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Japan’s Quan invests in Thailand’s mobile game startup Magic Box Asia

Magic Box Asia

Masaru Ikeda 2014.08.18

Tokyo-based Quan, the Japanese startup behind mobile apps like MyStickerShop and Lounge, announced today that it has invested in Bangkok-based game startup Magic Box Asia. Magic Box Asia was founded by Vincent Setiwan, co-founder of Bangkok’s co-working space Launchpad and the co-founder of Japanese anime creation crowdfunding site Anipipo. The company provides a smartphone game platform and app localization service for the Southeast Asian region with an emphasis on the Thai market. Since its launch in 2011, Quan has launched smartphone app MyStickerShop in partnership with Thailand’s leading telco AIS, as well as developed the Japanese versions of popular mobile games from Thai developers such as Kiragames, PocketPlayLab, and PromptNow. The company fundraised an undisclosed sum from Japanese e-commerce giant Netprice.com and investment company East Ventures in 2012. See also: How a small Japanese startup is helping Thailand’s biggest telco win new 3G subscribers WeChat turns to Japanese startup Quan for mobile sticker content Inside Bangkok’s growing startup scene

Tokyo-based Quan, the Japanese startup behind mobile apps like MyStickerShop and Lounge, announced today that it has invested in Bangkok-based game startup Magic Box Asia.

Magic Box Asia was founded by Vincent Setiwan, co-founder of Bangkok’s co-working space Launchpad and the co-founder of Japanese anime creation crowdfunding site Anipipo. The company provides a smartphone game platform and app localization service for the Southeast Asian region with an emphasis on the Thai market.

Since its launch in 2011, Quan has launched smartphone app MyStickerShop in partnership with Thailand’s leading telco AIS, as well as developed the Japanese versions of popular mobile games from Thai developers such as Kiragames, PocketPlayLab, and PromptNow. The company fundraised an undisclosed sum from Japanese e-commerce giant Netprice.com and investment company East Ventures in 2012.

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This mobile app from Japan’s Muji helps you relax and sleep wherever

Masaru Ikeda 2014.07.15

Ryohin Keikaku, the Japanese company best known for its consumer goods-focused retail chain Muji, recently introduced a sleep-inducing app called ‘Muji to Sleep‘. It is available in several different languages for Android and iOS. The company introduced a series of neck cushion products last year, which have been getting a good reputation, especially from frequent travelers who take long-haul flights. The mobile app was recently introduced as a sister product of the cushion products. Muji to Sleep offers six different relaxing natural sounds recorded around Japan using the binaural recording method, where the audio frequency gap between left-ear and right-ear channels syncs with the brainwave cycle and induces a sound sleep.

Ryohin Keikaku, the Japanese company best known for its consumer goods-focused retail chain Muji, recently introduced a sleep-inducing app called ‘Muji to Sleep‘. It is available in several different languages for Android and iOS.

The company introduced a series of neck cushion products last year, which have been getting a good reputation, especially from frequent travelers who take long-haul flights. The mobile app was recently introduced as a sister product of the cushion products.

Muji to Sleep offers six different relaxing natural sounds recorded around Japan using the binaural recording method, where the audio frequency gap between left-ear and right-ear channels syncs with the brainwave cycle and induces a sound sleep.

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Build a website entirely on your smartphone with Dino

Rick Martin 2014.05.30

Here’s a fun free web tool from Japan that lets you create websites using nothing more than your smartphone’s browser. Dino (Dino.vc) is a freemium service from the folks at Revolver Inc. which has been in beta since early this month. According to the folks over at VentureNow.jp, the company has plans to roll out Dino throughout Asia. Currently it is available in Japanese only. Below is a quick walkthrough of how site creation works on a smartphone, as I just took a few minutes to test it out for myself. First fix a title and description for your site. Browse the back-end administration settings (Japanese only currently): Add one of the pre-set photos as your background (left), or upload your own background, as I did (right): Add some content (News updates, or fill our your profile): Publish, and check out the end result! Overall it’s not a bad little service. And assuming that their beta test here in Japan goes well, I think expanding around Asia would be a wise idea. In countries where PC ownership is high, I’m not sure that there’s really much of a need for a smartphone website creation solution. But in regions where people’s…

Here’s a fun free web tool from Japan that lets you create websites using nothing more than your smartphone’s browser. Dino (Dino.vc) is a freemium service from the folks at Revolver Inc. which has been in beta since early this month.

