Facebook is sidelined in Japan as social network battle heats up

By AKKY AKIMOTO / Japan Times

In July, the number of active users on social networking site Facebook worldwide surpassed 500 million. More than 60 percent of Internet users in the United States have signed up with the site, and its presence has reached into almost every country on Earth. You might think that Facebook is taking over the world . . . if you speak English.

There are, however, a few regions where Facebook has not been able to penetrate the market as it has in the West. China, Russia and South Korea have all developed their own popular variants of the idea. Japan also has its own social networking sites and the top three: Gree, Mixi and Mobage Town, are currently in a battle that has become so fierce that Facebook might not even stand a chance.

Both Mixi and Gree began in February 2004, when tech-savvy Japanese were discovering social networking site Orkut. Both Mixi and Gree aimed to come up with a Japanese version of the popular social networks sweeping the West.

Mixi was thought of as Japan's response to Friendster. It came about when Web startup E-Mercury took one of its engineers off their employment- search service Find Job and assigned him to creating Mixi. To everyone's amazement, the site grew quickly and now boasts 21 million users in its network. Also similar to Facebook, Mixi depends on advertising sales for profit — while its main competitors do not.

Mixi continues to be innovative. Last week, the company announced two new features: Mixi Check and Mixi Check-In. Mixi Check is similar to Facebook's Share feature, while Check-In is similar to Foursquare, geo-tagging a user's physical location on the site.

For five years, Mixi sat comfortably at the top of the social networking tree, but last month Gree announced it had 21.25 million registered users. That number made Gree Japan's No. 1 social network.

Gree's success indicates a particular quality of Japan's market. Mixi was the only site among the top three to have established its fame on PCs. But in July 2007, the number of page views on cell phones topped those coming from PCs, essentially moving the battlefield for social network supremacy. Gree's success on a mobile platform is seen as one of the reasons it topped Mixi. After losing to Mixi initially in 2004, many had thought Gree would disappear. Its comeback started in late 2006 after the site pretty much abandoned its unpopular PC version (it still exists but traffic is at 1 percent of its mobile version). Gree inked a deal with Japan's No. 2 cell-phone carrier, KDDI au, and created a mobile version of the site complete with what the Japanese call kajuaru gemu (casual games), simple games for cell phones, and avatars.

Gree CEO Yoshikazu Tanaka said he studied Hangame, a South Korean online game portal, for inspiration when designing Gree's mobile reincarnation. The new Gree has been hooking new users with games such as fishing and virtual pets, all of which can be played for free (but which also have content available for sale to expand the scope of the games). The gaming strategy (and a TV ad campaign) resonated with Web surfers pushed Gree to the top. Recently, the site has started adding third-party social games in addition to expanding its long list of casual games.

The game strategy is being used by Japan's No. 3 social networking site Mobage Town. The site is run by DeNA, who also run successful online auction service Bidders, and was started up in 2006. DeNA also looked to Hangame as a model for Mobage Town. Despite its late start, Mobage Town has increased its user base to 20.48 million. One key factor in its success was enabling users to earn virtual money if they clicked on advertisers' websites. The social networking service provides their own casual games as well as third-party games. The most popular game it has at the moment, "Kaitou Royal," is similar to Facebook's popular "Mafia Wars."

Similar to the characters in "Mafia Wars," Japan's social networking sites are in a fierce competition for turf. DeNA is working with Japan's biggest website, Yahoo! Japan, to open Yahoo! Mobage, which is set to bring Mobage Town to Yahoo! Japan users. Both Mobage Town and Gree are spending copious amounts of money on TV advertising, even outdoing Toyota and Coca-Cola. The companies behind the two sites are also involved in a hiring competition, providing some workers with a maximum ¥2 million one-time bonus.

Where is all this cash coming from? While Mixi's prime source of income is advertising revenues, Gree and Mobage Town directly sell virtual items to their users. Their way of selling such items is different to the way Apple's App Store works. When purchasing something for the iPhone, customers are billed separately, which means they are able to see the charges on their credit card bill. With Gree and Mobage Town, most purchases made are folded into the user's telephone bills — essentially making them less noticeable. This approach has paid off, literally, for both companies and they have been able to lower their advertising prices in response, putting more pressure on Mixi.

