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Top 5: Japan’s Cutest Mobile Apps

SCORE 11,094

Yukari Mitsuhashi 2013.02.06

“Kawaii” is a word you’ll hear from young Japanese girls all too often. It can be roughly translated as ‘cute’ – but times ten or even a hundred. Japanese female youth culture can not be described without it. Anything can be kawaii, ranging from pets to behaviors to boys. So it’s no surprise that we can also find kawaii mobile apps in Japan. Here are just a few of the popular ones. Fril ¶ Fril is a fancy online flea market for female students in high school or college. Within a month of its release, the app was downloaded over 5,000 times and the number of items sold exceeded 10,000. Since most of the users are students, the average price of items is pretty low, at around 2,000 to 3,000 yen (or $22 to $34). Surprisingly Fril is an all-guy team and a graduate startup from Tokyo-based Open Network Lab incubator. Over 100 interviews with their target users have paid off, because Fril is definitely one of the most well-designed app for girls. It is currently available for iOS and Android if you’d like to give it a try. Snapeee ¶ Snapeee is a purikura app, which means it lets…

“Kawaii” is a word you’ll hear from young Japanese girls all too often. It can be roughly translated as ‘cute’ – but times ten or even a hundred. Japanese female youth culture can not be described without it. Anything can be kawaii, ranging from pets to behaviors to boys. So it’s no surprise that we can also find kawaii mobile apps in Japan. Here are just a few of the popular ones.

Fril ¶

Fril is a fancy online flea market for female students in high school or college. Within a month of its release, the app was downloaded over 5,000 times and the number of items sold exceeded 10,000. Since most of the users are students, the average price of items is pretty low, at around 2,000 to 3,000 yen (or $22 to $34). Surprisingly Fril is an all-guy team and a graduate startup from Tokyo-based Open Network Lab incubator. Over 100 interviews with their target users have paid off, because Fril is definitely one of the most well-designed app for girls. It is currently available for iOS and Android if you’d like to give it a try.

Snapeee ¶

Snapeee is a purikura app, which means it lets you take photo booth style pictures with many decorative features. Released in May of 2011, the app has attracted users not just in Japan but all across Asia, including Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macao. People in other parts of Asia really like “kawaii” things too, and half a year after its release, the app has been downloaded over 800,000 times with half of those from overseas. Snapeee adds decorative stamps, brushes, and frames to the app everyday. Decorated photos can be shared on different social network such as Facebook, Twitter, mixi, GREE, Ameba, Renren, and Sina Weibo. The application is available for both iOS and Android.

Decopic ¶

A product of Community Factory Inc, Decopic is another popular purikura app and is a competitor of the afore-mentioned Snapeee. It was recently announced that it had reached the lofty milestone of 12 million downloads, which is certainly an impressive mark for any mobile app. The company was bought by Yahoo Japan in September of last year, for an estimated price of one billion yen (about $11 million) [1]. Yahoo Japan was eager to get into mobile, and successfully obtained Decopic’s eight million users.

The app can be distinguished by its unique user interface, as it is not designed like a typical smartphone app. It’s more like the purikura machines to which its target users are accustomed. It’s available for both iOS and Android.

iQon ¶

iQon is a fashion community that allows users to create magazine-like collages of fashion styles, sort of the Japanese equivalent to Polyvore. iQon was originally a web service only, but it released an iPhone app in February of last year. With over one million visitors as of March, 2012, the number of collages posted on the service has increased by a factor of twenty. The main users are in their twenties, and they access the app nine times a day on average. It’s available for both iOS and Android.

Nameco ¶

The tweets and posts originating from within this app at one point practically filled my entire Twitter stream. Nameco is a game that requires users to grow and harvest mushrooms, and it has been downloaded over 13,000,000 times as of June, 2012, with a 4.5 star rating on the iTunes app store. The huge popularity of Nameco is due to its uber-cute mushroom character. There are over one hundred types of physical merchandise items for the character, and that certainly puts it in a lucrative space as we have seen from Rovio with Angry Birds. It has even managed to collaborate with Sanrio’s Hello Kitty. The app is currently available for both iOS and Android.

There are so many of these apps that it’s impossible to cover them all in just one article. But if you’re looking to reach Japanese or Asian girls in their twenties, these apps are certainly a good model to follow.

This is part of our cute Japanese apps series (RSS), examining a trend of ‘kawaii’ success stories emerging from Japan’s mobile space.

