news

With 4 million downloads for iPhone, popular Japanese collage app hits Android [Video]

Rick Martin 2013.03.21

Japanese photo application Papelook has just announced that it has surpassed 4 million downloads on iOS. The application, which very much falls in the ‘kawaii’ apps category, is a very handy way to repurpose your photos in a stylish collage which can then be shared with friends. And for those of you not on iOS, the company has announced that an Android version is being released today as well. Check out our video demo above for a general idea of how the service works. Currently the majority of its users are young women (80%), and the feminine style of the photo decorations certainly reflects that. Nonetheless, I put together a collage of baby pictures just now, and I expect I’ll make a few more like this to share with family in the future. The application has been around for a long time (since mid 2011), but it wasn’t until its 2.0 release last May that it saw some real momentum. The company says that it has about 1.2 million active users currently, which is certainly an impressive total for an app in this genre. Papelook also publishes its pape.me girls fashion magazine app for iOS which itself has 250,000 downloads….

Japanese photo application Papelook has just announced that it has surpassed 4 million downloads on iOS. The application, which very much falls in the ‘kawaii’ apps category, is a very handy way to repurpose your photos in a stylish collage which can then be shared with friends. And for those of you not on iOS, the company has announced that an Android version is being released today as well. Check out our video demo above for a general idea of how the service works.

Currently the majority of its users are young women (80%), and the feminine style of the photo decorations certainly reflects that. Nonetheless, I put together a collage of baby pictures just now, and I expect I’ll make a few more like this to share with family in the future.

The application has been around for a long time (since mid 2011), but it wasn’t until its 2.0 release last May that it saw some real momentum. The company says that it has about 1.2 million active users currently, which is certainly an impressive total for an app in this genre. Papelook also publishes its pape.me girls fashion magazine app for iOS which itself has 250,000 downloads.

Geographically, 71.6% of its users come from its home market of Japan, with 10.7% and 6.5% from Thailand and Taiwan respectively.

As for its future business, Papelook may offer print services since many people make such collages for birthdays or weddings. And given the focused audience, advertising tie-ups are possible as well.

news

Awesome Japanese iPhone app serves up surprise centaur photobombs

Rick Martin 2013.03.20

Over the past month or so, I’ve been seeing this unusual photo app here and there on the Japanese interwebs. It’s called Kenstagram, and it claims to be ‘the number one centaur camera’ (that’s actually part of the app’s name) — although I expect that’s a pretty niche space. Like Instagram, Kenstagram has a number of filters, and after choosing one you can snap off your picture. Once you’re satisfied with how it looks, that’s when the centaur sweeps in from the edge of the screen, typically ruining your perfectly good photo. It’s really, really bizarre. So far Kenstagram hasn’t seen too much traction, although I expect if it can move up in the photo app rankings, then that could change. It’s totally a novelty app, and not something that you’re likely to use for a long time. But it’s still really fun, and that counts for a lot. Kenstagram was developed by Nanameue, a team that has done some photo apps for the likes of Line and WeChat. If you’d like to check it out, you can get it for free over on iTunes.

Over the past month or so, I’ve been seeing this unusual photo app here and there on the Japanese interwebs. It’s called Kenstagram, and it claims to be ‘the number one centaur camera’ (that’s actually part of the app’s name) — although I expect that’s a pretty niche space.

Like Instagram, Kenstagram has a number of filters, and after choosing one you can snap off your picture. Once you’re satisfied with how it looks, that’s when the centaur sweeps in from the edge of the screen, typically ruining your perfectly good photo.

It’s really, really bizarre.

So far Kenstagram hasn’t seen too much traction, although I expect if it can move up in the photo app rankings, then that could change. It’s totally a novelty app, and not something that you’re likely to use for a long time. But it’s still really fun, and that counts for a lot.

Kenstagram was developed by Nanameue, a team that has done some photo apps for the likes of Line and WeChat.