However, a DeNA employee appeared at a Mixi conference last week saying Mobage Town and Mixi's services don't overlap and that some cooperation is possible. DeNA CEO Tomoko Namba has also set her target on Sony and Nintendo, hinting that they were old news. DeNA seems to be adapting a line of "you're with us or you're against us," and has reportedly told video-game developers that if they want to sell on Mobage Town, they shouldn't try to sell on Gree as well. The company has not confirmed this.

At its conference, Mixi also announced a partnership with China's Renren and South Korea's Cyworld. Initially, the three will standardize their platforms to allow third-party application providers (which Mixi calls SAPs) to run on the three social networking sites. This strategy is primarily against Facebook. It would be surprising if something big, such as a merger or an inter-platform networking feature, comes of it. This kind of thing, though, does appeal to domestic users. Facebook's global reach has been impressive, but its localization (especially in Asian countries) has been subpar. If Asia's social networking sites can step in and give the image of being able to network internationally, that could be enough to get users interested. However, seeing the approaching ceiling of the Japanese market must have Mixi, DeNA and Gree looking to expand. Indeed, DeNA and Gree could use their profits to grow overseas. With Facebook retaining a possible monopoly in the West, it could be that Japan's social networks see Asia as their best bet to form a challenge against the online behemoth.

Akky Akimoto writes for Asiajin.com, which is planning readers meetups in Singapore on Sept. 25, and Tokyo on Oct. 9. For details, visit asiajin.com. A Japanese version of this article is available on Akky Akimoto's blog at akimoto.jp


From Japan Times

Japanese Company Builds AR.Drone: the Coolest iPhone Toy Ever Built!

By Mike in Tokyo Rogers

If you haven't gotten an iPhone yet, then I think today's blog will give you just one more reason to go out and get one. A Japanese company named Parrot has come out with the coolest Augmented Reality device I have ever seen!

What is Augmented Reality? It is an extremely fascinating and cool function that iPhones can do.  Augmented Reality allows you to, say, use you iPhone as a "map" or direction finder when you are lost in a city. You just point the camera in your iPhone at the street or buildings, and you iPhone will tell you which way to walk to get to where you want to go.

Wikiedia says about Augmented Reality:

Augmented reality (AR) is a term for a live direct or indirect view of a physical real-world environment whose elements are augmented by virtual computer-generated imagery. It is related to a more general concept called mediated reality in which a view of reality is modified (possibly even diminished rather than augmented) by a computer. As a result, the technology functions by enhancing one’s current perception of reality.

In the case of Augmented Reality, the augmentation is conventionally in real-time and in semantic context with environmental elements, such as sports scores on TV during a match. With the help of advanced AR technology (e.g. adding computer vision and object recognition) the information about the surrounding real world of the user becomes interactive and digitally usable. Artificial information about the environment and the objects in it can be stored and retrieved as an information layer on top of the real world view. The term augmented reality is believed to have been coined in 1990 by Thomas Caudell, an employee of Boeing at the time^[1].

Get that? No... Well, I think my explanation, while very simplistic, is easier to understand. 

If you still don't get it, watch this video for a very cool new "toy" that is suited for use with an iPhone. It is called an "AR.Drone." Read about AR.Drone here.


The best explanation for the AR.Drone is not me writing explanations, but you watching this short video. 

DOUBLE CLICK ON IMAGE TO VIEW FULL SCREEN

Is that cool or what? I definitely cannot show this to my six-year-old son!

Once again, having an iPhone opens an entire new world of possibilities!

Thanks to Michio Hashimoto! Find him on Twitter @alakane

-----

Keywords: AR.Drone, iPhone, Marketing Japan, Mike Rogers, alakane, Mike in Tokyo Rogers

More Tips For Better Google Rankings!

By Mike in Tokyo Rogers

Once again, here's an article that can help you get better rankings on Google. I've written about that before here also. And here is information concerning the value of consistent blogging. 

There is also very critical information that you need to know here about Google Caffeine here. Caffeine is Google's new search engine.

But today, here's another quickie that can help you with your blog writing. Originally from American Express, the 4 tips for writing Search Engine Optimization (SEO) friendly blogs.

The 4 tips are:

1. Always Include Search Terms in Your Post’s Title

When Google reads a website to index it, it reads the code directly, not the snazzy presentation that humans see. The way most blogging platforms are built, the headline or title of your blog post is among the first things Google sees, and Google generally assumes the words that appear earliest are the most important. That’s why the title is the most important part of your blog post when it comes to SEO.