That estimated price is according to TechCrunch Japan. ↩

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How Japan’s SnapDish app catered to foreign foodies

Junya Mori 2013.02.06

Many mobile applications from Japan aspire to reach a global audience. The food photo and recipe-sharing mobile app SnapDish is an example of such app. And so far, it has fared well. Up until now it has been available in four languages: Japanese, English, Chinese (simplified and traditional), and Korean. But it recently announced the addition of seven more: French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Indonesian, and Thai. Snapdish now potentially supports three billion people speaking those eleven languages around the world. The app, which lets cooking enthusiasts edit and share food photos, was launched in May 2011. To date it has cataloged more than 1.7 million pictures, with more than 10 million Yummies (similar to a Facebook’s Like function). SnapDish is getting more and more popular, mainly among people who cook at home. They are able to connect with a wide range of people and chat about cooking through photos and recipes. We recently spoke to a SnapDish representative in charge of language support. His comments follow below. SnapDish on going global SnapDish representative: When developing and designing the app, which we launched in May of 2011, we had overseas users in mind from the very beginning and we planned…

Many mobile applications from Japan aspire to reach a global audience. The food photo and recipe-sharing mobile app SnapDish is an example of such app. And so far, it has fared well.

Up until now it has been available in four languages: Japanese, English, Chinese (simplified and traditional), and Korean. But it recently announced the addition of seven more: French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Indonesian, and Thai. Snapdish now potentially supports three billion people speaking those eleven languages around the world.

The app, which lets cooking enthusiasts edit and share food photos, was launched in May 2011. To date it has cataloged more than 1.7 million pictures, with more than 10 million Yummies (similar to a Facebook’s Like function).

SnapDish is getting more and more popular, mainly among people who cook at home. They are able to connect with a wide range of people and chat about cooking through photos and recipes. We recently spoke to a SnapDish representative in charge of language support. His comments follow below.

SnapDish on going global

SnapDish representative: When developing and designing the app, which we launched in May of 2011, we had overseas users in mind from the very beginning and we planned to launch its English and Japanese versions at the same time. So with the intention of having an English user interface, instead of simply translating the context literally, we designed the app so it would be easy to use for both Japanese and non-Japanese users.

We also paid close attention to whether or not English expressions in the app sound fun for English users. For example, there is a button called Mogu Mogu in the Japanese version. This works like Facebook’s Like button and users can click it when they like other users’ photos. But in the English version, this button is instead labeled Yummy. Whereas Mogu mogu translates more literally into English as nom nom or chomp chomp, but since such expressions are not as friendly or appealing in English, SnapDish chose the more natural-sounding Yummy. We are taking equal care to use natural expressions as we expand into other languages.

As a result, the application has been regularly downloaded overseas since its initial release. The app gained many users, particularly in Southeast Asia and Chinese-speaking regions, and we quickly learned that it’s not only Japanese foodies, but also folks in other Asian countries like the combination of food and photos.

Even after launching apps, we figure out users’ needs and try to meet those them. For example, genres that can be tagged on pictures are customized to each countries’ food culture. Since the application was developed from the very beginning with foreign users in mind, many users overseas regularly report that they didn’t realize that the application was Japanese. American users often assume that it was developed in an English-speaking country. Such feedback confirms that even foreign users can use the application seamlessly.

Building the business

SnapDish representative: Last year, we expanded our service further by partnering with large foreign companies such as China’s Renren.com and Korea’s SK Planet. Thanks to these partnerships we realized that there are many people who think the SnapDish app can meet the needs of Asian consumers, and that our service can add value.

Also, we actively applied for overseas startup pitch events last year and participated in Singapore’s Echelon in June, Taiwan’s IDEAS Show in July, and GMIC-SV which was held in San Jose, USA, in October. At those events, we not only made presentations but also set up our booth in venues, so we were able to talk with existing overseas users and build our network. We were even interviewed by foreign media companies, so it was very beneficial from a promotional standpoint as well.

We were well-received especially in Asia, and we had a chance to pitch at Echelon as one of the top 10 startups selected from six Asian countries. We asked an event organizer about the reason why we were selected, and we were told that we differentiated our app from other food photo apps with a home-cooking feature, and that it was great that we had developed a monetization plan.

What’s next for SnapDish?

SnapDish rep: While still paying attention to details in the app, we are looking to provide promotional and communication features that fit in with each local market. For example, we are planning to launch our gift campaign, which is only available in Japan at the moment, to foreign markets.

