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Postach.io: Could this be the perfect blog platform for Japan?

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There are so many ways for people to start a blog these days. The recent trend of ‘static’ blog services like Scriptogr.am and Ghost are refreshing, because for a personal or casual blog, there really shouldn’t be any reason that you must have your own server running a database [1]. Dropbox lets is publish to the web, and a solution like Calepin (for example) can take advantage of that, serving your blog’s files from there. The idea behind Postach.io is similar. The brainchild of Vancouver-based Input Logic, it uses Evernote to post content to your blog, letting users choose between a number of wonderful design templates as well. The startup is off to a good start, having joined Evernote’s accelerator class having won the company’s Devcup this year. To date, I’m told there are 21,000 people blogging with Postachio so far. The big advantage for a service like this is that it enlists users by finding them on a platform they already use. They already live in Evernote, and can easily publish to Postachio just by adding a note with the tag ‘published’ to a specified Evernote notebook. Big in Japan About 20% of Evernote’s users (and about 30% of…

postachio-banner

There are so many ways for people to start a blog these days. The recent trend of ‘static’ blog services like Scriptogr.am and Ghost are refreshing, because for a personal or casual blog, there really shouldn’t be any reason that you must have your own server running a database [1]. Dropbox lets is publish to the web, and a solution like Calepin (for example) can take advantage of that, serving your blog’s files from there.

The idea behind Postach.io is similar. The brainchild of Vancouver-based Input Logic, it uses Evernote to post content to your blog, letting users choose between a number of wonderful design templates as well. The startup is off to a good start, having joined Evernote’s accelerator class having won the company’s Devcup this year. To date, I’m told there are 21,000 people blogging with Postachio so far.

The big advantage for a service like this is that it enlists users by finding them on a platform they already use. They already live in Evernote, and can easily publish to Postachio just by adding a note with the tag ‘published’ to a specified Evernote notebook.

apex
One of Postachio’s many themes, Apex

Big in Japan

Shawn pitches at demo day
Shawn pitches at demo day

About 20% of Evernote’s users (and about 30% of its revenue) come from Japan. Docomo, of course, was an early investor in Evernote [2], and has promoted Evernote Premium to its users. So the ties to Japan are already in place for Postachio to make this sort of overseas jump. So naturally, I was curious to see if the Postachio had any plans to push their blogging service in the country. Co-founder and designer Shawn Adrian explained a little their plans for the next year [3]:

We plan to internationalize, and a Japanese version is in the works. […] We’re going really dig in and improve our themes and the community around them. We’re also launching new social features to help users build their audience, and tools for pro bloggers and companies.

I understand the team has already met some representatives from Docomo Ventures in Silicon Valley, and I expect that whenever a localized version is ready, that it would be very well received here.

The team is also thinking to integrate other platforms too, letting people publish from just about anywhere. For me, I like the possibilities of publishing a Markdown note (Postachio does support Markdown) via Evernote’s publish-over-email function, sending from the mobile Drafts app on iOS.

Evernote's APAC GM Troy Malone users Postachio
Evernote’s APAC GM Troy Malone users Postachio

Static blogs are very trendy these days, but the degree of difficulty for many solutions like Jekyll or Pelican, or even the aforementioned Scriptogram, can be difficult for an average user to wrap their head around. Postachio, for someone who already understands Evernote, is very easy and accessible [4].

I got in touch with some Evernote reps here in Asia just to see how much this Postachio has caught on within the company. While I didn’t get any specific numbers I’m told that APAC general manager Troy Malone is a huge fan, running his own blog on Postachio. Even the Evernote South East Asia blog runs Postachio.

My colleagues here at The Bridge frequently share notes published to the web with Evernote. This interests me, since I myself tend to use Dropbox for that, and I wonder how many other Japanese users also prefer Evernote for web publishing. Perhaps I’m reading too much into a very small difference, but I think this sort of preference could bode well for Postachio.

To learn more about Postachio, check out their video demo below.


  1. Or at least, no reason to pay for a server.  ↩

  2. Or more specifically, Docomo Capital.  ↩

  3. The other co-founder (and coder) is Gavin Vickery, and the third member is programmer Brandon Brown.  ↩

  4. As for my own preference, I’m planning to switch over my personal site to Pelican from Drupal pretty soon. I’d happily use something like Postachio, but because I’m studying Python, I’m going to opt for Pelican. I should also take this opportunity to express how much I really despise WordPress. It started out well, but when the WYSIWYG started randomly injected span and div tags into my code, I decided I had had enough. We still use WordPress on this blog, but for me, it’s not without frequent curse words.  ↩

Namco Bandai hopes to increase global presence with new subsidiaries in Vancouver and Singapore

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Japanese game developer and publisher Namco Bandai (TYO:7832) has announced that it will be establishing subsidiaries in Vancouver and Singapore, with the intention of improving its presence in global markets [1]. The Vancouver office, to be called ‘Namco Bandai Studios Vancouver,’ will develop online social games for North American and European markets. It is set to begin operations in June, and will be located within the Center for Digital Media, a post graduate school supported by local universities. The British Columbia provincial government said it its announcement that it provided ‘significant assistance’ to Namco Bandai, including tax credits. Vancouver is quickly becoming an international hub in the gaming space with over 85 studios there so far. As for Singapore, the new Namco Bandai Studios Singapore will also start operations in June, and it will be located at Mediapolis at One North district. Namco Bandai says that this office will be instrumental as the company has many development partners in the region, many of which have also set up shop in Singapore. For both subsidiaries, the company plans to bring in locally hired staff, with help and support from its Tokyo headquarters. Namco Bandai’s announcement is here (PDF). I’m aware that…

namco-bandai

Japanese game developer and publisher Namco Bandai (TYO:7832) has announced that it will be establishing subsidiaries in Vancouver and Singapore, with the intention of improving its presence in global markets [1].

The Vancouver office, to be called ‘Namco Bandai Studios Vancouver,’ will develop online social games for North American and European markets. It is set to begin operations in June, and will be located within the Center for Digital Media, a post graduate school supported by local universities.

The British Columbia provincial government said it its announcement that it provided ‘significant assistance’ to Namco Bandai, including tax credits. Vancouver is quickly becoming an international hub in the gaming space with over 85 studios there so far.

As for Singapore, the new Namco Bandai Studios Singapore will also start operations in June, and it will be located at Mediapolis at One North district. Namco Bandai says that this office will be instrumental as the company has many development partners in the region, many of which have also set up shop in Singapore.

For both subsidiaries, the company plans to bring in locally hired staff, with help and support from its Tokyo headquarters.


  1. Namco Bandai’s announcement is here (PDF). I’m aware that the company writes its name in all caps, but in the interests of readability and common sense, I’ll refrain from doing that in this article.  ↩