September 18th, 2012
As we have seen in the Asian markets, particularly in Japan and Korea, in the last decade, software has systematically been taking over areas that traditionally have been controlled by hardware manufacturers and developers. Software, in fact, has started to take over many other markets, from finance to entertainment, it is all about new software, hard-software integration, and content. Today, more venture capitalists are looking for start-ups with innovative software opportunities, especially when the software they provide helps to eat into the profits or market of another industry that has already been established.
Even though software has started to take the place of other technologies and workers in other industries, this trend may also help Japan and regions such as the United States and Western Europe return to the top as manufacturing leaders. While manufacturing has shifted to other markets due to their lower labor costs and direct access to energy, software helps keep labor costs down, which will have an important effect on these regions’ future manufacturing efforts.
How the rise of software affects venture capitalism and new tech businesses
While, traditionally, venture capitalists focus on the people in a company or on their ideas and market share, today it is all about innovation. This is because, today, the rise of software has caused the tech sector to evolve at a very rapid pace. Breakthroughs are measured in days and hours and an innovative idea has the potential to break through into a completely untapped market. This is a good guideline for entrepreneurs in today’s tech industry, is it an innovative idea? Has it been done before? Software development today gives entrepreneurs many opportunities to use software for purposes that had never been thought of before!
Today, the tech industry is basically becoming the software industry, due to almost everything moving from hardware to software. From cloud storage to numerous devices becoming software services, and the increase use of innovative mobile apps, there is a clear trend where software is systematically taking over other tech industries. In fact, this is not limited to technology; from entertainment to finance, software is becoming an important, systemic component of almost all major human endeavors. Simply integrating online functionality into industries that are traditionally handled offline has now given entrepreneurs almost endless room for innovation, meaning also more investment opportunities for savvy venture capitalists.
The evolving state of technology and how Japan paved the way
From network virtualization to mobile apps and innovative uses for social media, there is no question that the Asian market has been paving the way in technological breakthroughs. In particular, Japan’s technological infrastructure has made it an ideal playground for entrepreneurs looking to bring new ideas and breakthroughs to the market. However, there are several difficulties that are specific of the Japanese market that may make it more difficult than normal for start-up companies:
However, entrepreneurs with the capacity to overcome these two problems will find that Japan is an ideal market for new software ideas and applications of software in other fields. It is important to note that some economists are predicting that the accelerated growth that has been a stable of several Asian markets is decreasing, which may say something about the future dynamics of this important tech market.
Fortunately for Japan, their tech market has much more in common with Europe and the United States than with the other Asian manufacturers such as China and Taiwan. The key to future technological growth in the Japanese market will be software innovation and the successful harnessing of renewable, cheaper energy sources. One possible breakthrough that may predict a rise in the Japanese tech industry is the application of 3-D printing breakthroughs to manufacturing. The application of this innovative technology, which is already beginning in certain parts of Japan, combined with the new software developments that have been the industry norm for the last few years, may result in a dramatic resurgence of the Japanese tech and manufacturing market in the next decade.
Our articles are written to provide you with tools and information to meet your IT and cloud solution needs. Join us on Facebook and Twitter.
About the Guest Author:
Nida Rasheed is a freelance writer and owner of an outsourcing company, Nida often finds herself wanting to write about the subjects that are closest to her heart. She lives in Islamabad, Pakistan and can be found on Twitter @nidarasheed.
September 17th, 2012
Once in a while, new technology comes with a number of benefits that were not part of the original specifications when the technology was being developed. Piracy control is certainly one such unintended benefit of cloud computing.
The last few months have seen major initiatives on the protection of intellectual property. SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) was one such well known attempt. Many governments the world over are collaborating to reduce and control software piracy. The shutdown of sites such as Megaupload and the arrests of its owner and several employees from the US and New Zealand is an example.
Now anti-piracy crusaders have another reason to cheer. Software that is being distributed via the SaaS (software as a service) model is much harder to misuse. Every user is authenticated and logged in and hacked accounts are far easier to control and resolve than bootlegged CDs.
Is password sharing piracy?
A recent study showed that a large percentage of users of cloud-based software freely admitted to sharing their passwords with co-workers. People do not feel this is wrong because after all only one user is logged in at a time. Whether this counts as piracy or not will depend on how your service agreement is worded. If however you can log in with the same credentials from multiple terminals then there is little doubt that there is misuse of your license – unless such use is allowed.