We continue to put our priority on Asia for our international business. Of course, it doesn’t mean that other regions such as Europe are not important. In Asia, we have already established a substantial user base and are forming a community there. We are already well-grounded in the Asian market, so we would like to solidify that market position.

We also want to continue to take part in pitch events abroad, and at the same time, just like we promoted our service in Asia last year, we are looking for a chance to do the same in Europe as well.

If you want to download SnapDish, you can get it here for iOS and Android.

(Photo: e27)

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News curation app Gunosy raises $342,000 from angel investors

Masaru Ikeda 2013.02.05

Gunosy, a Tokyo-based startup which runs a news curation service, announced today it has raised 31.6 million yen (approximately $342,000) by allocating new shares to several angel investors. The service pulls your interests and favorites from your social media accounts, and creates news updates that will likely fit your taste. It delivers a notification e-mail including links to your favorite news at a time of your convenience, usually once a day. With the funds raised this time, the Gunosy team plans to develop an Android app and refine their overall service quality. The service was launched in October of 2011 by three graduate students studying data mining at the University of Tokyo. They have recently introduced their iPhone app on the Japanese iTunes store, and made it to sixth place in the free app rankings on the day of release. So far it has managed to acquire more than 75,000 users to date. Using the same ‘interest detection’ technology in their curation app, they also introduced a job hunting site last year, which allows you to discover your vocation without entering your profile, preparing your resume, or even messaging recruiting agents. On a related note, another Tokyo-based startup, Gocro Inc., has recently introduced a…

Gunosy, a Tokyo-based startup which runs a news curation service, announced today it has raised 31.6 million yen (approximately $342,000) by allocating new shares to several angel investors.

The service pulls your interests and favorites from your social media accounts, and creates news updates that will likely fit your taste. It delivers a notification e-mail including links to your favorite news at a time of your convenience, usually once a day. With the funds raised this time, the Gunosy team plans to develop an Android app and refine their overall service quality.

The service was launched in October of 2011 by three graduate students studying data mining at the University of Tokyo. They have recently introduced their iPhone app on the Japanese iTunes store, and made it to sixth place in the free app rankings on the day of release. So far it has managed to acquire more than 75,000 users to date.

Using the same ‘interest detection’ technology in their curation app, they also introduced a job hunting site last year, which allows you to discover your vocation without entering your profile, preparing your resume, or even messaging recruiting agents.

On a related note, another Tokyo-based startup, Gocro Inc., has recently introduced a news curation app called SmartNews, which subsequently managed to get a lot of traction among users.

gunosy2 — From left to right: Gunosy co-founders/developers, Yoshinori Fukushima, Koji Yoshida and Yoshifumi Seki (Photo by Shintaro Eguchi)

See also our interview in Japanese with the three co-founders of Gunosy.

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Japan’s top photo app ‘Transform Camera’ delivers disguises on demand

Rick Martin 2013.02.05

I’m really enjoying all the fun photo applications coming out of Japan recently, and one in particular caught my eye, as it has been Japan’s top ranked iOS photo app for about a week now. It’s called Transform Camera (or in Japanese ‘Henshin Camera‘) and it essentially provides a digital version of those head-in-hole tourist photo stands that you often see while traveling. It provides about 150 disguises to choose from in total, and more are expected to be coming soon. So far the photo frames include a pirate costume (ala Johnny Depp from Pirates of the Caribbean), a French maid outfit, a wide selection of kimono and traditional dress, and even a pair of crossed light sabers just waiting for two pairs of hands to pose with them. Applying the frames is dead simple, as the app comes with some facial recognition tries to position the frame over the person’s face. Once you’ve taken your photo, you can save it to your camera roll, or then share it to your favorite social network. Interestingly, eje Inc — the company behind Transform Camera — says it might add location-specific frames in the future. I imagine how this would work is…

I’m really enjoying all the fun photo applications coming out of Japan recently, and one in particular caught my eye, as it has been Japan’s top ranked iOS photo app for about a week now. It’s called Transform Camera (or in Japanese ‘Henshin Camera‘) and it essentially provides a digital version of those head-in-hole tourist photo stands that you often see while traveling. It provides about 150 disguises to choose from in total, and more are expected to be coming soon.

So far the photo frames include a pirate costume (ala Johnny Depp from Pirates of the Caribbean), a French maid outfit, a wide selection of kimono and traditional dress, and even a pair of crossed light sabers just waiting for two pairs of hands to pose with them. Applying the frames is dead simple, as the app comes with some facial recognition tries to position the frame over the person’s face.

sd-transform-camera

sd-transform-camera-1

Once you’ve taken your photo, you can save it to your camera roll, or then share it to your favorite social network.

