See the original story in Japanese. BearTail, a startup comprised mainly of graduates from Tsukuba University, today unveiled a cloud-based household accounting solution called Dr. Wallet. The service lets you do personal finance data entry by simply scanning your receipts. It was launched in beta back several months ago, and is now available for the Android platform. In Japan, there are more than a few competitors in this space. Since last year, we’ve seen more than 20 startups providing cloud-based accounting services for freelancers and SMEs. (See our previous article for more info.) In terms of differentiation from conventional services, Dr. Wallet does not use OCR (optical character recognition) but instead depends on human-powered data entry for ensuring accuracy. It also automatically sorts and classifies your purchases. With this human-powered processing, the startup could achieve data entry accuracy of up to 99.98%, likely enough to ease users’s concerns of erroneous inputs. But why is this startup providing the service for free when the back-end human component is likely so costly and time-consuming? We’re told that BearTail is exploring monetizing the accounting service with big data solutions. If they collect purchase histories from users, they establish some behavior models. For example,…
BearTail, a startup comprised mainly of graduates from Tsukuba University, today unveiled a cloud-based household accounting solution called Dr. Wallet. The service lets you do personal finance data entry by simply scanning your receipts. It was launched in beta back several months ago, and is now available for the Android platform.
In Japan, there are more than a few competitors in this space. Since last year, we’ve seen more than 20 startups providing cloud-based accounting services for freelancers and SMEs. (See our previous article for more info.)
In terms of differentiation from conventional services, Dr. Wallet does not use OCR (optical character recognition) but instead depends on human-powered data entry for ensuring accuracy. It also automatically sorts and classifies your purchases. With this human-powered processing, the startup could achieve data entry accuracy of up to 99.98%, likely enough to ease users’s concerns of erroneous inputs.
But why is this startup providing the service for free when the back-end human component is likely so costly and time-consuming? We’re told that BearTail is exploring monetizing the accounting service with big data solutions. If they collect purchase histories from users, they establish some behavior models. For example, if you find users who frequently stay at a certain hotel or use a beauty salon, you can give them a discount coupon that encourages them to pay with a specific brand of credit card.
This scheme calls to mind fellow Japanese startup Sansan, which operates a free CRM business card solution called Eight. Their strategy is also “Grow first, monetize later”, building a reputation and driving users to their high-end service Link Knowledge.
BearTail unveiled a subscription-based, e-commerce service called Amazon Gacha back in February, which randomly selects items from Amazon’s showcase and delivers them to users. But it was subsequently forced to shut down in order to avoid a possible infringement on Amazon’s trademark. But I believe its new service is well thought out in terms of a monetization, and it will be an interesting company to watch as it continues to grow.
For Japanese coverage of Line’s event, see here and here. Line Corporation held a press conference today in Tokyo where it revealed some information about its progress this far, as well as its plans for the near future. It was at this same ‘Hello Friends in Tokyo’ event last year that the company announced that it would expand from a chat application to a mobile platform. Now hosting everything from games to manga to news, Line is has become a mobile content portal that is wildly popular in Japan and quickly growing around the world. The company disclosed the most recent user numbers for its Line service, with 230 million registered users. Of those, 47 million come from Japan, 18 million from Thailand, 17 million from Taiwan, 15 million from Spain, and 14 million in Indonesia. Information with high public value can be disseminated faster and widely on Line in times of disaster There have been over 7 billion messages and 1 billion stickers sent as of August 2013. And as we previously mentioned, the company made 9.77 billion yen in Q2, a 66.9% increase over the same period last year. CEO Akira Morikawa took the stage to give some…
For Japanese coverage of Line’s event, see here and here.
Line Corporation held a press conference today in Tokyo where it revealed some information about its progress this far, as well as its plans for the near future.
It was at this same ‘Hello Friends in Tokyo’ event last year that the company announced that it would expand from a chat application to a mobile platform. Now hosting everything from games to manga to news, Line is has become a mobile content portal that is wildly popular in Japan and quickly growing around the world.
The company disclosed the most recent user numbers for its Line service, with 230 million registered users. Of those, 47 million come from Japan, 18 million from Thailand, 17 million from Taiwan, 15 million from Spain, and 14 million in Indonesia.
