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Can’t find your iPhone in your purse? Tunewear has the case for you

Yukari Mitsuhashi 2013.06.13

Women’s bags tend to be the destination for an endless number of daily items. This causes a problem. When your phone is ringing, we often struggle to find our phones among the clutter, and we sometimes even miss the call as a result. Well, worry no more! A new iPhone case from Japan solves this problem. It’s called Julia Phone Pochette by Tunewear. This iPhone case is essentially a tiny sholder bag, just big enough to hold your handset. It also comes equipped with several pockets for your IC cards (for public transport) and a pretty gold chain to strap over your shoulder. It comes in three color variations: red, pink, and green, and is available for 3980 yen (or about $42). There are a lot mobile phone accessories and decorations in Japan — some weird, some cute, some very convenient. This product reminded me of a past initiative by Softbank Selection, where they turned to Facebook to find out what kind of things women prefer for their mobile phones. It’s great to see companies paying attention to women’s needs in this way. I’m sure it’s a strategy that will pay off with big sales, especially here in Japan.

Women’s bags tend to be the destination for an endless number of daily items. This causes a problem. When your phone is ringing, we often struggle to find our phones among the clutter, and we sometimes even miss the call as a result. Well, worry no more! A new iPhone case from Japan solves this problem. It’s called Julia Phone Pochette by Tunewear.

This iPhone case is essentially a tiny sholder bag, just big enough to hold your handset. It also comes equipped with several pockets for your IC cards (for public transport) and a pretty gold chain to strap over your shoulder. It comes in three color variations: red, pink, and green, and is available for 3980 yen (or about $42).

There are a lot mobile phone accessories and decorations in Japan — some weird, some cute, some very convenient. This product reminded me of a past initiative by Softbank Selection, where they turned to Facebook to find out what kind of things women prefer for their mobile phones.

It’s great to see companies paying attention to women’s needs in this way. I’m sure it’s a strategy that will pay off with big sales, especially here in Japan.

news

Line’s new ‘Neko Copter’ game is the top iPhone app in Thailand

Rick Martin 2013.06.13

This week Japan’s Line Corporation released a new game in cooperation with Square Enix. It’s called Neko Copter, and like most of Line’s mobile games it’s a pretty casual with easy-to-use controls and social integration with Line’s chat app. We’ve seen many of Line’s games rocket to the top of the app ranking charts here in Japan upon their release. But what’s interesting about the first few days of Neko Copter is that it has first reached the top of the charts in Thailand, while in Japan it is still only in 69th spot overall. This is a strong indication that the Line chat app platform is working well as a game distribution channel in Thailand too, where the company has already racked up more than 15 million downloads. If you’d like to get a closer look at the gameplay for Neco Copter you can check out our quick video demo above. If you want to try it for yourself, you can get it over App Store or on Google Play. This is not Line’s first collaboration with Square Enix, as the two companies previously worked together on Slime Shot which was released late last month. For more information on…

This week Japan’s Line Corporation released a new game in cooperation with Square Enix. It’s called Neko Copter, and like most of Line’s mobile games it’s a pretty casual with easy-to-use controls and social integration with Line’s chat app.

We’ve seen many of Line’s games rocket to the top of the app ranking charts here in Japan upon their release. But what’s interesting about the first few days of Neko Copter is that it has first reached the top of the charts in Thailand, while in Japan it is still only in 69th spot overall.

This is a strong indication that the Line chat app platform is working well as a game distribution channel in Thailand too, where the company has already racked up more than 15 million downloads.

If you’d like to get a closer look at the gameplay for Neco Copter you can check out our quick video demo above. If you want to try it for yourself, you can get it over App Store or on Google Play.

This is not Line’s first collaboration with Square Enix, as the two companies previously worked together on Slime Shot which was released late last month.

For more information on the growth of Line and its vast repertoire of apps, including Line Neko Copter, please check out our interactive Line Timeline which chronicles its growth from its launch back in 2011 up until the present day.

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Japan’s e-commerce service Locondo raises $6.3 million from Excite Japan and VC firms

Junya Mori 2013.06.13

See the original story in Japanese. Locondo is a shoes and fashion e-commerce service that says it allows consumers to ‘buy first and than choose.’ Readers may recall that we recently featured the company after it partnered with Spanish brand Desigual. Locondo announced today it has just wrapped up series B funding worth 600 million yen (approximately $6.3 million) from leading Japanese web portal Excite Japan, Lead Capital Management (LCM), and Itochu Technology Ventures (ITV). LCM and ITV previously invested in the company in the series A round. Locondo was launched back in February of 2011 and has acquired more than 300,000 users with an annual turnover of 3 billion yen ($31 million) by using the strategy of easy refunds with free shipping and handling. By partnering with Excite Japan, the e-commerce company aspires to increase its user base by reaching the portal site’s 50 million monthly visitors. The two companies also plan to integrate their e-commerce platforms and cooperate on developing new services and features.

See the original story in Japanese.

Locondo is a shoes and fashion e-commerce service that says it allows consumers to ‘buy first and than choose.’ Readers may recall that we recently featured the company after it partnered with Spanish brand Desigual.

Locondo announced today it has just wrapped up series B funding worth 600 million yen (approximately $6.3 million) from leading Japanese web portal Excite Japan, Lead Capital Management (LCM), and Itochu Technology Ventures (ITV). LCM and ITV previously invested in the company in the series A round.

