internet service, Twitter. # The 24 in “News Web 24” means 24 o’clock, means 00:00, which is often used in… Continue reading NHK Starts News Program Interacts With Twitter Messages By Watchers
Photozou: Zynga Japan Sells Photo Sharing Site To Digital Garage
Back in 2010, when Zynga acquired Tokyo-based Unoh (and turned the company into its Japan HQ), the main targets of the Americans were game-related assets and the team. But Zynga also acquired a pretty successful photo sharing service that was developed by Unoh: Photozou,which went live in 2005 and can probably be best described as… Continue reading Photozou: Zynga Japan Sells Photo Sharing Site To Digital Garage
A Japanese Entrepreneur Calls For Co-Founders By Lottery Over Twitter Retweets
Kazuma Ieiri, founder of Japanese web company Paperboy & Co. [J], tweeted 3 hours ago [J], “[RT Experiment] If this tweet is retweeted more than 2,000 times, I will start a new business with three randomly chosen (from who retweeted). You will have no obligation but listed on the board. We can think together what… Continue reading A Japanese Entrepreneur Calls For Co-Founders By Lottery Over Twitter Retweets
Kyushu Mascot Character “Kumamon” Android Apps Released
A Team [J] has released the Android applications Kumamon’s Simple Clock Widget, Kumamon Full! [Kumamon’s Clock Widget], and Kumamon’s Live Wallpaper♪, based on Kumamon, Kumamoto Prefecture’s tourism PR mascot and champion of last year’s Mascot Character Grand Prix 2011. Download is 200 yen each. Kumamon is a character born out of Kumamoto Prefecture office’s shinkansen… Continue reading Kyushu Mascot Character “Kumamon” Android Apps Released
GREE – Written Complaint Against Article Published In “Diamond” Magazine
GREE [J] has announced that they have submitted a written protest concerning an article published in the 2012 March 31st edition of the magazine “Shuukan Diamond” entitled “This Office Is Gravely Concerned For GREE – Social Games Approaching Critical Moment.” According to GREE, the article in question offers to readers the impression that GREE is… Continue reading GREE – Written Complaint Against Article Published In “Diamond” Magazine