Information with high public value can be disseminated faster and widely on Line in times of disaster
There have been over 7 billion messages and 1 billion stickers sent as of August 2013. And as we previously mentioned, the company made 9.77 billion yen in Q2, a 66.9% increase over the same period last year.
CEO Akira Morikawa took the stage to give some brief updates about the service. He revealed that the app is seeing 63,000 new users every hour. And on Google Play, Line is one of the few apps to exceed 100 million users. He says that while it is a service born in Japan, it now has 80% of its users elsewhere. ¶
Morikawa also pointed out the usefulness of Line during disasters:
Information with high public value can be disseminated faster and more widely on Line in times of disaster. It is starting to become a sort of infrastructure. We’d like to turn like into a common language across the world, and our growth strategy is based on this.
Chief strategy and marketing officer, Jun Masuda
Jun Masuda, the company’s chief strategy and marketing officer, said that there have been 290 million downloads of Line’s family of apps. This includes 48 million for Line Camera, 14 million for Line Play, 13 million for Line Card, and 8 million for Line Brush. For some Japan-specific services, good progress has been seen too. Line Manga for example has 3 million downloads. ¶
As we have noted before, Line’s repertoire of games has been successful as well, with over 190 million downloads. It was also revealed for the first time today that Line Timeline has 73 million users around the world. It has grown by 330% says Masuda.
Masuda also disclosed that sticker sales, which are a huge part of the company’s business, now accounts for more than 1 billion yen per month (or more than $10 million). ¶
He spoke about the company’s merchandise licensing business, noting the sales of Line character goods already account for 4 billion yen in sales. He added that the company will be rebranding the character business as ‘Line Friends’, and they hope to accelerate that business in the future. ¶
Line’s director Takeshi Idezawa
He also explained that in some developing countries, many people would like to buy stickers and play games, but they can’t because of the credit card barriers. He explained that moving forward they will support Paypal and prepaid cards as well, the latter starting in Japan at major convenience stores like 7-eleven and Lawson. ¶
After Masuda, Line’s director Takeshi Idezawa took the stage to speak about the company’s marketing business. He explained that the nature of mobile messaging lets companies develop an emotional bond with their customers. He pointed to Lawson has a standout company using the platform, now with more than 10 million friends. 500,000 of these have used the company’s Line-distributed coupons in stores. ¶
Idezawa added that they also want to expand their marketing efforts to new regions across the globe, using it in other markets as they have thus far here in Japan. ¶
Masuda spoke about Line’s game platform, disclosing that they had 2.6 billion yen in monthly revenue in July 2013. Line Games are based on your real social graph, playing with your actual friends. And based on that idea their games have been casual and simple enough for anyone to start playing at any time. ‘Ease of start’ was important for any games they bring to their platform. He says that Line Pop now has 32 million downloads and 4.3 billion yen in total revenue. Line Bubble has 25 million downloads and 1.9 billion yen in total revenue.
Both Line Wind runner and Line Pokopang had 14 million downloads a piece to date, the latter being particularly successful having just launched in May.
Line Games now aspires to go global, after experiencing success in Japan and around Asia. To that end, they will be rolling out a new lineup of games, including Sonic Dash through coorperation with Sega. ¶
Our next target is to turn Line into a universal language.
CEO Morikawa said that Line is the fastest growing globalized service, supporting a 17 languages starting this month, with more to come. They are trying to be the top instant message brand in each country, and to do this they need more locally relevant content, and they have processes in place for that. He provided the examples of Thailand and Spain where they have been moving up while competitor What’s App has not been doing quite as well.
They also have involved local celebrities to help promote Line in different regions like Indonesia, India, and Mexico. Line is now targeting 300 million by the end of this year, and they will be active in the US and Europe to reach that goal. When asked about North America in the Q&A session, Morikawa says that we can expect to see some activity near the end of this year. He added “Our next target is to turn Line into a universal language.” ¶
Masuda again took the stage to explain that the company’s new 3C plan, focusing on communication, contents, and commerce. He introduced a few new upcoming services, first announcing video calls. This is not entirely surprising, given the recent trend of companies jumping into mobile video.