Locondo was launched back in February of 2011 and has acquired more than 300,000 users with an annual turnover of 3 billion yen ($31 million) by using the strategy of easy refunds with free shipping and handling.

By partnering with Excite Japan, the e-commerce company aspires to increase its user base by reaching the portal site’s 50 million monthly visitors. The two companies also plan to integrate their e-commerce platforms and cooperate on developing new services and features.

news

Japanese online ticket startup EventRegist receives seed investment

Masaru Ikeda 2013.06.13

EventRegist is a Tokyo-based startup providing an online ticket issuing and management system for organizers of events and meetups. The startup announced yesterday it has raised seed investment from East Ventures, Skyland Ventures, and Shinwa Agency (the latter being a marketing agency and subsidiary of home construction company Daiwa House). Detailed figures of the investment were not disclosed. The startup launched the service back in November of 2011, and it is now available in Japanese, English, Indonesian, Thai, and traditional Chinese across multiple platforms. Along with this funding, the startup has partnered with Shinwa Agency in order to better address needs like organizing business conferences for corporate accounts. We’ve already seen many competitors such as Tixee, Everevo, DoorKeeper, Peatix, Connpass, Zussar, and Event Atnd here in Japan, not to mention global players like EventBrite, Amaindo and many others. We’re not sure how the startup expects to excel in such a highly competitive industry, but in terms of possible differentiation from others, we should perhaps look to its board member Hiroaki Kanamaru. His background includes time with successful food-oriented e-commerce startup Oisix, game publisher Smileworks (under Square Enix) and a web integration company in Jakarta and Surabaya, Indonesia. The startup could…

EventRegist is a Tokyo-based startup providing an online ticket issuing and management system for organizers of events and meetups. The startup announced yesterday it has raised seed investment from East Ventures, Skyland Ventures, and Shinwa Agency (the latter being a marketing agency and subsidiary of home construction company Daiwa House). Detailed figures of the investment were not disclosed.

The startup launched the service back in November of 2011, and it is now available in Japanese, English, Indonesian, Thai, and traditional Chinese across multiple platforms. Along with this funding, the startup has partnered with Shinwa Agency in order to better address needs like organizing business conferences for corporate accounts.

We’ve already seen many competitors such as Tixee, Everevo, DoorKeeper, Peatix, Connpass, Zussar, and Event Atnd here in Japan, not to mention global players like EventBrite, Amaindo and many others. We’re not sure how the startup expects to excel in such a highly competitive industry, but in terms of possible differentiation from others, we should perhaps look to its board member Hiroaki Kanamaru. His background includes time with successful food-oriented e-commerce startup Oisix, game publisher Smileworks (under Square Enix) and a web integration company in Jakarta and Surabaya, Indonesia. The startup could be looking to explore international business expansion in that region too.

news

GungHo’s ‘other’ mobile game, Princess Punt Sweets, passes 6M downloads

Rick Martin 2013.06.12

While Japanese gaming publisher GungHo Entertainment has made huge headlines based merely on the performance of its smash hit Puzzle & Dragons, we shouldn’t forget that the company has another popular title for mobile in Japan called Princess Punt Sweets. Originally released back in late 2012, the game has surpassed the six million downloads milestone as of June 9, a significant achievement for the company. It took less than six months to reach this target, putting the game on roughly the same million-downloads-per-month pace that Puzzle & Dragons has kept up for so long. Of course the title is nowhere near the money maker that Puzzle & Dragons is, but in fairness, that’s an incredibly tough act to follow. Princess Punt Sweets has fared respectably well on the top grossing charts for both iOS and Android, with at 36th and 18th for those stores respectively. Of course the big question is, how well can GungHo’s games perform in markets outside Japan? Personally, I like both games [1] and I think they both have global appeal, P&D because its just a brilliantly executed game on every level, and Princess just because it’s cute, and the aiming (kicking) mechanism is similar to…

While Japanese gaming publisher GungHo Entertainment has made huge headlines based merely on the performance of its smash hit Puzzle & Dragons, we shouldn’t forget that the company has another popular title for mobile in Japan called Princess Punt Sweets.

Originally released back in late 2012, the game has surpassed the six million downloads milestone as of June 9, a significant achievement for the company. It took less than six months to reach this target, putting the game on roughly the same million-downloads-per-month pace that Puzzle & Dragons has kept up for so long.

Of course the title is nowhere near the money maker that Puzzle & Dragons is, but in fairness, that’s an incredibly tough act to follow. Princess Punt Sweets has fared respectably well on the top grossing charts for both iOS and Android, with at 36th and 18th for those stores respectively.

Of course the big question is, how well can GungHo’s games perform in markets outside Japan? Personally, I like both games [1] and I think they both have global appeal, P&D because its just a brilliantly executed game on every level, and Princess just because it’s cute, and the aiming (kicking) mechanism is similar to that of Angry Birds [2].

Princess is a fun game though, and if you’d like to check it out, you can get it over on the App Store or on Google Play. GungHo’s promotional video is below. (Via Gamebiz.jp)

I confess I’m especially hooked on Puzzle & Dragons, as I have explained before. ↩
I should note that a previous version of Princess was released for markets outside Japan, with what could be described as only very limited success in a few markets around Asia. ↩

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Can’t find your iPhone in your purse? Tunewear has the case for you

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Japan’s e-commerce service Locondo raises $6.3 million from Excite Japan and VC firms

Japanese online ticket startup EventRegist receives seed investment

GungHo’s ‘other’ mobile game, Princess Punt Sweets, passes 6M downloads

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