In English
Here are some Japanese technology articles translated into English. I plan to add articles once a week. Enjoy!!
GQやWiredなど、雑誌のiPadアプリの売れ行きは不調
WWDのJohn Koblin氏によると、雑誌のiPadアプリの売れ行きがいまいちらしい。過去6ヶ月の間、Wired、GQ、Vanity Fair、GlamourのiPadの売り上げは横ばいもしくは減少している。この間、アップルは数百万台のiPadを新たに売り上げている。
そもそも定期購読がデフォルトのアメリカの雑誌市場。年間にして8-10ドルくらいで紙の雑誌を購入できるのに、あえて号ごとに3.99ドル支払って 購入する理由がない。またもう一つの理由は雑誌系のアプリが、その他すべてのiPadアプリにまぎれてしまっていること。ゲーム系を含む多くのアプリが1ドルくらいで売られているのに、雑誌のアプリに4ドル払う可能性は低い。
ひとまずはアップルが進めているデジタルニューススタンドや、定期購読の課金モデルの導入に期待するほかなさそう。
Mobage-town reaches 5B PVs per month. But sales remain unimpressive
Mobage-town, a mobile portal operated by Japanese Internet darling DeNA announced that they their monthly page views had reached the 5 billion per month milestone in February. Yet, the numbers reported for their e-commerce operations did not perform on par.
Mobage-town’s monthly page views for the month of February grew 14.7% MoM to 5.2 billion. The number of registered users also grew 5.0% to 17.3 million.
Yet, the total amount of transactions recorded on DeNA Group’s Bidders e-commerce service dropped 11.9% MoM (a 9.8% drop YoY) to 9.9 billion yen.
モバゲー月間500億PV突破-ただしEC事業は伸び悩む
Japanese Companies Spent More on Internet Ads than on Newspaper Ads in 2009
(2010/2/22) ﾂ黴Today, Dentsu announced the publication of the “2009 Annual Report on Japanese National Advertising Expenditure”. The report analyzes the total money Japanese companies spent on advertising, as well as breakdowns based on media and industries. According to the report, the total amount spent on advertising by Japanese companies was 5.9 trillion yen, down 11.5% YoY. Every media with the exception of Internet and satellite based media saw a decline.
2009 was the second year in a row that the total expenditure had declined (-4.7% YoY in 2008). While there were many reasons for spending, including the national election, Eco-friendly car rebates, and Eco-friendly electronics rebates, the world-wide economic stagnation was the reason for overall decline.
In the media based breakdown, newspaper advertising fell the most with a 18.6% YoY decline. TV advertising also lost some ground (-10.2% YoY), leading to the cumulative decline of the four major mass communication media for the 5th year in a row (-14.3% YoY). Promotion media (including outdoors and transit) fell for the second year in a row (-11.8%), with every subcategory declining as well. Satellite-based media grew as BS Digital Broadcasting grew, but even then the growth was limited to single digit (+4.9% YoY).
For the first time, the total spent on Internet advertising (707 billion yen) was more than the total spend on newspaper ads (674 billion yen). Magazine advertising earned 303 billion yen, and TV earned 1.7 trillion yen.
JTB Announces Vacation Package With GPS Game Integration
On Feb 12th, JTB (Japan Tourist Bureau) ﾂ黴announced the availability of an innovative GPS game integrated vacation package called “Colo-Tabi” (“Tabi” means trip in Japanese). The first such tour, originating in Tokyo with Iwate as its final destination, will be available for reservations on Feb 15th. Iwate is a popular travel destination, 3 hours north of Tokyo.
The GPS game “A Colony Life☆Plus”, developed and operated by Colopl Inc., utilizes the GPS navigation future found in mobile phones. As the user moves around in the real world, he or she will send in their GPS location information in exchange for “movement points” inside the game. These points are then used to purchase real-estate for the development of an in-game colony.
Travelers will take the Tohoku-Shinkansen from Tokyo to Ichinose-station in Iwate prefecture. There they will change on to a tour bus. As they travel around the Iwate prefecture, the travelers will send in their GPS location information to complete the game’s “Iwate area”.