2. Link Important Words to Earlier Blog Posts

Search engines generally assume that a blog post that has been linked to has more authority than one that has not. They also consider exactly what word or phrase linked to the post; a blog post about the iPhoneis going to be more likely to show up in Google searches on the subject if another page links the word “iPhone” to the post.

3. Hit the Tagging Sweet Spot

Most blogging platforms let you apply tags to your posts. Tags help organize your blog so both humans and search engines can find what they’re looking for. They’re terms like “consulting,” “local” or “technology” that reflect the topics and content of the post.

4. Use Google Insights to Find the Best Search Terms

You don’t have to play a guessing game about the best tags or search terms to link or put in your post’s title. Since Google is the most popular search engine, it makes sense to focus your efforts there. Whenever you’re not sure which terms to go with, hit up Google Insights, a web-based tool that compares the popularity of any search terms you want to know about.

For further details nd complete article see here.  

http://mashable.com/2010/09/01/how-to-seo-blogs/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+Mashable+(Mashable

Marketing Japan: Making Your iPhone Look Like Food!...

By Mike in Tokyo Rogers

Do you own a iPhone? Let's face it, regardless of what people think about the iPad (which is cool), the cat's meow is still the iPhone. I can live without an iPad, can't live without an iPhone.

iPhone's are cool because you can do all sorts of things with them: Internet, calendar, iPod, texting, Twitter, Pick, Facebook; you name it, the iPhone can do it.

The iPhone you can eat!?

But now people are taking the things you can do with an iPhone one step farther! iPhone already came with the feature of being able to be personalized, but now.... The The iPhone that looks like food! What will they think of next?

There is an online company called, "Strapya" that specializes in making cell phone straps, jewelry and trinkets like that. Now they have iPhone covers that look like food... And they really do!

The rice looks good enough to eat!

From their webpage:

So realistic, you might think about eating Your iPhone

Even one piece of rice looks extremely realistic, your iPhone might start looking like your favorite dish. Who would have ever though of making your iPhone looking like food? We did!


This company is making all sorts of trinkets that are interesting....





The Strapya webpage is here: 

This company does make all sorts of things, but nothing really strikes me as original or new... Mostly, unfortunately, "Junk" that no one needs...


Now, when they come out with an iPhone cover that not only looks like food, but they invent a completely edible iPhone then that is when I will recommend everyone to invest in this company! 


-----------


Keywords: iPhone, strapya, food, marketing Japan, Mike Rogers

One More Phase in the Shattering of Mainstream Media

By Mike in Tokyo Rogers

I rode the Tokyo subway today and saw a sign inside the car that notified the passengers that as of July 24, 2011, terrestrial television stations will no longer broadcast analogue signals in Japan and will finally make the switch to digital.

This signals the final nail in the coffin of many of the FM radio stations in this country and the collapse of TV Tokyo and TBS.

I predict that InterFM will either be bankrupt or sold to a new owner by 2014 and TV Tokyo will be in the same situation: insolvent or absorbed by another company by 2016.

I'd like to explain why in this post but first let me give you some important details involving the background of broadcast signals so that you may have a better understanding and why I think this way. Let's see if you come to the same conclusions that I have.

Let's start with AM and FM radio.

AM is called "Amplitude Modulation" and its signal is wavy. When an AM signal comes to an obstacle like a mountain or a tall building, it bounces off of it in many directions and continues going. This is why, in many areas of the United States, there are some AM stations whose broadcasts can be heard over 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) away. The AM signal is like an ocean wave so, if there are no mountains to make the signal deflect into the heavens, the signals will bounce along the earth's surface.

This makes AM radio great for talk and the friend of people who drive long-distance trucks.

FM is called "Frequency Modulation" and it goes in a straight line. When an FM signal hits a mountain, tall building or other obstacle, it stops. We've all had the experience that our favorite FM station drops off when we go through a tunnel or through a valley. That's the shortcoming of FM radio.

What many people do not know is that terrestrial TV uses the same FM frequency for its broadcasts too.

People who were brought up in Japan may remember from their childhood small portable transistor radio that had the AM / FM band on them but also played TV channels NHK and NHK Educational (1 & 3).  If you understand that analogue TV uses FM frequency to broadcast, then you now understand why those old transistor radio's had TV channels on them.