If you’d like to check it out, you can get it for free over on iTunes.

news

Alpaca bashing game inexplicably popular in Japan with 1 million downloads

SCORE 1,183

Rick Martin 2013.03.19

We’ve featured some strange Japanese mobile games here on SD Japan in the past, but this one ranks way up there among the strangest. Alpaka Evolution [1] is a simple game with simple graphics, but its quirkiness appears to have helped it past a million downloads since the game’s initial release for Android on February 5, and for iOS on February 23. The game starts out peaceful enough, with a herd of alpacas grazing in a meadow. But you control one of these alpaca, and with a tap or a swipe you can deal a knockout blow to one of your many brothers. Now, before we hear from the animal cruelty folks, I should clarify that the objective of the game is actually to not kill alpacas. But rather the goal is to absorb as many of your fallen brothers as you can, and evolve into a bigger, more powerful alpaca. The game was developed by a company called Cocosola, and many of its titles appear to be equally off the wall [2]. The app has been the top casual game on Japan’s Google Play store this week, and it has been a top 25 title for iOS for the…

We’ve featured some strange Japanese mobile games here on SD Japan in the past, but this one ranks way up there among the strangest. Alpaka Evolution [1] is a simple game with simple graphics, but its quirkiness appears to have helped it past a million downloads since the game’s initial release for Android on February 5, and for iOS on February 23.

The game starts out peaceful enough, with a herd of alpacas grazing in a meadow. But you control one of these alpaca, and with a tap or a swipe you can deal a knockout blow to one of your many brothers. Now, before we hear from the animal cruelty folks, I should clarify that the objective of the game is actually to not kill alpacas. But rather the goal is to absorb as many of your fallen brothers as you can, and evolve into a bigger, more powerful alpaca.

The game was developed by a company called Cocosola, and many of its titles appear to be equally off the wall [2]. The app has been the top casual game on Japan’s Google Play store this week, and it has been a top 25 title for iOS for the majority of time since its release on that platform.

I find it pretty fascinating that a game like this can be so popular [3]. There really isn’t anything to drive you to continue than the curiosity of seeing what grotesque shape your alpaca will mutate into. Currently the game is monetized with in-app advertising, but this might be yet another instance where brand merchandising represents a big opportunity. Who wouldn’t buy a plush mutated alpaca?

Check out our short video demo of the game above. If you’d like to try it out, you can get it on the App Store or over on Google Play. (Via Axelgames)

The game’s title literally means ‘Brother Alpaca,’ but the company appears to have used the name ‘Alpaka Evolution’ (yes, with a ‘k’ and not with a ‘c’) for English. ↩
I especially look forward to giving Bikini Cat a try. ↩
Although didn’t that ear-cleaning game also get a million downloads? ↩

news

This iPhone app from Japan might be the sexiest calculator ever [Video]

Rick Martin 2013.03.15

Here’s a light app feature to close out the week on a light note. A friend of mine recently pointed out this fun Japanese iPhone application, Mihiro Calculator, which is just a simple calculator with with a stimulating twist. When you press the buttons, famous porn actress Mihiro (I’ve never heard of her, but I’m told she’s famous) speaks out the numbers. She speaks each button press in a number of different voices, normal, sweet, and sad mode — all of which are innocent enough. But if you press the icon in the top left corner, the app switches to another three voices — night, relax, and angry modes. As you might expect, night mode is the sexiest of them all, and I don’t recommend you try it out at your place of work. Unless you work in a porn studio. Then maybe it’s fine. As off the wall as this app is, it’s a great example of how a normal app can be completely reinvented by adding just a little something special. It’s ad-supported, so ostensibly the developer is making some decent money from it. Mihiro Calculator has been around for quite a while now, but to my knowledge…

Here’s a light app feature to close out the week on a light note. A friend of mine recently pointed out this fun Japanese iPhone application, Mihiro Calculator, which is just a simple calculator with with a stimulating twist. When you press the buttons, famous porn actress Mihiro (I’ve never heard of her, but I’m told she’s famous) speaks out the numbers.