Interestingly, eje Inc — the company behind Transform Camera — says it might add location-specific frames in the future. I imagine how this would work is that once you visit a certain area or landmark, then a specific photo decoration would be unlocked. This feature could be a great addition, especially if eje Inc develops a deep repertoire of available frames, corresponding to major landmarks around the world. But we’ll have to wait and see what they come up with.

You can download Transform Camera over on the App Store. While all the descriptive text is in Japanese, the app’s interface is mostly in English and really simple to use.

sd-camera-transform

sd-transform-camera-3

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Build your own iPhone-controlled RC car!

Yukari Mitsuhashi 2013.02.05

For many people, driving a radio-controlled car is one of their most treasured childhood memories. Even big boys still find the experience intriguing, as you often see RC car competitions held all over the world. But what if you could build your own car and drive it with your iPhone or iPad? Actually, Japan Trust Technology, Inc has invented just such a car. It’s named Tsuku-Raji, a moniker which combines the Japanese words for “make” and “radio.” All you need to do is build your dream car on top of the 9.5cm x 4.7cm base unit. The resulting RC vehicle can then be controlled using their dedicated iOS app (for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch). The iPhone can even be used as a steering wheel by turning on the gyro mode! Charging the car and the transmitter is quick and easy, simply by connecting to your computer with a USB cable. Tsuku-Raji comes in two colors, black and red, and is priced at 3,980 yen (about $43) for just the car, and 4,480 yen ($48) with the USB AC adapter included. If you’d like to order one, you can do so on the JTT website if you’re in Japan. We’ll…

For many people, driving a radio-controlled car is one of their most treasured childhood memories. Even big boys still find the experience intriguing, as you often see RC car competitions held all over the world. But what if you could build your own car and drive it with your iPhone or iPad?

Actually, Japan Trust Technology, Inc has invented just such a car. It’s named Tsuku-Raji, a moniker which combines the Japanese words for “make” and “radio.” All you need to do is build your dream car on top of the 9.5cm x 4.7cm base unit. The resulting RC vehicle can then be controlled using their dedicated iOS app (for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch). The iPhone can even be used as a steering wheel by turning on the gyro mode!

Charging the car and the transmitter is quick and easy, simply by connecting to your computer with a USB cable. Tsuku-Raji comes in two colors, black and red, and is priced at 3,980 yen (about $43) for just the car, and 4,480 yen ($48) with the USB AC adapter included. If you’d like to order one, you can do so on the JTT website if you’re in Japan. We’ll let you know if they become available to overseas buyers.

Kids can’t get enough of the iPhone, and it goes without saying that they love RC cars. This product is the perfect combination of the two, and is sure to be a big hit. Parents will certainly be fans as well, as the building process should help foster creativity.

Check out the demonstration of Tsuku-Raji in the video clip below.

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The Japanese iPhone app that’s taking out trash one photo at a time

Masaru Ikeda 2013.02.04

Pirika is a smartphone app that encourages you to clean up your environment. The concept involves sharing a picture of what you cleaned up, so that other users can cheer you on, and keep your motivation high to clean up more. The startup recently announced that the total amount of pictures posted to the service now exceeds 100,000 (as of January). Pirika was originally launched in May of 2011 by Kyoto University graduate Fujio Kojima (CEO) and his friend Ryota Ayaki (CTO). They were inspired by environmental preservation activities that leveraged the community, like UC Berkley’s NGO, the Watershed Project; or Japan’s Sports Gomi-Hiroi (scavenger hunting) Association. They developed the app in order to help make the world a cleaner place by adding an element of gamification to cleaning activities. The startup is analyzing the information collected through the app (i.e. what users have picked up on the streets) and that information is passed on to public sanitation authorities so that they might improving their services. The Pirika founders believe their service could even be monetized via corporate sponsorship from companies interested in improving their corporate social responsibility (CSR). Currently the app is available in English, Japanese, and traditional Chinese…

Pirika is a smartphone app that encourages you to clean up your environment. The concept involves sharing a picture of what you cleaned up, so that other users can cheer you on, and keep your motivation high to clean up more. The startup recently announced that the total amount of pictures posted to the service now exceeds 100,000 (as of January).

