SlideStory is an iOS app that lets you create a 32-second movie clip from still images on your mobile. Tokyo-based Nanameue, the startup behind the app, has announced that it has recently surpassed a million downloads, a promising total for the still very young service. The app is usually ranked high in the ‘photo/video’ category on the App Store, especially in the Asia region. We understand that they intend to add some new features in an effort to improve user acquisition.

The company’s Atsushi Takishima tells us that 45% of their users comes from Japan, but the rest are from abroad, with fans in Thailand and Taiwan in particular. They’ve been relatively successful in acquiring many users across Asia since the app supports nine languages, including Japanese, English, Korean, simplified and traditional Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, Malay, and Indonesian. Takishima explained:

We have not yet deployed any significant advertising or marketing effort. However, Kazuhiro Mizuno, the founder and CEO of Quan Inc, who I previously worked for, advised us on what to do and linked us up with many key people around Asia.

Mizuno has strong connections among notable internet companies in the region, and has succeeded in partnering with China’s Tencent and Thai mobile telco AIS to promote his company’s mobile apps in these markets.

Speaking of mobile video apps, you may recall that Japanese mobile streaming app TwitCasting has acquired a promising amount of users in Brazil. While the two video apps are very different in nature, Nanameue thinks TwitCasting is a good role model for doing business internationally.

The next challenge

When creating and sharing a movie clip on SlideStory, the current version lets you upload the clip to third-party platforms like Twipple and then share that link on other social media. In this way, the company doesn’t need a backend environment for storage, and can concentrate on giving users a better experience, with things like custom SlideStory embed code for blogs, for example. But there’s a limit in the variety of functions they can provide without their own storage. Nanameue is currently working on that, and they expect to launch that in about a month.

Considering the fact that more than a half of their entire user base is from South East Asia, they are also planning to launch an Android version, since that platform is more widely used in that region.

SlideStory was initially launched back on October 3rd, 2013. Six months have passed since then, and it’s really encouraging that they have a clear vision of the future. The company raised seed funding of about $300,000 from Skyland Ventures late last year, and they are making efforts to raise more funds soon.