She speaks each button press in a number of different voices, normal, sweet, and sad mode — all of which are innocent enough. But if you press the icon in the top left corner, the app switches to another three voices — night, relax, and angry modes. As you might expect, night mode is the sexiest of them all, and I don’t recommend you try it out at your place of work. Unless you work in a porn studio. Then maybe it’s fine.

As off the wall as this app is, it’s a great example of how a normal app can be completely reinvented by adding just a little something special. It’s ad-supported, so ostensibly the developer is making some decent money from it. Mihiro Calculator has been around for quite a while now, but to my knowledge it hasn’t been mentioned outside of the Japanese press. So yeah, you’re welcome!

If you’d like to give all six voices a listen, you can check out the app on iTunes or view our demo video above. Night mode starts at about the 1 minute mark.

news

Domino’s Hatsune Miku app boosting pizza sales in Japan. We gave it a test run. [Video]

SCORE 1,192

Rick Martin 2013.03.14

Last week we mentioned a new augmented reality iPhone app from Domino’s Japan featuring virtual pop star Hatsune Miku. The app overlays a virtual song and dance performance right on top of your pizza box using the iPhone camera. Domino’s has reportedly even seen shortages of its new Hatsune Miku pizza boxes at some locations, with some stores reporting a 10x increase in sales. As we noted last week, Kamakura-based studio Kayac was involved in the planning and development of the application, and it certainly looks to be a successful campaign so far, in terms of publicity. Domino’s even has pink Hatsune Miku branded motorbikes for deliveries! In order to get a better idea of how the app works, I went ahead and ordered a pizza. These are the sacrifices we make for you, dear reader, so I hope you appreciate it! Check out Hatsune Miku’s augmented reality performance on pizza boxes in our video below.

Last week we mentioned a new augmented reality iPhone app from Domino’s Japan featuring virtual pop star Hatsune Miku. The app overlays a virtual song and dance performance right on top of your pizza box using the iPhone camera. Domino’s has reportedly even seen shortages of its new Hatsune Miku pizza boxes at some locations, with some stores reporting a 10x increase in sales.

As we noted last week, Kamakura-based studio Kayac was involved in the planning and development of the application, and it certainly looks to be a successful campaign so far, in terms of publicity. Domino’s even has pink Hatsune Miku branded motorbikes for deliveries!

In order to get a better idea of how the app works, I went ahead and ordered a pizza. These are the sacrifices we make for you, dear reader, so I hope you appreciate it!

Check out Hatsune Miku’s augmented reality performance on pizza boxes in our video below.

news

Catching up with the CoolIris team in Tokyo

Rick Martin 2013.03.13

If you spend a lot of time on popular social networks, it can be tough to wrap your head around exactly what CoolIris is. The Palo Alto company has produced a number of photo solutions over the years, most recently its CoolIris app which aspires to bring all your photos together in one place. It’s not photo sharing in the sense that we’ve become accustomed to, but rather a meta viewing/sharing layer on top of the photo services we already use. I caught up with representatives of the company, including CEO Soujanya Bhumkar, at our Tokyo office this week to learn more about what they are up to these days. Currently the company boasts Japan as its second largest install base, next to the US, so its not surprising that they would pay a visit here every once in a while [1]. When we spoke with Soujanya, he highlighted not only the app’s capabilities of bringing together your photos from places like Facebook, Flickr, Instagram, and your camera roll, but also the important function of being able to share photos selectively. In a time when people are turning to closed social networks like Path [2], this adds value on top…

L to R: VP Business Development Sebasian Blum, Sr Software Engineer Venkat Krishnaraj, CEO Soujanya Bhumkar

If you spend a lot of time on popular social networks, it can be tough to wrap your head around exactly what CoolIris is. The Palo Alto company has produced a number of photo solutions over the years, most recently its CoolIris app which aspires to bring all your photos together in one place. It’s not photo sharing in the sense that we’ve become accustomed to, but rather a meta viewing/sharing layer on top of the photo services we already use. I caught up with representatives of the company, including CEO Soujanya Bhumkar, at our Tokyo office this week to learn more about what they are up to these days. Currently the company boasts Japan as its second largest install base, next to the US, so its not surprising that they would pay a visit here every once in a while [1].

