THE BRIDGE

tag Best of 2013

Best of 2013: Beatrobo brings mobile music to you and your friends

Rick Martin Rick Martin
SHARE:

Yesterday I looked back at Japanese photobook printing service, Nohana, one of my favorite photo-related apps over this past year. But when it comes to managing my music, another made-in-Japan service has really stood out for me in 2013. That’s Beatrobo. Beatrobo is a very clever service that pulls music from YouTube and Soundcloud, and gives you the ability to create, save, and share playlists – or robots, as they are called. The Beatrobo mobile app launched back in May, and it has remained a mainstay on my mobile since then. In the meantime, the folks at Beatrobo have been working away on some new things, with a promising side project, PlugAir, in the works as well. That initiative uses a plug device that connects to your headphone jack to store and exchange digital information, including lists of songs that can be shared with friends like mixed tapes. The clever part here is, again, that no songs are stored, just lists of songs from YouTube or Soundcloud. The company says that this technology could be applied to many kinds of content, and is not limited to just music. It will be interesting to see how the startup progresses in 2014….

beatrobo-icon

Yesterday I looked back at Japanese photobook printing service, Nohana, one of my favorite photo-related apps over this past year. But when it comes to managing my music, another made-in-Japan service has really stood out for me in 2013. That’s Beatrobo.

Beatrobo is a very clever service that pulls music from YouTube and Soundcloud, and gives you the ability to create, save, and share playlists – or robots, as they are called. The Beatrobo mobile app launched back in May, and it has remained a mainstay on my mobile since then.

In the meantime, the folks at Beatrobo have been working away on some new things, with a promising side project, PlugAir, in the works as well. That initiative uses a plug device that connects to your headphone jack to store and exchange digital information, including lists of songs that can be shared with friends like mixed tapes. The clever part here is, again, that no songs are stored, just lists of songs from YouTube or Soundcloud.

The company says that this technology could be applied to many kinds of content, and is not limited to just music.

It will be interesting to see how the startup progresses in 2014. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this side project grow beyond the original music service. So stayed tuned!

beatrobo beatrobo-2

Related news

  1. Japanese music startup Beatrobo finally releases its iPhone app
  2. RecoChoku has dominated mobile music in Japan, but will foreign players change that?
  3. beatrobo-plugair02 Beatrobo raises $1.1M, has ambitions to replace the CD

Best of 2013: Nohana finds opportunities printing photos from mobile

Rick Martin Rick Martin
SHARE:

As the year 2013 winds to a close, I thought I’d take a look back on some of the mobile apps and services that have really stood out. As a new parent, many of my favorite apps this year have been related to managing baby pictures. And here in Japan, Nohana is a must-have for any parent, letting them use pictures taken on their smartphones to create and print small photobooks, which are then delivered by mail. Users can order one free book per month, paying only a 90 yen shipping fee (or about $1). Additional books cost What’s perhaps most interesting about Nohana to me is how it can bridge the digital divide in families. It provides an option to send a second copy of your photo book to another address, which could be grandparents, or other relatives who might not be very adept with smartphone communication [1]. At the end of this year we saw Nohana roll out a Nengajo (or Japanese New Year’s card) creation app, representing another means of monetizing for the company. And I expect that it’s a far more lucrative stream than the regular Nohana photo service. Each new year card costs 88 yen,…

main_visual001

As the year 2013 winds to a close, I thought I’d take a look back on some of the mobile apps and services that have really stood out. As a new parent, many of my favorite apps this year have been related to managing baby pictures. And here in Japan, Nohana is a must-have for any parent, letting them use pictures taken on their smartphones to create and print small photobooks, which are then delivered by mail. Users can order one free book per month, paying only a 90 yen shipping fee (or about $1). Additional books cost

What’s perhaps most interesting about Nohana to me is how it can bridge the digital divide in families. It provides an option to send a second copy of your photo book to another address, which could be grandparents, or other relatives who might not be very adept with smartphone communication [1].

At the end of this year we saw Nohana roll out a Nengajo (or Japanese New Year’s card) creation app, representing another means of monetizing for the company. And I expect that it’s a far more lucrative stream than the regular Nohana photo service. Each new year card costs 88 yen, with a minimum base fee of 1480 yen and then 525 yen for shipping.

It will be interesting to see if the company publishes other occasion specific apps in the coming year. I’m not sure if the folks at Nohana have any ambition to expand beyond Japan, but a Christmas card service would certainly come in handy in many countries.

In addition to Nohana, 2013 was a year that saw lots of fun photo apps emerge in Japan. This is proving to be an area of expertise for the country, with many startups innovating to compete for the country’s mobile photo market, and opportunities beyond.

nengajo-1 nengajo-2

  1. For me, I typically use an application called Notabli to share photos with my own parents.  ↩

Related news

  1. nohana_photobook Mixi’s Nohana to donate photo books to local kindergarten schools
  2. nohana_photobook Mixi tries again: New photo printing service ‘Nohana’ targets parents in Japan
  3. nohana_photobook Mixi’s Nohana photobook service now available on Android

Recent Articles

Trends