According to the folks over at VentureNow.jp, the company has plans to roll out Dino throughout Asia. Currently it is available in Japanese only.

Below is a quick walkthrough of how site creation works on a smartphone, as I just took a few minutes to test it out for myself.

First fix a title and description for your site. Browse the back-end administration settings (Japanese only currently):

Add one of the pre-set photos as your background (left), or upload your own background, as I did (right):

Add some content (News updates, or fill our your profile):

Publish, and check out the end result!

Overall it’s not a bad little service. And assuming that their beta test here in Japan goes well, I think expanding around Asia would be a wise idea. In countries where PC ownership is high, I’m not sure that there’s really much of a need for a smartphone website creation solution. But in regions where people’s only computer might be a low-cost smartphone, then a service like Dino would be very much welcome.

As for monetization, you can create your own smartphone optimized site for free as a subdomain of Dino.vc. If you’d to roll your own domain, ad free, with support for multiple admins and Google Analytics, you can enroll in their pro plan which costs 1000 yen (about $10) per month. A business plan is also available for 3000 yen per month, supporting as many as ten administrators.

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Japanese hardware prototyping platform PocketDuino launches on Indiegogo

Yasunori Okajima 2014.05.28

See the original story in Japanese. PocketDuino is an Android-compatible circuit board based on the Arduino prototyping platform. The product was developed by Japanese engineers and recently launched an Indiegogo campaign. What’s unique about this circuit board is the ease with which you can connect external sensor devices. For example, if you have a library to control an alcohol sensor, you can have the board obtain data from the sensor by writing as little as three-line of Java code. With PocketDuino, developers can easily add external sensors to integrate with Android handsets. The PocketDuino team wants to enable software developers to create apps linked with such sensor devices without requiring too much knowledge about hardware architecture. Similar to the Arduino, you can use a Windows, Macintosh, or Linux PC to load your code to the PocketDuino circuit board. Or you can load code from an Android handset using the Arduino development environment Codebender. The team wants to fill the gap between software and hardware with this product, enabling more people to launch their hardware products and startups. They plan to launch a business in the US if PocketDuino can successfully close this campaign, and they hope to invent more hardware…

See the original story in Japanese.

PocketDuino is an Android-compatible circuit board based on the Arduino prototyping platform. The product was developed by Japanese engineers and recently launched an Indiegogo campaign.

What’s unique about this circuit board is the ease with which you can connect external sensor devices. For example, if you have a library to control an alcohol sensor, you can have the board obtain data from the sensor by writing as little as three-line of Java code.

With PocketDuino, developers can easily add external sensors to integrate with Android handsets. The PocketDuino team wants to enable software developers to create apps linked with such sensor devices without requiring too much knowledge about hardware architecture.

Similar to the Arduino, you can use a Windows, Macintosh, or Linux PC to load your code to the PocketDuino circuit board. Or you can load code from an Android handset using the Arduino development environment Codebender.

The team wants to fill the gap between software and hardware with this product, enabling more people to launch their hardware products and startups. They plan to launch a business in the US if PocketDuino can successfully close this campaign, and they hope to invent more hardware products addressing various problems.

The campaign will run until the end of June. You can receive e-mail updates about further product development if you invest $1 in the project. If you invest $39, you can get a PocketDuino unit, and for $55 you can get a PocketDuino with an alcohol sensor. Early bird discounts are also available.

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Yahoo Japan’s public transit app surpasses 10M downloads

SCORE 1,105

Rick Martin 2014.05.28

Yesterday Yahoo Japan announced that its Yahoo Transit application, which tells you directions and transit times for walking, trains, buses, and planes, has surpassed the 10 million downloads milestone as of May 18th. The app was initially released for iOS way back in 2008, and for Android back in 2011. It consistently ranks among the top tier of apps in iOS’s navigation category and Google Play’s transportation category in Japan. Via Venture Now

Yesterday Yahoo Japan announced that its Yahoo Transit application, which tells you directions and transit times for walking, trains, buses, and planes, has surpassed the 10 million downloads milestone as of May 18th.

The app was initially released for iOS way back in 2008, and for Android back in 2011. It consistently ranks among the top tier of apps in iOS’s navigation category and Google Play’s transportation category in Japan.