Connectivity aids control
Since all cloud computing is Internet-based, detection of piracy becomes fairly easy. Previously the hacker industry used to sell cracked versions of popular programs. Modern, cloud based software can easily determine if such a thing is happening and can take corrective action well before significant revenue loss occurs.
There have also been concerns that hackers and pirates will set up dedicated “dark clouds” – a cloud platform specifically built to distribute pirated software and sell logins. However, such centers are bound to be detected and attacked by genuine distributors and it is very likely that these will be taken down and the pirates will be caught or forced to flee. Software companies are watching the emergence of dark clouds very closely. It is quite possible that by being able to access their software over the Internet, software companies will be able to control how their products are being used.
There have also been reports that small software routines are being written to monitor the health of the main application. In case of a bug, they are able to detect excessive CPU use and illegal memory operations and control these in time before the application crashes. Similar software could be written to monitor piracy of software as well.
Free software kills piracy
There are other reasons why cloud computing is reducing software piracy. One of these is the use of “freemium” software. You start by using a light version of an application. This is often a free version and is designed to make you familiar with the software and understand its advantages. When your business needs to evolve, you graduate to a premium or a paid model. Since any user can experiment with a free instance of the software, the incentive to steal is lost. Low cost of cloud applications is another reason why it is proving to be such a piracy killer. If you can get full capability and support for a few dollars, why would one settle for a pirated model?
Although the issue appears simple in theory, there are some points that need to be resolved. A person could be logged into an application on his PC, smartphone and tablet. Are these log-ins legitimate or not? Analytic software being produced to manage piracy would have to understand this kind of use and device some means of handling this.
While complex and more involved issues of piracy control will no doubt take time to develop, the fact remains that cloud computing has given software producers a new tool to control piracy. You may not have noticed it, but already we talk a lot less about software piracy. With the decline on piracy, the additional revenue that software companies will make will help them produce even better products and improve the viability of the industry.
Our articles are written to provide you with tools and information to meet your IT and cloud solution needs. Join us on Facebook and Twitter.
About the Guest Author:
Sanjay Srivastava has been active in computing infrastructure and has participated in major projects on cloud computing, networking, VoIP and in creation of applications running over distributed databases. Due to a military background, his focus has always been on stability and availability of infrastructure. Sanjay was the Director of Information Technology in a major enterprise and managed the transition from legacy software to fully networked operations using private cloud infrastructure. He now writes extensively on cloud computing and networking and is about to move to his farm in Central India where he plans to use cloud computing and modern technology to improve the lives of rural folk in India.
September 14th, 2012
When it comes to gadgets and games, you just can’t beat Asians, especially the Japanese, as they have been frontrunners in the usage of Smartphones. Whether it’s an Android, iPhone or a Windows phone, Japanese always welcome them with open arms. With the increasing popularity of smartphones, applications from the mobile gaming industry is also booming in the land of the rising Sun. Where gaming market used to be a battle ground of PSP’s and Nintendo’s is now dominated by smartphone-based gaming apps.
If you want stats to go with it, then take a closer look at this. When Japanese mobile gaming network GREE launched the Sci-Fi game on September first, the response to it was overwhelming. Within eight days the game had reached a user base of more than 1 million and over 1200 new players signing up every hour – this is simply amazing! In fact not even popular social networking flicks do not have such a fanfare in Japan. And if you thought that GREE was the face of the Japanese mobile gaming industry, then take a look at the height scaled by its rival Mobage. When Mobage launched the highly acclaimed Robo-War game Gundam Royal, the number of users reached to an unprecedented 6 digit number within a short span of 6 days.
The success of these two games as well as the hosting gaming network of the games is a testimonial to the growing affinity of mobile gaming in a place where even 5 year olds have Smartphones. The technology mindset of the average Japanese person is a huge factor in the increasing dominance of Smartphones. Additionally, increasing affordability of phones in comparison to the past decade, more and more people would want to get their hands on the latest phones. The Japanese economy may have lost its supremacy over the last decade, but the people definitely have not lost their quest for innovative technology products.