When we spoke with Soujanya, he highlighted not only the app’s capabilities of bringing together your photos from places like Facebook, Flickr, Instagram, and your camera roll, but also the important function of being able to share photos selectively. In a time when people are turning to closed social networks like Path [2], this adds value on top of the slick 3D photo wall view that CoolIris already is best known for (pictured right).

So if you wish to send pictures from your various sources to someone by email, you can do so without the need for attachments as the collection is sent to the recipient (or a group of recipients) via a browser link. Interestingly, if more photos are added, you’ll see it in real time, and you can also see a real time chat discussion in the browser too.

On the business side of things, it’s interesting to see CoolIris’s business model develop a B2B element, with prominent regional partners that includes Renren in China and Yandex in Russia. Many of its partners promote CoolIris heavily, allowing it to quickly expand its user base around the world.

Next in Line?

Naturally, we were curious if they might be eyeing some specific partners here in Japan. And while they couldn’t specify any company in particular, we think NHN Japan’s Line appears to be a natural fit (especially given the popularity of Line Camera). Soujanya tells me that Korea is the next stop on their trip, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see KakaoTalk as a stop on their tour too.

As for the future of the CoolIris app, the team tells us that video is something that could be on the horizon, as well as possible integrations with Vine. They are also considering in-app purchases for some premium features and services.

Soujanya asserts that ‘Pixels are the new decibels’ and that they hope to empower their users to be able to show off their best pictures with family and friends without worrying about complex privacy settings.

Let’s stay tuned and see where they go from here!

Asia as a whole accounts for 30% of its user base. And I understand that China is the number two country in terms of growth rate, which is a good indication that adding Renren integration was a good idea. ↩
I’m not a Path user, but I do use Notabli for baby pictures. ↩

news

Line apps rules Google Play rankings, owns the top 5 in Japan

Rick Martin 2013.03.13

While NHN Japan’s popular Line chat app has amazingly surpassed 100 million users, it might be a more impressive feat that the company has managed to turn the app into a platform from which to distribute its other applications. The success of this model is especially evident today, as the current top five free Google Play apps in Japan are all Line apps, as you can see below. Out of the top ten, Line amazingly accounts for seven. While the Line chat app rules the roost, it’s immediately followed by three of NHN Japan’s new games, including Wind Runner which we recently profiled over on our YouTube channel (see below). Line is doing well on the top grossing charts too, with four of the top ten highest grossing apps. If you need any more convincing of the effectiveness of this app distribution model, just look to neighboring South Korea where NHN Japan’s chat app cousin Kakao is even more dominant, occupying almost every position in both the top free and top grossing Google Play charts for that country. (Via Gamebiz.jp, front page photo from MDN)

While NHN Japan’s popular Line chat app has amazingly surpassed 100 million users, it might be a more impressive feat that the company has managed to turn the app into a platform from which to distribute its other applications. The success of this model is especially evident today, as the current top five free Google Play apps in Japan are all Line apps, as you can see below. Out of the top ten, Line amazingly accounts for seven.

line-google-play-march-13-2013 — via AppAnnie.com

While the Line chat app rules the roost, it’s immediately followed by three of NHN Japan’s new games, including Wind Runner which we recently profiled over on our YouTube channel (see below).

Line is doing well on the top grossing charts too, with four of the top ten highest grossing apps.

