CyWorld Japan [J], a Japanese localized version of the most successful social networking service in Korea, CyWorld, announced its withdrawal from Japan in August 2009 [J]. According to the announcement, the direct cause of this shut-down is the operation failure of periodical site maintenance on May 26th. It is explained that the unstable errors after… Continue reading CyWorld Pulls Out From Japan
Results for "mixi"
Mobile social network GREE adds 2 million members in 3 months, makes lots of money
GREE, a mobile social network only operating in Japan, is adding members at an incredible speed. In April 2008, the number of registered users hit 10 million members already, but GREE expects a whopping 2 million more as early as the end of this month. GREE offers dozens of (essentially) free games to play on… Continue reading Mobile social network GREE adds 2 million members in 3 months, makes lots of money
Google Developer Day 2009 Yokohama
Google held “Google Developer Day 2009“, an annual conference introducing a number of technology trends that the company had recently developed, in Yokohama on Tuesday and started with a keynote speech made by its Tokyo office president Koichiro Tsujino[J]. Following Tsujino’s expressing his appreciation for a large participation in the event, the company’s senior product… Continue reading Google Developer Day 2009 Yokohama
IVP Launches New Fund Raised By Web2.0 Celebrities In Japan & China
On Wednesday, Infinity Venture LLP[J] announced it would launch a new fund targeting investment on mobile start-ups in Japan and Mainland China. The Fundraisers for this are founders and presidents from tech-startups including DeNA (Mobile SNS) , Mixi[J] (SNS), Opt (web advertising agency) and P&A (investment firm founded by Rakuten‘s former CTO), who have made… Continue reading IVP Launches New Fund Raised By Web2.0 Celebrities In Japan & China
Behind the scene of YouTrivia(Kentei Gocco), new style of Web Ads using trivia from Manabing
YouTrivia (in Japanese, Kentei Gocco) is new style of advertisement to reach customers using trivia style questions to certain topics. The company named “Manabing” which means “on learning” in Japanese (http://www.manabing.jp). They grew 15,000 trivia for 8 million users for last three years. Their new ads attracts large clients like Nissan, Hitachi since it has… Continue reading Behind the scene of YouTrivia(Kentei Gocco), new style of Web Ads using trivia from Manabing
White Elephant From The Internet Bubble? Seven-yo Avatar SNS Is Shut Down
A Tokyo-based conglomerate of PC manufacturing and e-commerce retailing, MCJ(Mouse Computer Japan) announced it would shut down the company’s avatar SNS service Cafesta[J] at the end of this month. The service earns 600,000 unique users and 80 million pageviews in a month. Cafesta was launched by Powered.com (merged to KDDI in 2006), an ISP and… Continue reading White Elephant From The Internet Bubble? Seven-yo Avatar SNS Is Shut Down
Ngi Group Cuts Off Over 50% Employees
Ngi Group, one of the most active venture capital firm in Japanese web industry, also known as their successful early investment to the Japan’s largest social network Mixi, declared their downsizing plan in February. When the rationalization plan [J, pdf] was reported at first by Nikkei Net, it was said that they were asking solicit… Continue reading Ngi Group Cuts Off Over 50% Employees
Your Cellphone Helps Inducing A Coincidental Meet To Dating
The Tokyo-based mobile app start-up YouMind[J] launched last Friday the free mobile service called Hitomebo[J], which allows you to record where and when you have seen cute girls or handsome boys and fallen in love, just only with a GPS-compatible mobile phone. One of the the company’s directors experienced to see a cute girl in… Continue reading Your Cellphone Helps Inducing A Coincidental Meet To Dating
How To Grow A Music Star Without Street Live Performance In Tokyo
There used to be some pedestrian precincts in Tokyo, where young indie music artists and bands came down from every corner of the country, they performed their original tunes in front of a street audience and dreamed to debut and release their sound pieces from major labels. But now in the highly populated area of… Continue reading How To Grow A Music Star Without Street Live Performance In Tokyo
CNET Japan Holds Its Annual Tech Innovation Awards Contest
On Friday, CNET Networks Japan[J] held this year’s award ceremony of its annual innovation contest called TechVenture 2009[J] in Omotesando, in association with Tokyo-based seven tech-oriented venture capital firms. Totally 15 companies and services are nominated for the prize awards. Let’s have a look at each of them and what they provide. Atlantis[J] (Service: AdLantis[J]) Atlantis… Continue reading CNET Japan Holds Its Annual Tech Innovation Awards Contest