The domestic success has motivated Japanese mobile gaming giants to consider options to expand their footprint into international gaming markets. This trend fuelled a massive acquisition drive by major gaming giants. The recent acquisition of the US based Open Feint mobile gaming network by Japanese giant GREE is an example of its intention to expand into the international market. Another example is the venture of Mobage into China, US and other markets. Additionally, there is an inward trend also, with major global players in the gaming industry making their way into the lucrative smartphone gaming sector of Japan. With the smartphone user base of over 15 million, the region simply opens up a host of possibilities for the gaming industry. The mobile gaming sector of Japan is reportedly headed for a total of nearly 255 Billion Yen by 2015 and if the current growth rate continues, it won’t take that long to reach the prospective mark.
With the rise in the popularity of Smartphones and tablets, the home consoles and home console software market in Japan has declined. According to a Jiji Press report, gaming console sales dropped eight percent in 2011 as compared to 2010, for a total of $454.3 billion. As far as the games are concerned, strong sales have been reported for games with local content despite the fact that many international games continue to dominate the number of downloads. Android is without doubt the most happening of gaming platforms with the iOS right on its tail. Microsoft and other proprietary smartphone operating systems have to do some heavy homework to catch up but with the new Windows 8 platform launched for smartphones, and Apple winning a crucial lawsuit against Samsung which indeed does have some blows for the Android OS, things are going to get interesting in the months to come.
Irrespective of the platform, the Japanese have always embraced technology in whatever form it is presented to them. The mobile gaming industry is undergoing a revolution and it is slated to continue its good run for quite some time.
Our articles are written to provide you with tools and information to meet your IT and cloud solution needs. Join us on Facebook and Twitter.
About the Guest Author:
Mandira Srivastava is a fulltime freelance writer who specializes in technology, health and fitness, politics, and financial writing. Equipped with degree of mass communication and having worked for both private and corporate clients, I have experience meeting a wide range of writing requirements and styles.
September 13th, 2012
Without much fanfare, cloud computing is making big waves in the field of education and we are now seeing the growth of virtual learning centers, the advent of personal learning systems and distant learning programs. Yet another big differentiator is information durability. This ensures that data can be stored in the cloud indefinitely and thus over time, a great data resource will be built up that will benefit several generations.
You only have to look at the many slide sharing sites, the video lessons that are available on-line and see how easy it is to explain complex concepts to students with animation and video. And if the lesson is created once, why should it not benefit students all over the globe?
An ever increasing number of libraries are going on-line. Students from different countries are already working collaboratively and generating new concepts and ideas. All of this is just the beginning of the change that cloud computing can bring to education. Luckily for our younger generations, this is a rapidly growing trend and many government agencies are understanding the benefits as well.
A recent UNESCO report on cloud computing in the education sector makes for very interesting reading. Besides discussing the by now well documented advantages of cloud computing in education, the report also discusses some other, less well discussed benefits. Some of these are mentioned below –
In spite of the advantages, UNESCO is also quick to point out the areas where universities must be careful about during their move to the cloud.
A major concern is of course security of data. There is fear that sensitive student or institution data could be breached. Besides, the reliance on a single cloud provider, it is feared, could introduce a single point of failure. However this is not really a worry. Large financial and legal institutions regularly trust their data to the cloud. The worry about failure is also not real because cloud service providers give guarantees of uptimes better than 99%.
There is also fear that institutions could be subject to advertising that they do not want to see. This can be easily handled by a well drafted service level contract. While selecting a cloud service provider, UNESCO recommends that institutions carefully evaluate the functionality offered by the company. They must also see that the platform suits the applications that the university intends to use and that the solution also supports tablets and other mobile devices. In addition to this, there could be some technical requirements that the solution must be able to meet. All of these have to be considered carefully.
Finally, it is also recommended that the negotiations for comprehensive cloud services not be carried out individually by each institution but by regional or national educational authorities since they have better capabilities to negotiate and select services. Having many institutions use a common cloud service will also help in cross flow of ideas which is after all the very idea behind education.
Our articles are written to provide you with tools and information to meet your IT and cloud solution needs. Join us on Facebook and Twitter.
About the Guest Author:
Sanjay Srivastava has been active in computing infrastructure and has participated in major projects on cloud computing, networking, VoIP and in creation of applications running over distributed databases. Due to a military background, his focus has always been on stability and availability of infrastructure. Sanjay was the Director of Information Technology in a major enterprise and managed the transition from legacy software to fully networked operations using private cloud infrastructure. He now writes extensively on cloud computing and networking and is about to move to his farm in Central India where he plans to use cloud computing and modern technology to improve the lives of rural folk in India.