If you need any more convincing of the effectiveness of this app distribution model, just look to neighboring South Korea where NHN Japan’s chat app cousin Kakao is even more dominant, occupying almost every position in both the top free and top grossing Google Play charts for that country. (Via Gamebiz.jp, front page photo from MDN)

news

Most successful mobile game ever? Puzzle & Dragons passes 10 million downloads [Video]

Rick Martin 2013.03.12

Japanese game developer and publisher GungHo Entertainment announced today that its insanely popular Puzzle & Dragons game has finally surpassed the 10 million downloads mark (as of March 9th). It took just over a year to reach the mark, after its initial release in February of 2012. And while the games download count is not by itself a standout accomplishment, its longevity at or near the top of the Apple and Google Play top grossing app charts is incredible. Most of the game’s downloads are from its home market of Japan, where the game has been helped by television commercials. Described as a combination of a Bejeweled-ish puzzle game and an RPG, Puzzle & Dragons has yet to really catch on outside of Japan, after launching English versions late last year. I’m not certain why this is, but speaking from my own experience with the game [1], my initial encounter didn’t get me hooked. At first I didn’t quite realize how the jewels (called ‘Orbs’ in the game) could be maneuvered. But eventually I figured out you could move an orb wherever you wished – you can even move them diagonally. There are still a lot of things that I…

Japanese game developer and publisher GungHo Entertainment announced today that its insanely popular Puzzle & Dragons game has finally surpassed the 10 million downloads mark (as of March 9th). It took just over a year to reach the mark, after its initial release in February of 2012. And while the games download count is not by itself a standout accomplishment, its longevity at or near the top of the Apple and Google Play top grossing app charts is incredible.

Most of the game’s downloads are from its home market of Japan, where the game has been helped by television commercials. Described as a combination of a Bejeweled-ish puzzle game and an RPG, Puzzle & Dragons has yet to really catch on outside of Japan, after launching English versions late last year. I’m not certain why this is, but speaking from my own experience with the game [1], my initial encounter didn’t get me hooked.

At first I didn’t quite realize how the jewels (called ‘Orbs’ in the game) could be maneuvered. But eventually I figured out you could move an orb wherever you wished – you can even move them diagonally. There are still a lot of things that I have yet to learn about the game, like which monsters in your collection are best used to evolve other monsters, or strategies relating to the various types of monsters when attacking.

But nevertheless I enjoy the game immensely, and part of the reason is because of the game’s depth. There’s still a lot that I have yet to figure out. If you’re new to the game, I recommend you check out some of the many video demos on YouTube (including my own demo, which you can see above). There’s also a subreddit dedicated to the game, which you might want to watch as well.

If you have any tips for how to excel in the game, I’d love to hear, so don’t hesitate to let me know in the comments below. [Via Gamebiz.jp]

(Download image version of chart)

If you’d like to add me as a friend in-game, my ID is 333,547,212. Feel free to drop your ID here in the comments too if you like. ↩

news

On My Mobile: Kayac’s Kayo Matsubara

Rick Martin 2013.03.12

This is part of our ‘On My Mobile’ series (RSS), a modest attempt to better understand how folks in Japan use their smartphones. We recently featured the very fun Domino’s x Hatsune Miku smartphone application, which imposes an amazing augmented reality musical performance from a virtual pop star over top of your pizza. The folks behind that app are none other than Kamakura-based development studio Kayac, the same crew behind fun ideas like the Voice Driver Cup. I thought it might be interesting to see how some people at Kayac use their own mobile phones, and Kayo Matsubara was kind enough to oblige. As you can see, she’s a big fan of Facebook (as many Japanese people are these days). She tells me she’s also using the Withings Health Mate app a lot these days too, as well as the Moves app to track her physical activity. She also points to the Japanese service Sumally as one she enjoys very much. This is a unique encyclopedia of things (as my colleague Yukari describes) — comparable to Gdgt.com in some ways. Below you can see an interactive view of her iPhone’s homescreen, and you can mousehover to get a peek at…

This is part of our ‘On My Mobile’ series (RSS), a modest attempt to better understand how folks in Japan use their smartphones.