He also revealed that Line Music will be rolled out soon, not a separate app but rather included in Line’s basic functions. Masuda said that you’ll be able to listen and share with friends too, although it will be curious to see how many music labels are on board with this when it launches. The service will not be just for Japan, but outside the country as well.
The third new service announced will be Line Mall. The idea here, says Masuda, will be to create a new shopping experience on Line.
Development of these new services are being finalized and they are coming in the fall of 2013.
For more information on the growth of Line and its vast repertoire of apps, please check out our interactive Line Timeline which chronicles its growth from its launch back in 2011.
Many games have tried to replicate the success of Japan’s mobile smash hit Puzzle & Dragons, but there aren’t many that have really made an impact. But few weeks back EA teased a game that has maybe just as much hit potential. That title is Tetris Monsters and it just launched in the Japanese App Store today. Like Puzzle & Dragons, this is a puzzle/RPG hybrid, but of course the puzzle component here is Tetris. I should note that the iconic puzzle game has been changed a lot, with a just a few controls: Block position indicators at the bottom of the puzzle area. You simply tap where you want your block to fall. A cycle button on the right where you you can adjust the block’s orientation. A ‘hold’ button on the right to take a pass on a block you don’t want. As for the RPG portion of the game, when you complete lines or series of lines, you make a strike against your enemy. And as you win and collect more monsters, you become stronger and better equipped for future battles. The artwork looks solid, and of course Tetris’s icon music is every bit as awesome as…
Many games have tried to replicate the success of Japan’s mobile smash hit Puzzle & Dragons, but there aren’t many that have really made an impact. But few weeks back EA teased a game that has maybe just as much hit potential. That title is Tetris Monsters and it just launched in the Japanese App Store today.
Like Puzzle & Dragons, this is a puzzle/RPG hybrid, but of course the puzzle component here is Tetris. I should note that the iconic puzzle game has been changed a lot, with a just a few controls:
Block position indicators at the bottom of the puzzle area. You simply tap where you want your block to fall.
A cycle button on the right where you you can adjust the block’s orientation.
A ‘hold’ button on the right to take a pass on a block you don’t want.
As for the RPG portion of the game, when you complete lines or series of lines, you make a strike against your enemy. And as you win and collect more monsters, you become stronger and better equipped for future battles. The artwork looks solid, and of course Tetris’s icon music is every bit as awesome as it used to be. I’ve only played it for a short time so far, but I look forward to checking it out some more.
To learn more about the game, check out our quick video demo above. For folks here in Japan who would like to learn more, there will be a Tetris Monsters event coming up this Saturday at the Apple Store in Ginza.
In the past year or two, there’s been a lot of hype around the subscription commerce market, and the Japan market is no exception. There is Sakelife, which delivers you nice Japanese sake every month, or Coffee365, which delivers fresh coffee beans right to your door. But Japan has more than just those two. There is also a fun subscription service that brings you a new cosplay costume every month. Haco is a line of fashion items by a mega commerce company Felissimo. Felissimo launched its ecommerce service back in 1994 and since then have focused on a monthly subscription model which they call ‘Collection’. On its website, there are different product lines such as ‘anone’ for kids clothes, ‘Couturier’ for hand-made items, and ‘Flufeel’ for underwear. The aforementioned cosplay costume are all inspired by fairy tales, letting girls to dress up as princesses or fairies. The costume subscription is available for a monthly fee of 9,800 yen (or about $100). You can see some pictures of these costumes below. The company has both printed catalogues and a website, and according to an article over on Markezine, the ratio of orders coming in from the website was 53% back in…
In the past year or two, there’s been a lot of hype around the subscription commerce market, and the Japan market is no exception. There is Sakelife, which delivers you nice Japanese sake every month, or Coffee365, which delivers fresh coffee beans right to your door. But Japan has more than just those two.
There is also a fun subscription service that brings you a new cosplay costume every month. Haco is a line of fashion items by a mega commerce company Felissimo. Felissimo launched its ecommerce service back in 1994 and since then have focused on a monthly subscription model which they call ‘Collection’. On its website, there are different product lines such as ‘anone’ for kids clothes, ‘Couturier’ for hand-made items, and ‘Flufeel’ for underwear. The aforementioned cosplay costume are all inspired by fairy tales, letting girls to dress up as princesses or fairies. The costume subscription is available for a monthly fee of 9,800 yen (or about $100). You can see some pictures of these costumes below.