Pirika was originally launched in May of 2011 by Kyoto University graduate Fujio Kojima (CEO) and his friend Ryota Ayaki (CTO). They were inspired by environmental preservation activities that leveraged the community, like UC Berkley’s NGO, the Watershed Project; or Japan’s Sports Gomi-Hiroi (scavenger hunting) Association. They developed the app in order to help make the world a cleaner place by adding an element of gamification to cleaning activities.

The startup is analyzing the information collected through the app (i.e. what users have picked up on the streets) and that information is passed on to public sanitation authorities so that they might improving their services. The Pirika founders believe their service could even be monetized via corporate sponsorship from companies interested in improving their corporate social responsibility (CSR).

Currently the app is available in English, Japanese, and traditional Chinese for both iOS and Android. The startup has not disclosed how many users they’ve acquired, but they’ve got ‘scavenging postings’ from 62 countries all around the world. The app was named after a word in the Ainu language word (etupirka) given to the tufted puffin, a bird known for grooming often and keeping clean at at all times.

From right: CEO Fujio Kojima and CTO Ryota — From right: Fujio Kojima (CEO) and Ryota Ayaki (CTO)

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Meet 5 new mobile startups from KDDI’s tech accelerator

Masaru Ikeda 2013.02.01

KDDI Mugen Labo, a startup incubator run by Japan’s second largest telco, recently held a conference called “4th Meeting” where we heard from five startups from the third batch [1] of its three-month acceleration program. All the smartphones apps developed by these startups will be available on au SmartPass, a flat-rate monthly subscription service that gives subscribers access to an unlimited number of apps. Here’s a quick rundown of the new services: Mana.bo ¶ Mana.bo is learning platform that allows students to ask tutors a question at any time. If you are studying at home but suddenly have a nagging question, you usually need to wait until the next school day to ask your teacher. Mana.bo makes it possible for students to ask their question immediately, without having to wait. According to the startup’s CEO Katsuhito Mihashi, the “EduTech” market is growing very rapidly in Silicon Valley, and the investment in this industry is as much as four times of what used to be four years ago. To differentiate from competitors, mana.bo is preparing to add several key features, such as an online whiteboard where they can draw, as well as tools for chatting, photo sharing, and even a numerical…

KDDI Mugen Labo, a startup incubator run by Japan’s second largest telco, recently held a conference called “4th Meeting” where we heard from five startups from the third batch [1] of its three-month acceleration program.

All the smartphones apps developed by these startups will be available on au SmartPass, a flat-rate monthly subscription service that gives subscribers access to an unlimited number of apps.

Here’s a quick rundown of the new services:

Mana.bo ¶

Mana.bo is learning platform that allows students to ask tutors a question at any time. If you are studying at home but suddenly have a nagging question, you usually need to wait until the next school day to ask your teacher. Mana.bo makes it possible for students to ask their question immediately, without having to wait.

According to the startup’s CEO Katsuhito Mihashi, the “EduTech” market is growing very rapidly in Silicon Valley, and the investment in this industry is as much as four times of what used to be four years ago. To differentiate from competitors, mana.bo is preparing to add several key features, such as an online whiteboard where they can draw, as well as tools for chatting, photo sharing, and even a numerical formula recognition feature which can detect hand-written numerals and things like radical signs and logarithms.

Log Town ¶

Log Town aggregates (or “logs”) your activities on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, and generates an information index in the form of a virtual town. The service sort of has a SimCity feel, but is personalized with details of our social media behaviours. For example, when you check into an Italian restraunt with your Foursquare account, that restaurant will be virtually constructed on your Log Town page.

They just released the browser based version, and will introduce an Android app in March.

Morning Relay ¶

Morning Relay is a social wake-up call that enlists the assistance of your social circle in making sure that you wake up on time. The “relay” monikker springs from the process of being handed a baton from a teammate in a relay race – getting by with some help from your friends, as they say.

When your wake-up time closes, your social contacts will cheer you on in an effort to wake you up. If you don’t wake up, your avatar will indicate to your contacts that you still aren’t awake, so they can keep trying to nudge you out of bed. If you succeed in waking up on time, you can pass along thanks to your caller, and even help to wake up someone else on the app.

The iPhone app will be available in February, and the Android app will follow in April.

Close ¶

Close is a smartphone app that lets you chat with only with your intimate friends, allowing you to register up to nine people as contacts. It was inspired by a presentation from ex-Google senior UX researcher Paul Adams. Close’s creator Daisuke Mizuta believes the maximum limit is typical of intimate contacts someone would have. The app allows you to update your important (and not-so-important) moments without worrying about colleagues or business contacts who might be connected with you on Facebook.