September 12th, 2012
For a relatively tight-knit market where penetration of outside and unconventional services rarely succeeds, Japan has already warmed up to the idea of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) due to the various benefits it offers to any type of industry. Based on a recent study of Gartner, the SaaS market in Japan is expected to rise to $495.2 million this year, which is a 16% increase from last year. This figure provides a clear picture of how strong this type of service is being accepted in the market right now and how it is going to further impact different sectors in Japan in the coming years. Whether you’re in the government or private sector, SaaS has definitely made an indelible mark in improving business operations in Japan leading to an evil growth in their respective markets.
The main components which have made SaaS particularly appealing to the Japanese are its ease of use and customization features to suit the needs of a business. Japan has always been known to be the driving force in technology especially in the Asia-Pacific market. Keeping ahead of the times and its competitors means deploying the latest and fastest IT systems possible to stay on top. What could be more advanced than an online-based system? It is where technology is at and where the future of the entire world relies on. Another factor to consider when it comes to SaaS advantages is the opportunity to lower expenses when buying hardware and software systems. With SaaS, Japanese companies are able to control their costs with competitively priced applications which are on a subscription-based fee.
With the unfortunate tsunami event last year, local businesses are searching for alternative means to support their operations in case another disaster strikes again. The diversity and flexibility of the SaaS make it one of the better options that companies could look into to preserve their businesses. Though this newfound appreciation for the less than traditional approach has already been recognized, companies wanting to offer their own on-demand software still need to go through a number of hurdles before triumphing in this exclusive and hard to convince consumer market.
For starters, the Japanese would welcome and appreciate more your offered service and all other marketing strategies if they understood what you are selling and saying. Case in point, write your texts in Japanese language. If you have a website, manual or social networking account, you better hire a good translator or communication specialist to get your message across your target market the right way. If you want to do one step better, make sure to have a competent Japanese team on your side who knows the market more than you do especially if you are a foreigner.
Moreover, the Japanese also responds more positively to personalized services and who wouldn’t? When business owners themselves take the time to chat or answer customer comments and questions, that is what sets them apart from the rest. Japanese consumers feel more valued when service providers directly interact with them as if they were their real friends. Timely responses offered in a courteous manner always give off the right vibe especially for a country that values good manners and professionalism as part of their personal and work ethics.
As in any other country, a marketing scheme is always a topnotch priority when trying to break into a new market. If you want your SaaS product to be noticed, researching the channels to saturate should be of paramount importance. When it comes to Japan, social media is a definite gateway to promote your product. With Facebook and Twitter booming in the market, you can take advantage of these networking sites but always remember to not overdo it as it can backfire on you. Introducing prizes or freebies for signing up to your service could also lead to more users. It will attract more customers who shall then spread the word on your product and with everything in Japan nowadays, a good word or a rave review always goes a long way.
There are indeed grand opportunities waiting to be discovered for SaaS providers wanting to infiltrate this previously closed market. If approached the right way, you can gain more than what you initially expected in this flourishing market in Japan.
Our articles are written to provide you with tools and information to meet your IT and cloud solution needs. Join us on Facebook and Twitter.
About the Guest Author:
Rodolfo Lentejas, Jr. is a fulltime freelance writer based in Toronto. He is the founder of the PostSckrippt, a growing online writing business dedicated to producing top quality, original and fresh content. To know more about him, please visit www.postsckrippt.ca. Like him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest.
September 11th, 2012
In October 2011, Malaysia’s Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak launched a rare Digital Malaysia Initiative (DMI) that is meant to turn this South-East Asian country into a hub for e-commerce activities in Asia. This giant, one-of-its-kind project aims at creating an initial 160,000 high-value jobs by 2020 and subsequently increases the country’s Gross National Income contributed by the IT sector by about 17%.
This information paints exactly how bright the prospects of IT investment will be in Malaysia in the coming years. And interestingly enough, the projected success of Digital Malaysia Initiative is entirely hooked on Cloud Computing technology.
DMI is primarily designed to foster a rapid growth in the areas of online education, e-commerce, mobile technology, e-payment among small- and medium-scale businesses, evolution of e-entrepreneurs, and coordination of all Internet-based business activities with the view to guaranteeing higher productivity and creating jobs that will boost the economic activity of Malaysia.