Via Venture Now

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Puzzle & Dragons’ small but enthusiastic North American fan base

Rick Martin 2014.05.27

Via Gamebiz.jp, there’s news that the North American version of Gungho Online Entertainment’s hit mobile game Puzzle & Dragons has surpassed 4 million downloads. This isn’t an especially impressive figure, but as someone who has played the English version since it’s release [1], I’m continually surprised by the amount of fan engagement that I see on the game’s English Facebook page, in chat forums, and over on Reddit. Check it out and see for yourself. Puzzle & Dragons may only have a few million English-speaking fans. But they’re pretty hard core. In its home market of Japan, P&D has over 26 million users. I confess, I’m such a fan of the game that I have English and Japanese versions of the game running on my mobile. ↩

tokyo-game-show-201303 — Puzzle & Dragon booth at Tokyo Game Show 2013

Via Gamebiz.jp, there’s news that the North American version of Gungho Online Entertainment’s hit mobile game Puzzle & Dragons has surpassed 4 million downloads.

This isn’t an especially impressive figure, but as someone who has played the English version since it’s release [1], I’m continually surprised by the amount of fan engagement that I see on the game’s English Facebook page, in chat forums, and over on Reddit. Check it out and see for yourself. Puzzle & Dragons may only have a few million English-speaking fans. But they’re pretty hard core.

In its home market of Japan, P&D has over 26 million users.

I confess, I’m such a fan of the game that I have English and Japanese versions of the game running on my mobile. ↩

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Fujitsu to offer mobile health support services to women in Japan

Rick Martin 2014.05.26

NTT Docomo recently unveiled its new summer smartphone lineup, and included among its new handsets was the Arrows NX F–05F. Made by Fujitsu, this will be one of many Fujitsu phones that will feature a new Karada Life Pregnancy Support app targeting female users. According to Fujitsu today, the service will be available starting May 30th here in Japan. The application was developed by Fujitsu using APIs from Luna Luna, a service that millions of women in Japan use to be more aware of their menstrual cycles, by recording period timing and body temperature. In short, a range of services will be provided by both Fujitsu and Luna Luna, including estimation of menstruation and ovulation times (based on data from the previous two months) and lifestyle advice. There is also convenient body temperature management that makes use of wireless and automatic transmission of data from a thermometer [1] to smartphones (pictured below). Our readers may recall that we also saw Ateam release an app for women trying to get pregnant late last year. But it’s good to see more companies like Fujitsu get involved to provide more options. It’s interesting to watch more and more companies in Japan strive to…

NTT Docomo recently unveiled its new summer smartphone lineup, and included among its new handsets was the Arrows NX F–05F. Made by Fujitsu, this will be one of many Fujitsu phones that will feature a new Karada Life Pregnancy Support app targeting female users. According to Fujitsu today, the service will be available starting May 30th here in Japan.

The application was developed by Fujitsu using APIs from Luna Luna, a service that millions of women in Japan use to be more aware of their menstrual cycles, by recording period timing and body temperature.

In short, a range of services will be provided by both Fujitsu and Luna Luna, including estimation of menstruation and ovulation times (based on data from the previous two months) and lifestyle advice. There is also convenient body temperature management that makes use of wireless and automatic transmission of data from a thermometer [1] to smartphones (pictured below).

Our readers may recall that we also saw Ateam release an app for women trying to get pregnant late last year. But it’s good to see more companies like Fujitsu get involved to provide more options.

It’s interesting to watch more and more companies in Japan strive to serve female users. Just last month, for example, Amazon Japan launched a new female-focused store front to specifically target women and mothers.

Specifically, the Terumo Corporation’s WOMAN °C W520DZ thermometer, which is ostensibly not included. ↩

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Japan-based Wantedly brings its social job platform to Android

Rick Martin 2014.05.26

Back in February we told you about the release of a new iOS application from Japan-based Wantedly, allows you to access the startup’s online social job platform on mobile. At the time, the team mentioned to us that they’d like to do a version for Android as well. And just after the iOS launch, it I understand they brought in a new engineer to do just that. Skip to today and Wantedly for Android is now available as a free download from Google Play. I encourage you to check it out.

Back in February we told you about the release of a new iOS application from Japan-based Wantedly, allows you to access the startup’s online social job platform on mobile.