Business Breakthrough University uses Twitter and Ustream for lectures
Business Breakthrough, Inc., a company founded by Japanese businessluminary Kenichi Ohmae, has announced the April opening of a 4 year online university named Business Breakthrough University (BBT Univ.). Furthermore, it was announced that in celebration of the opening, BBT University professors will conduct free lectures using Twitter and Ustream services.
The first such lectures will be held on Feb 9th, followed by two more lectures on Feb 17th and 24th. Anyone with access to Ustream will be able to “attend” the lectures for free. The material to be covered are:
- 2/9: A Realistic Image of Internationally Successful Business Women, by Tadahiro Wakasugi of Booz & Company, an international business consultancy.
- 2/17: Social Media and Education – How Twitter Will Accelerate Learning, by Taro Muramatsu, senior researcher at Keio University SFC
- 2/14: To Be Announced, by Noritaka Kobayashi of Nomura Research Institute
A tourist attraction created with Sekai Camera mobile application
2010/02/01
On Feb. 1st 2010, Saga city, in collaboration with SoftBank Telecom Corp. and Tonchidot Corp., announced that they have created a tourist attraction for the Saga Jyoka Japanese Doll Festival using the iPhone application Sekai Camera.
The attraction involves the limited time placement of “Sekai Camera Stamp Rally Air Tags” as well as “Ookuma Shigenobu Voice Tags”, and other promotional air tags to be created by celebreties born in Saga, with the goal of further attracting visitors to the event, as well as increasing travels within the city (Ookuma Shigenobu being one of the most famous Samurais born in Saga city, who was also the 17th prime minister of Japan). Users will be encouraged to explore the city while looking for these air tags.
Furthermore, the project will install permanent “Visitor’s Information Air Tags” at more than 200 locations in central Saga city. These air tags will help visitors learn more about Saga city’s culinary experiences, history, local attractions, as well as shopping areas.
This is the first such tourism promotion in the Kyushuu island using the Sekai Camera application.
Saga Jyoka Japanese Doll Festival is held from Fen 20th till the end of March at the six main venues of Saga city (the Chookokan museum, the historic Koga Bank, the historic Koga family residence, the historic Sanshou Bank, the historic Ushijima family residence, and the historic Fukuda family residence).
“Cell Phone Novel” Readers re-read on paper after reading on their phones
2010/01/22
This report is the third installment of our periodic market research project regarding Cell Phone Novels (Keitai Novel in Japanese). The goal of this project is to determine the market recognition of Cell Phone Novels, as well as direction in usage patterns.
Based on research conducted by Internet.com and goo Research, the market recognition of Cell Phone Novels remained very high, with 90% of users surveyed recognizing the genre. Furthermore, users continued to read the printed renditions of the novels just as much as they did on the web.
The user demographic data for the current installment is as follows:
* 1081 users, from all over Japan
* 53.3% were men
* 16.4% were aged 10-19
* 18.2% were aged 20-29
* 21.3% were aged 30-39
* 16.1% were aged 40-49
* 15.7% were aged 50-59
* 12.3% were aged 60 and above
The percentage of users who had heard of the genre Cell Phone Novel was at 94.2% and 92.6% in August and October 2009 respectively. This grew to 2.4 points to 95% (1,027 users) for this installment.
Of the users who had heard of the genre, 24.7% had in fact read at least one such novel. This is up 0.6 points from 24.1% in our previous installment (the percentage was 27.0% for the first installment). The percentage relative to all users surveyed was also up at 23.5%% (1.1 point up from 22.4%). This percentage was the highest for the first installment at 25.4%.
Furthermore, of the 254 users who had in fact read at least one Cell Phone Novel, 193 users read the novel on the Web, and 109 users read the printed edition of the novel. This means that at least 48 users read the novel on both the Web and on paper. This trend has not changed from the first and second installments of this survey, with around printed editions standing at around 50% of Web readership.
From this survey, we can conclude that the market recognition of Cell Phone Novels continue to be high at 90%, and the trend that the number of users reading the novels on paper being about half of that who read the novels on the Web still remains.
