Rakuten Goes To UK And/Or Germany By The End Of This Year, CEO Said

According to Mainichi [J], Rakuten CEO Hiroshi Mikitani reportedly told that they will open their e-mall business either or both of UK and Germany this year. Rakuten is planning to move into 4 new countries by the end of 2011, UK and Germany are big markets that they are interested in Europe. Indonesia will come… Continue reading Rakuten Goes To UK And/Or Germany By The End Of This Year, CEO Said

Rakuten Subsidizes French No.1 E-Commerce Company PriceMinister

Rakuten has just announced [J, pdf] that they bought 100% of French E-commerce company PriceMinister S.A. The purchase is planned to done in July 2010 for 200 million Euro (22.5 billion yen). Rakuten established their European branch S.a.r.l. in Luxembourg in 2008. That company will handle this acquisition. Rakuten has been actively adding its oversea… Continue reading Rakuten Subsidizes French No.1 E-Commerce Company PriceMinister

Flipnote Hatena Strikes Back To USA, Plus Europe Assisted By Nintendo Fame

Hatena, known by a million geekiest loyal users and the most popular social bookmarks service in Japanese [J], announced that their joint project with console game giant Nintendo “Flipnote Hatena” launches in North America on 12th, in Europe on 14th August (both in local time). Flipnote Hatena is a CGM service on where users draw… Continue reading Flipnote Hatena Strikes Back To USA, Plus Europe Assisted By Nintendo Fame