The company has both printed catalogues and a website, and according to an article over on Markezine, the ratio of orders coming in from the website was 53% back in 2010. But we can assume this number to be far higher now. Back then, the site had 2.5 million monthly visitors, over 80 million page views per month, and the total number of subscribers (number of households) exceeded 1.5 million.
The subscription model is very simple, users can buy a subscription of their choice, and after the product arrives every month, they can decide whether to continue the subcription, end it, or switch to another subscritpion. Users can select the category of the items they receive, but the details or colors of the products are not known until they actually arrive. 90% of Fellissimo’s users are women in their 30s, and often are decision-makers when it comes to purchasing in many households.
Many of Felissimo’s products are very much affordable, and they give people something to look forward to each month. The company covers everything from decorative sheets for mirrors for 950 yen a month, pancake mix for 1,600 yen, and nail stickers for 1,000 yen.
The company frequently engages with its customers as well. One good example of this being the ‘design a packaging box’ campaign where it collected 50 package box designs subsequently used to send out products to customers. The company operates its own social good projects as well, such as the ‘Peace by Peace Cotton Project’. These fashion items use organic cotton harvested in India and have designs drawn by children in the country.
Felissimo’s long-established subscrition commerce business can serve as a model for up-and-coming startups looking to break into the sector.
Here’s another unusual mobile game from Japan that sort of fits in the genre of ‘disgustingly cute’, like Battle Cats or Nameco. In fact Fermented Soybeans Factory, or Natto Koubou as it’s called in Japanese, looks like it’s trying to replicate many aspects the highly successful Nameco franchise from Bandai Namco, with the little brown beans sort of resembling Nameco mushrooms, and the pulling up motion much like Bandai’s. It’s hard to believe that anyone made a game about natto, Japan’s famously bad-tasting fermented beans [1]. But that’s exactly what game developer Qooga has done. Players are challenged with pulling out the bad beans and pushing down the good ones, all within the given 30 second time limit. If you do it well enough, you’ll make it to the next level, and hopefully collect some rare natto characters on the way. If you’d like to see how it works, check my brief demo above. It’s really tricky to target the right beans when the spring up so fast. So while it’s certainly a casual title, it has a bit of a furious pace for the brief time that you play it. If you’d like to try it out for yourself,…
Here’s another unusual mobile game from Japan that sort of fits in the genre of ‘disgustingly cute’, like Battle Cats or Nameco. In fact Fermented Soybeans Factory, or Natto Koubou as it’s called in Japanese, looks like it’s trying to replicate many aspects the highly successful Nameco franchise from Bandai Namco, with the little brown beans sort of resembling Nameco mushrooms, and the pulling up motion much like Bandai’s.
It’s hard to believe that anyone made a game about natto, Japan’s famously bad-tasting fermented beans [1]. But that’s exactly what game developer Qooga has done.
Players are challenged with pulling out the bad beans and pushing down the good ones, all within the given 30 second time limit. If you do it well enough, you’ll make it to the next level, and hopefully collect some rare natto characters on the way.
If you’d like to see how it works, check my brief demo above. It’s really tricky to target the right beans when the spring up so fast. So while it’s certainly a casual title, it has a bit of a furious pace for the brief time that you play it.
If you’d like to try it out for yourself, it’s available as a free download for iOS or Android.