We recently featured the very fun Domino’s x Hatsune Miku smartphone application, which imposes an amazing augmented reality musical performance from a virtual pop star over top of your pizza. The folks behind that app are none other than Kamakura-based development studio Kayac, the same crew behind fun ideas like the Voice Driver Cup.

I thought it might be interesting to see how some people at Kayac use their own mobile phones, and Kayo Matsubara was kind enough to oblige. As you can see, she’s a big fan of Facebook (as many Japanese people are these days). She tells me she’s also using the Withings Health Mate app a lot these days too, as well as the Moves app to track her physical activity. She also points to the Japanese service Sumally as one she enjoys very much. This is a unique encyclopedia of things (as my colleague Yukari describes) — comparable to Gdgt.com in some ways.

Below you can see an interactive view of her iPhone’s homescreen, and you can mousehover to get a peek at the individual applications. Enjoy!

news

Otaku Camera for Android gets a boost, rockets past a million downloads

Rick Martin 2013.03.11

Tokyo Otaku Mode’s popular photo app Otaku Camera has recently received a big boost by recently being featured on Google Play in 42 countries, including the US and Japan. We’re told that this has helped the Android version of their app has hit the one million download milestone within a very short time. Currently the iPhone version of the app is doing ok too, with about 400,000 downoads to date. And if the momentum can continue over on Google Play, then perhaps two million total downloads is not too far off. We did a brief video demo of Otaku Camera last month, highlighting some of its main features (see video below). The company has been providing downloadable photo frames in the app via its frame shop. Currently the frames are free, although I expect later they will introduce some paid frames. Tokyo Otaku Mode is perhaps best known for its wildly popular Facebook page, which has more than 10 million fans. Currently the Tokyo-based startup is making an effort to monetize that fan base, and developing a mobile presence is one aspect of that initiative. You can learn more about TOM by checking out our in-depth feature from back in…

Tokyo Otaku Mode’s popular photo app Otaku Camera has recently received a big boost by recently being featured on Google Play in 42 countries, including the US and Japan. We’re told that this has helped the Android version of their app has hit the one million download milestone within a very short time.

Currently the iPhone version of the app is doing ok too, with about 400,000 downoads to date. And if the momentum can continue over on Google Play, then perhaps two million total downloads is not too far off.

We did a brief video demo of Otaku Camera last month, highlighting some of its main features (see video below). The company has been providing downloadable photo frames in the app via its frame shop. Currently the frames are free, although I expect later they will introduce some paid frames.

Tokyo Otaku Mode is perhaps best known for its wildly popular Facebook page, which has more than 10 million fans. Currently the Tokyo-based startup is making an effort to monetize that fan base, and developing a mobile presence is one aspect of that initiative. You can learn more about TOM by checking out our in-depth feature from back in February.

Apps

With 4 million downloads for iPhone, popular Japanese collage app hits Android [Video]

Awesome Japanese iPhone app serves up surprise centaur photobombs

Alpaca bashing game inexplicably popular in Japan with 1 million downloads

This iPhone app from Japan might be the sexiest calculator ever [Video]

Domino’s Hatsune Miku app boosting pizza sales in Japan. We gave it a test run. [Video]

Catching up with the CoolIris team in Tokyo

Next in Line?

Line apps rules Google Play rankings, owns the top 5 in Japan

Most successful mobile game ever? Puzzle & Dragons passes 10 million downloads [Video]

On My Mobile: Kayac’s Kayo Matsubara

Otaku Camera for Android gets a boost, rockets past a million downloads

Recent Articles

Trends

Apps

Related news

Related news

Related news

Related news

Related news

Next in Line?

Related news

Related news

Related news

Related news

Related news

Recent Articles

Trends