This is important so keep this in mind.

On July 24, 2011, the TV channels will stop broadcasting analogue signals. What this really means is that they will stop using the FM band for transmitting their services and go to terrestrial digital.

FM, Frequency Modulation, is a broadcast wave. Digital broadcasting is not a wave at all. Digital broadcasting is a completely different technology. Digital broadcasting is not a wave, it is binary data.

I suppose that some of you have seen binary data before. It's a series of zero's and one's and looks something like this:

00110010111100101101001110100010000100001000001

00110001000011101110001010101001001000100111000

01011110111101111011011111110010001000001101010

That is binary data. The reason why digital broadcasting is so clear and high quality is that, with binary data, it is either "on" or "off" unlike an AM or FM signal that can be blocked or deflected by tall buildings, mountains or even trees. Binary Data is crystal clear.

Now, how does this spell the end of FM radio? Bear with me here, cause now we're getting to the nitty gritty.

The future of FM radio doesn't lay in what they broadcast or how they up the ante of quality of content (but, of course, it will always be a competition between stations for dwindling audience and sponsorship dollars)...

The future of FM radio depends on what Toyota does.

That's right. Toyota is the one who decides what is going to happen. In my opinion, it is obvious that FM  is is serious trouble and that we are now witnessing the end of an era; and it's happening, in slow motion, right in front of our eyes.

But, don't take my word for it, decide for yourself. Let me explain further...

Think about this: Where do most people listen to FM radio? In cars, right?

The Japanese government and all the big manufacturers in this country, Sony, Panasonic, etc. (who, by the way, all have an incestuous relationship with each other and Toyota in stock holdings) are pushing for the digital conversion big time. These manufacturers need their flagging fortunes to get an injection of sales and profits that new broadcasting and new equipment will generate. Digital equipment costs anywhere from $500 - $2,000 (USD) a set. The Japanese manufacturers want and need for the Japanese public to go whole-hog into digital broadcasting. They need the public to dispose of their analogue equipment and buy the new digital equipment... (By the way, a cursory check of analogue equipment at Bic Camera the other day - what little I could find - showed that all the analogue products were all manufactured outside of Japan).

If digital broadcasting is a failure in this country, then it's going to hurt Japanese manufacturing for a very long time... The analogue equipment I saw was all manufactured in Malaysia, Indonesia, and I found some from Taiwan (which was surprising).

Now, how does Toyota fit into this equation?

Imagine your car dashboard. It has a GPS, CD player, and television/radio set all built together. Most people have an analogue device (with terrible TV reception!) From July 2011 there will be no cars that come with that device. They will all be digital.

After July 2011, on your dashboard, you will have a digital GPS, Internet, digital TV and digital radio. Want to do Social Media, YouTube, Twitter, U-Stream, blog? Got you covered. Need to Google or Yahoo search? Sure. When you need traffic conditions, just a click on your GPS will give you up to the minute details on traffic and road conditions. All the TV channels? No problem. Throw on top of that 6 digital radio channels and, of course, a CD player and probably an iPod connection, and you have the next generation of car entertainment system. (In Japan, as of now, there are 6 digital radio channels that are shown on CS or BS television. These channels broadcast soft jazz and classical music).

Toyota HD Digital Screen. 

All sorts of fun things like iPod, digital TV and digital radio... 

Do you see FM or AM radio? I don't

Remember I wrote that digital signals are binary data and analogue is a broadcasting wave? This is important now.

I ask you, dear reader, to consider; Since Sony, Panasonic, etc. and companies like Toyota and Nissan all have an incestuous relationship as to stock holdings and company ownership, and they desperately need to have the Japanese public buy their digital devices that cost at least $500 each... And digital devices receive binary data and are not analogue compatible... Do you think that Toyota will cut a hole in your dashboard, just under your $500 digital GPS, TV, Internet, radio device in order to install a $1 dollar made in Indonesia FM tuner?

I don't, and I think it is insane to think otherwise. Actually, the notion is laughable, isn't it?

So, if people can no longer hear FM radio in their cars, then where are they going to listen to it? In the subways with their white earplugs through their iPods and iPhones?... Get serious. Nobody does that now!