See the original story in Japanese. Snapeee is a Japanese photo-sharing app serving more than five million users worldwide. Mind Palette, the startup behind the app, announced today it that it is planning to hold a promotional event featuring runway shows and music live performances for its fans in Taiwan. The event is called Snapeee Fes and it will take place on September 14th at ATT Show Box, Taipei, Taiwan. In addition to serving individual users, the service has set up corporate accounts for apparel brands and fashion magazines. According to the startup, one of the most popular users has so far earned 1.3 million followers on the platform. The event will be the first chance for the startup to promote their service, which has a very distinct Japanese ‘kawaii’ flavor. They will invite popular Japanese models like Tina Tamashiro and Yuka Mizuhara, as well as prominent Japanese fashion brands like Vivi, Peach John, and WeGo. 70% of Snapeee’s users comes from Japan, Taiwan, and the rest of the Asian region, and they tend to be mostly female. In Taiwan in particular, the user base includes many fashion bloggers or models who are conscious about the Kawaii fashion trend. The startup…
Snapeee is a Japanese photo-sharing app serving more than five million users worldwide. Mind Palette, the startup behind the app, announced today it that it is planning to hold a promotional event featuring runway shows and music live performances for its fans in Taiwan. The event is called Snapeee Fes and it will take place on September 14th at ATT Show Box, Taipei, Taiwan.
In addition to serving individual users, the service has set up corporate accounts for apparel brands and fashion magazines. According to the startup, one of the most popular users has so far earned 1.3 million followers on the platform.
The event will be the first chance for the startup to promote their service, which has a very distinct Japanese ‘kawaii’ flavor. They will invite popular Japanese models like Tina Tamashiro and Yuka Mizuhara, as well as prominent Japanese fashion brands like Vivi, Peach John, and WeGo.
70% of Snapeee’s users comes from Japan, Taiwan, and the rest of the Asian region, and they tend to be mostly female. In Taiwan in particular, the user base includes many fashion bloggers or models who are conscious about the Kawaii fashion trend. The startup expects to keep organizing such kind of events in order to establish a solid brand image in the region.
See the original story in Japanese.PlanBCD is a platform that helps developers to improve the user interface on their web services. Kaizen Platform Inc., the Tokyo-based startup behind the service, announced today that it has raised seed funding worth $800,000 from Gree Ventures, GMO Venture Partners, and CyberAgent Ventures. With these funds, the company plans to intensify its system development and marketing efforts. The service provides developers with an A/B testing environment, especially useful for improving web content and interfaces, comparing the performance of multiple available options. It helps you test and optimize processes like sign-ups, purchases, or landing pages. Unlike other conventional services, planBCD allows you to conduct this time-consuming, trial-and-error process by only embedding a single-line of JavaScript on your website. The video below shows more details about how it works. In the closed beta version, they’ve seen examples where users have improved conversion rates on their websites by 130% to 170%. [T]here’s a big barrier to optimizing user traffic for clients unless they improve user interface on their websites. The most remarkable part of the service is that PlanBCD gives you ways to crowdsource the UI and UX improvement process, something which is often difficult to assign…
PlanBCD is a platform that helps developers to improve the user interface on their web services. Kaizen Platform Inc., the Tokyo-based startup behind the service, announced today that it has raised seed funding worth $800,000 from Gree Ventures, GMO Venture Partners, and CyberAgent Ventures. With these funds, the company plans to intensify its system development and marketing efforts.
The service provides developers with an A/B testing environment, especially useful for improving web content and interfaces, comparing the performance of multiple available options. It helps you test and optimize processes like sign-ups, purchases, or landing pages. Unlike other conventional services, planBCD allows you to conduct this time-consuming, trial-and-error process by only embedding a single-line of JavaScript on your website. The video below shows more details about how it works. In the closed beta version, they’ve seen examples where users have improved conversion rates on their websites by 130% to 170%.
[T]here’s a big barrier to optimizing user traffic for clients unless they improve user interface on their websites.
The most remarkable part of the service is that PlanBCD gives you ways to crowdsource the UI and UX improvement process, something which is often difficult to assign someone in your company. The accumulation of A/B testing results will be stored on the service, helping you hand the process over to someone else if necessary.
The service is a combination of an easy-to-implement environment and crowdsourcing features. Kaizen was launched back in March of 2013 by Kenji Sudo. He previously worked at Japanese human resource company, Recruit, supervising the company’s ad-tech services. Sudo explained:
At Recruit, I was involved in ad optimization services for online advertising. But I learned that there’s a big barrier to optimizing user traffic for clients unless they improve user interface on their websites. But if we help them improve their websites, it hurts our overall business efficiency to the point where we can’t work on it. As a result, only rich companies can engage in the improvement process. So this was why we launched the testing service.