At the time, the team mentioned to us that they’d like to do a version for Android as well. And just after the iOS launch, it I understand they brought in a new engineer to do just that.

Skip to today and Wantedly for Android is now available as a free download from Google Play. I encourage you to check it out.

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Adways’ Party Track begins integration with 5Rocks to create one-stop mobile analytics solution

Rick Martin 2014.05.21

Back in January we reported that Tokyo-based digital advertising network and game publisher Adways has invested in and partnered with Korean growth hacking startup 5Rocks. At the time we mentioned that Adways planned to integrate 5Rocks segment-specific user behavior analytics into its own app tracking tool Party Track, in an effort to make it a one-stop analytics solution for marketing attribution and insights into in-app user behavior. According to a brief announcement today, that integration has now finally begun. Adways CEO Haruhisa Okamura made a brief statement: Adways is always seeking the way to support our clients to maximize the profit by using our service – last year we released Party Track and realized the need to focus on not only ad-analysis but more detailed analysis on user basis. I believe this business tie-up with 5Rocks will help app developers to solve more issues.

Back in January we reported that Tokyo-based digital advertising network and game publisher Adways has invested in and partnered with Korean growth hacking startup 5Rocks. At the time we mentioned that Adways planned to integrate 5Rocks segment-specific user behavior analytics into its own app tracking tool Party Track, in an effort to make it a one-stop analytics solution for marketing attribution and insights into in-app user behavior.

According to a brief announcement today, that integration has now finally begun. Adways CEO Haruhisa Okamura made a brief statement:

Adways is always seeking the way to support our clients to maximize the profit by using our service – last year we released Party Track and realized the need to focus on not only ad-analysis but more detailed analysis on user basis. I believe this business tie-up with 5Rocks will help app developers to solve more issues.

news

Japanese homescreen customization app breaks through 25M downloads, enjoys international success

Rick Martin 2014.05.20

United Inc, the Japanese maker of smartphone customization app Cocoppa, announced today that their flagship app has surpassed 25 million downloads, as of May 16. Cocoppa is a standout Japan success story in that it has quite successfully won fans in overseas markets, with 84% of their users from outside Japan. The service originally started back in July of 2012, averaging just over a million new downloads a month. As for user engagement, Cocoppa has seen 600,000 screen icons contributed to its platform, as well as 130,000 wallpapers. As you can see in the chart below, Cocoppa’s user base skews towards iOS. The Android version of the app has only been around for about a year (launched in May 2013), so expect this to be a more balanced distribution quite soon. Recently Cocoppa was challenged on its home turf by mobile giant Line, which launched its own homescreen customization app, Line Deco. That application is doing respectably well in major Asian markets, so this could be an interesting battle to watch in the coming months.

United Inc, the Japanese maker of smartphone customization app Cocoppa, announced today that their flagship app has surpassed 25 million downloads, as of May 16.

Cocoppa is a standout Japan success story in that it has quite successfully won fans in overseas markets, with 84% of their users from outside Japan. The service originally started back in July of 2012, averaging just over a million new downloads a month. As for user engagement, Cocoppa has seen 600,000 screen icons contributed to its platform, as well as 130,000 wallpapers.

As you can see in the chart below, Cocoppa’s user base skews towards iOS. The Android version of the app has only been around for about a year (launched in May 2013), so expect this to be a more balanced distribution quite soon.

Recently Cocoppa was challenged on its home turf by mobile giant Line, which launched its own homescreen customization app, Line Deco. That application is doing respectably well in major Asian markets, so this could be an interesting battle to watch in the coming months.

Mobile

Japan’s Quan invests in Thailand’s mobile game startup Magic Box Asia

This mobile app from Japan’s Muji helps you relax and sleep wherever

Build a website entirely on your smartphone with Dino

Japanese hardware prototyping platform PocketDuino launches on Indiegogo

Yahoo Japan’s public transit app surpasses 10M downloads

Puzzle & Dragons’ small but enthusiastic North American fan base

Fujitsu to offer mobile health support services to women in Japan

Japan-based Wantedly brings its social job platform to Android

Adways’ Party Track begins integration with 5Rocks to create one-stop mobile analytics solution

Japanese homescreen customization app breaks through 25M downloads, enjoys international success

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