If there are any folks reading this who remember how popular short wave was way back when compared to what it is today, then they have a good idea what I think the future of FM radio in Japan looks like....

No FM radio in the car spells doom for the FM stations because if no one can listen in their car, then FM will have no listeners at all... No listeners means no sponsors. No sponsors means no money. No money means no FM...

I cannot imagine how they will survive the next 5 ~ 10 years.

If I were a station like J-Wave - that still has good ratings and high listenership - I'd get into negotiations real soon for an open digital radio channel... And, no, the license and digital conversion are not cheap. We're talking hundreds of millions of dollars. The smaller stations will never afford it, so they are dead.

And that's why July 2011 is the last nail in the coffin of FM radio in Japan.

But what about AM radio you say? Ah, that's the interesting contradiction. AM radio will probably survive. Because AM car radio is the bottom of the pit for basic car equipment (besides nothing at all)... Almost every Tokyo Taxi has an AM radio in it. Few have FM radios.

Tomorrow I will explain why this entire situation bodes ill for TV Tokyo and TBS TV.

----------

Keywords:
Nissan, Tokyo, Pick, Twitter, FM, Toyota, FM radio, Yahoo, U-Stream, J-Wave, Social Media, TV, YouTube, AM, AM radio, blog, blogs, Internet, Japan, digital TV, Panasonic, digital radio, Japan, TV Tokyo, TBS TV, iPod, iPhone, Sony, Google, Tokyo subway

Marketing Japan: Apple Not Perfect? Impossible!

By Mike in Tokyo Rogers

I hope the title of this blog grabbed your attention. I mean, Apple is god. Welcome to my Saturday blog.

Well, first up, Apple CEO Steve Jobs admits that, as far as Apple is concerned, "We're not perfect." What!? That's impossible! As far as I am concerned (and millions upon tens of millions of Apple product users too) Apple is perfect. And, make no mistake, I am not one of those frothing at the mouth Apple lovers that you see running around.

I am cool and collected when it comes to Apple products. I don't drool and lust over them like most of my foolish friends do. Yes, I admit that I have two Apple computers and two iPhones, but haven't yet been rabid enough to buy an iPad. I am considering that purchase as any responsible adult should.

But frankly speaking, Apple is nothing like Microsoft. Microsoft ships us out a crap product that doesn't work properly even before it is shipped (OK, so this time iPhone has a bug); Apple offers us service and after care; not like Microsoft where, if you have a problem, good luck getting any human interaction to help you and answer your questions; and Apple is an innovator. Microsoft seems to have lost that "zeal," that lust it once had.

Microsoft is turning into a company like 3M... They will always be around. They will always make money... But, like Scotch Tape, their products do not capture the imagination... Especially of the young.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs dropped my jaw when he admitted something at a press conference that I thought I'd never hear him say, "We're not perfect..." He added "Phones aren't perfect."  

Apple not perfect!? APPLE NOT PERFECT!? APPLE NOT PERFECT!!!??? Kill me now, God, for I am ready to die!

Then Jobs adds fuel to the fire by saying something stupid like the president of Toyota would say, "We're not feeling right now that we have a giant problem we need to fix. This has been blown so out of proportion that it's incredible."


No! No! NO! Jobs! You just have to say "We're very sorry. We guarantee that we will make our customers happy. Everyone will be satisfied with our solution. We will fix the iPhones or replace them. We will be the best. Why? Because we are Apple." 


Mr. Jobs, you are Apple. This is what people are expecting to hear. Not wimpy excuses.... We don't want to hear this poncy hairdresser stuff coming from your mouth. ....


Oh, wait, what's that? He does, later on, say what needs to be said?


"We're going to do whatever it takes to make them happy and if we can't make them happy we're going to give them a full refund and say we're really sorry we inconvenienced you, and we're going to do better next time,"  


Very well done, Mr. Jobs. That's what we wanted to hear. That's what Apple does. On the other hand, Microsoft would have offered to send out a patch (that didn't work) and then another patch after that to fix the first patch, and then so on and so on... (If the patches don't work you get to call someone in Bombay.... Good luck with that!)


Great! So Apple is back to being Apple. Now, how to get my wife to give me the money for that iPad that I have been lusting after?... I could sneak the money out of her purse when she's not looking, or....


----

Keywords: Apple, iPhone, Steve Jobs, Microsoft, Mike Rogers, iPad,