He notes that the service has acquired 200 crowdsourced workers for the UI testing operations, and they are appropriately ranked corresponding to their past testing performances.
The service’s pricing has three tiers according to the kind of workers you crowdsource your UI improvement tasks. It’s 100,000 yen ($1,000) a month for Standard, 200,000 yen ($2,000) a month for Professional, and 500,000 yen ($5,000) a month for Maestro. The service has a money-back guarantee so you will not be charged if you can’t see any improvement in your website performance. The charge is comprised of the monthly fee mentioned above plus a charge for how many times the embedded JavaScript test code is called.
The service is already used by many clients, including some enterprise companies. It’s a good indication that new business models comprising of a tool and a crowdsoucring service could be trending in the near future.
In the age of online sharing, many people have become less hesitant to share family photos on platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Many people would rather share private photos just among family. Here in Japan, there are a few options out there for such people. Here’s a list of five such made-in-Japan apps. 1. Wellnote ¶ Wellnote is a private social network for families provided by WellStyle. The app allows families to share family pictures, and even print and send 30 of their favorites for 525 yen (per address). Other features includes baby health-management, where family members can track the growth of their baby. Wellnote has also partnered with major enterprises such as Nissen and Gakken to provide education and other family-related news within the app. 2. Mago-Love ¶ ‘Mago-Love’ means ‘love for grandchildren’ in Japanese. On Mago-Love, users can share family photos with selected people. The app is simply designed, allowing even not so tech-savvy grandparents to skim through photos and comment on the ones they like. By bundling up many photos, the app can create movies or send them out as printed postcards. 3. Kazoc ¶ Yahoo Japan released its app for families back in Feburary of this…
In the age of online sharing, many people have become less hesitant to share family photos on platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Many people would rather share private photos just among family. Here in Japan, there are a few options out there for such people. Here’s a list of five such made-in-Japan apps.
Wellnote is a private social network for families provided by WellStyle. The app allows families to share family pictures, and even print and send 30 of their favorites for 525 yen (per address). Other features includes baby health-management, where family members can track the growth of their baby. Wellnote has also partnered with major enterprises such as Nissen and Gakken to provide education and other family-related news within the app.
‘Mago-Love’ means ‘love for grandchildren’ in Japanese. On Mago-Love, users can share family photos with selected people. The app is simply designed, allowing even not so tech-savvy grandparents to skim through photos and comment on the ones they like. By bundling up many photos, the app can create movies or send them out as printed postcards.
Yahoo Japan released its app for families back in Feburary of this year. It’s called Kazoc. The app is designed to be a digital alternative to the kind of handbooks that mothers use to keep track of their baby’s health while pregant. The app requires users to login using their Yahoo credentials.
After the baby is born, mothers can record the baby’s height and weight, and it also works as a checklist for vaccines and medical checkups. The invited family members can chat in the feed and share photos. Free accounts allows you to save up to 1,000 photos, and with a monthly fee of 250 yen users can save up to 5,000 photos.
Nicori might be a good app for those of you with grandparents who have not yet switched to smartphones. The app allows users to send photos using a dedicated URL that can be viewed on feature phones or computers every time a photo is posted to the app. Nicori allows photos to be shared with up to ten people, and for every photo the sharing settings can be specified so that only selected family members can see. All uploaded photos can be viewed in a calendar, giving you a better idea of how you’re spending your days with your children.
The concept behind Raku-Communication is to make families feel as if they’re living under the same roof even when they live apart from each other. By using Raku-Communication, in addition to just sharing photos, grandparents can feel as if they live together with their grandchildren by exchanging memos with them. Calling requires all your attention, and can steal away your time when you’re busy doing other things. Notes gives families a way to communicate on their own terms. You can also attach hand-written notes to photos if you like.