Close’s developer, Reventive, raised 15 million yen in funds (about $162,000) from ex-Oracle Japan president Allen Miner and other Japanese angel investors.

Close is available for iOS and Android.

Tixee (Winner of ‘Best Startup’ award) ¶

Tixee is a service that allows you to buy tickets for interesting events online. Most ticketing apps use QR codes to be scanned at the door of an event, but this can often take more time to confirm than paper tickets. The Tixee app digitally reproduce the ticket stub tearing motion, and an event organizer just needs to swipe the screen to tear off the (virtual) stub, as you can see in the promo video below.

Tixee has already been adopted at football matches by F.C. Tokyo, and also on the concert tour of popular J-pop band Mr. Children.

KDDI Mugen Labo just started accepting applications for the fourth batch of their accelerator program. The deadline is February 22nd. ↩

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With 100 million users, LINE is the Japanese Facebook

Yukari Mitsuhashi 2013.02.01

Line, one of the most popular smartphone apps in Japan, recently reached the 100 million user milestone. The free chat application was made by NHN Japan Corporation, and launched back in June of 2011. The app makes use of the user’s phone directory, allowing them to get connected with people they actually know in real life. Sound familiar? Yes, Line is in many ways aspiring to be Japan’s Facebook — the primary difference being that Line is a social service born entirely on mobile. Line is gaining popularity around the Asia region with about half of it’s users coming from outside Japan. Many celebrities in Japan are using the app including current prime minister Abe Shinzo who joined the service in January. The biggest reason behind the app’s success lies in the timing of its release. It came during a time when not-so-tech-savvy mainstream users began switching from feature phones to smartphones. With a completely different and unfamiliar tool, people turned to Line for help. With Line, all you needed to get connected with friends was their phone number. And everyone with a phone has that already. Ubiquity, and beyond! Line was first adopted by younger users but gradually gained…

Line, one of the most popular smartphone apps in Japan, recently reached the 100 million user milestone. The free chat application was made by NHN Japan Corporation, and launched back in June of 2011. The app makes use of the user’s phone directory, allowing them to get connected with people they actually know in real life. Sound familiar? Yes, Line is in many ways aspiring to be Japan’s Facebook — the primary difference being that Line is a social service born entirely on mobile.

Line is gaining popularity around the Asia region with about half of it’s users coming from outside Japan. Many celebrities in Japan are using the app including current prime minister Abe Shinzo who joined the service in January. The biggest reason behind the app’s success lies in the timing of its release. It came during a time when not-so-tech-savvy mainstream users began switching from feature phones to smartphones. With a completely different and unfamiliar tool, people turned to Line for help. With Line, all you needed to get connected with friends was their phone number. And everyone with a phone has that already.

Ubiquity, and beyond!

Line was first adopted by younger users but gradually gained popularity over mainstream users including seniors. With over 100 million users, it is the new digital marketing platform. To better take advantage of Line, many companies are conducting user surveys. A survey of married couples and their usage of Line was a particularly interesting one. It targeted 800 married men and women of age 20 to 40. 39.5% responded that the app increased communication with their spouse. 29.4% of respondents answered that their spousal relationship has improved since using the app.

line tenki — Line also launched Line Tenki, or Line Weather this past week

But since last summer, the chat app has become more of a platform than just smartphone chat application. NHN began providing a service named Line Channel in July of 2012, a year after the app’s initial release. On Line Channel, users are able to enjoy games, fortune-telling, and even discount coupons. One game, Line Pop, has been downloaded over 20 million times worldwide as of January 2013, just two months after it’s release.

But there is a cutthroat war brewing in the chat application market. Line is no doubt the pioneer in Japan, but DeNA’s Comm and Korea’s KakaoTalk have jumped in the ring recently too. At the end of 2012, Comm had been downloaded more than five million times since it’s October launch. Kakao Talk had about 70 million users as of December 2012, with 18 million of those overseas, and about 4 million of those in Japan.

We were in touch with the CEO of Viber this week as well, who pointed out that they are hoping to make a renewed push in Asia where the app has 50 million users in total. Interestingly, six million of those are in Japan.

But still, Line’s dominance is pretty secure at home, with about 41.5 million users in Japan. Stay tuned to see how it fares abroad this year.

This is part of our ‘Japanese internet in-depth’ series (RSS). Stay tuned for more features that aim to explain what makes the internet unique in Japan.

For more information on the growth of Line, 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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