Some non-Japanese alternatives worth checking out:
See the original story in Japanese. Pairy is a Japanese social network for couples. It was first launched back in June of 2012, but Timers, the startup behind the app, has just released a new version of the app. According to the company, its monthly pageviews count hit 5 million recently, and they are hoping for even more potential by adding new features. In recent years we have seen many social networks for people in close relationships, like Path (launched in October of 2011), Couple (November 2010), and Between (February 2011). After you approve a connection request from your significant other on the app, you can create a sharable album, enjoy chatting, find dating spots, and share an event calendar. With this latest renewal of the app, there will be a new feature that allows you and your partner to look back on your memories together. According to CEO Toshimasa Takahashi and COO Koichiro Tawa, the company conducted a user survey that showed users are keen to browse memories of the past. They explained: Almost a half of our female users look back on what they have talked about with their boyfriends using a chat app or Line. But in…
Pairy is a Japanese social network for couples. It was first launched back in June of 2012, but Timers, the startup behind the app, has just released a new version of the app. According to the company, its monthly pageviews count hit 5 million recently, and they are hoping for even more potential by adding new features.
In recent years we have seen many social networks for people in close relationships, like Path (launched in October of 2011), Couple (November 2010), and Between (February 2011).
After you approve a connection request from your significant other on the app, you can create a sharable album, enjoy chatting, find dating spots, and share an event calendar. With this latest renewal of the app, there will be a new feature that allows you and your partner to look back on your memories together.
According to CEO Toshimasa Takahashi and COO Koichiro Tawa, the company conducted a user survey that showed users are keen to browse memories of the past. They explained:
Almost a half of our female users look back on what they have talked about with their boyfriends using a chat app or Line.
But in terms of looking over memories, the Line mobile app or existing social networks would probably suffice. This is why the startup has added a new feature to the app, allowing users to plan a date with their partner online. They added:
We are also providing third party information about possible date spots. We conducted a survey about the “couples market” and learned that it is worth as much as 1.3 trillion yen (approximately $13.27 million) if you include things like restaurants, hotels, and gifting etc. Our app allows users to arrange reasonably (priced) but remarkable date planning.
The duo previously worked at Japanese ad agent Hakuhodo back in 2010. They submitted a business plan for the original concept of the Pairy app at the company’s in-house business contest. They went on to launch the startup together with three engineers who previously worked with DeNA, and subsequently it was chosen for the first batch of Docomo’s incubation program.
Since the app targets a very niche demographic, it will need a more deliberate monetization models than conventional social media such as Line or Facebook. Although typical social media apps highlight their messaging or chatting features, it is interesting to see what the newly added date planning feature will bring to this app.
Today Google Japan announced that it has made two notable additions to its online Cultural Institute, incorporating new material from the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum. This coincides with the recent anniversaries of the two WW2 bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki which took place in 1945 on August 6th and 9th, respectively. It’s an important archive of two tragic moments in human history which shouldn’t be forgotten [1]. Even for those of us who feel we might already be familiar with these historical events, the images and artifacts left behind after the bombings help to convey the enormous sense of human loss that’s hard to grasp with history books alone. Google also has some Hiroshima Peace Memorial materials available on its site for primary and secondary school teachers who may want to teach more about the event. The internet giant has also archived other important events in Japan recently, most notably the effects of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, as well as various cultural events and landmarks, all using Google Street View technology. A Google Japan rep notes in the blog post that while this event took place 68 years ago, the average age of…
This coincides with the recent anniversaries of the two WW2 bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki which took place in 1945 on August 6th and 9th, respectively. It’s an important archive of two tragic moments in human history which shouldn’t be forgotten [1]. Even for those of us who feel we might already be familiar with these historical events, the images and artifacts left behind after the bombings help to convey the enormous sense of human loss that’s hard to grasp with history books alone.
Google also has some Hiroshima Peace Memorial materials available on its site for primary and secondary school teachers who may want to teach more about the event.
The internet giant has also archived other important events in Japan recently, most notably the effects of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, as well as various cultural events and landmarks, all using Google Street View technology.
A Google Japan rep notes in the blog post that while this event took place 68 years ago, the average age of a survivor is now about 79 years old. So certainly archival projects like these, both online and offline, are becoming increasingly important as time goes by.
Regrettably, language switching isn’t very easy in this archive, and the only way I found I could switch to English was by actually hacking the URL to include ‘en’. If you want the Japanese language archives, you can find them here: Hiroshima Peace Museum, Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum ↩
Masaru Ikeda
See the original story in Japanese.
Rick Martin
Yukari Mitsuhashi
Junya Mori
Takeshi Hirano