With this scale of explosive digital adventures, one will expect that Digital Malaysia Initiative will bring about strategic changes as well as new challenges to the Information Technology processes in Malaysia. Some of the unavoidable challenges Malaysia’s IT sector will have to grapple will include but are not limited to:
For Malaysia to become a center of Asia’s e-commerce, it definitely has to devise the appropriate mechanism for dealing with the issue of large generation of sensitive data that will require safe and flexible storage facilities. Online education, e-payment system, e-entrepreneur activities, e-government procedures, e-commerce operations etc will all require the kind of efficient storage facility provided by Cloud Computing. Storing time-sensitive and highly confidential data through cloud technology provides the flexibility and scalability most e-business operators desire; in other words, e-entrepreneurs can sign up with cloud service providers for a limited storage capacity based on their current needs. And if their storage requirements increase in the near future, they can request for a bigger storage space. Using cloud computing, Malaysian e-commerce operators can rest assured that their business operations will not suddenly collapse due to limited space for storage expansion.
Digital Malaysia Initiative is centered on the promise that cloud computing will play a significant role in making the Initiative efficient and successful. This dream is achievable if Malaysian business owners pay serious attention to the gains of adopting cloud technology in all areas of their operations. Apart from leading to dramatic cut in the cost of running businesses, cloud computing will also necessitate business continuity and safeguard or protect some sensitive data that will be generated during these business activities.
DMI also provides opportunities for Western IT firm that wants to actively participate in Asian IT market. One of the reasons the Malaysian Government supports Digital Malaysia Initiative is to provide a level-playing field for foreign investors that will like to be a part of the Initiative with the hope of meeting the goals of job creation and economic expansion. This is the best time for foreign investors to check out the benefits of DMI for business expansion, if such investors are deeply interested in entering the Asian IT market. Malaysia has long been regarded as a vibrant home to many foreign companies which include IBM, Shell, Nestle, Sony, PricewaterCoopers etc.
Cloud computing will continue to make in-road into Asian economies as Malaysia appears to lead the campaign for others to emulate. The good news is that the 21st century has been generally agreed to be an Asian period of rapid development. China, Japan, South Korea and Malaysia are now leading the pack in IT sector development; a trend that will seemingly not abate in the coming years!
Our articles are written to provide you with tools and information to meet your IT and cloud solution needs. Join us on Facebook and Twitter.
About the Guest Author:
Jerry Olasakinju, a Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) degree holder, is a passionate researcher and writer whose interest in everything computing is unparalleled. He blogs about his literary works at http://jerryolasakinju.blogspot.jp/
September 10th, 2012
Even though Japan has a long history of being a leader in cutting edge technology, there are some factors that make Japan a particularly difficult environment for most fledgling companies in the social media and the technology sectors. Although this has been especially true in the last decade, many experts believe that cloud technology and the many social media breakthroughs in recent years could allow Japan to regain its leadership in innovation in the technology market.
Japan has been looking towards Silicon Valley for inspiration
Some of the most successful programs in recent years have involved learning from Silicon Valley in order to enable a better environment for tech start-ups in Japan. While the talent and infrastructure are undoubtedly all available in Japan today, there is a way of thinking that may require some getting used to in order to motivate entrepreneurs and innovators in this difficult market. Some of the most important concepts that Japanese social media and tech companies will need to embrace if they want to improve their innovation in the next few years include better design thinking, more agile development, a consumer-focused product design approach, and mastering the art of prototyping. Of course, learning to pitch ideas to venture capitalists and investors is also an essential part of any start-up.
Venture capital and Japan
One of the factors that start-ups in Japan will need to focus on is gaining access to venture capital. This is a specific challenge to Japan because, compared to other countries (such as the United States,) Japan has a lower proportion of venture capital. In fact, the conservatism of Japanese venture capitalists contrasted with the innovative ideas coming out of some of the most exciting young start-ups in this country make Japan a very attractive option for venture capitalists and investors from the rest of the world. Due to the lack of competition, there are many promising young companies with great ideas that require financial backing today. Many people have agreed that one of the reasons why Japanese start-ups in the tech sector tend to struggle is because of the need for a relationship that is the backbone of Silicon Valley: mentorship. Successful tech entrepreneurs in the West will often want to share their experience with the new generation in the form of a mentor-protege relationship. Unfortunately, this is still a relatively new concept in Japan.
The winning formula for a successful start-up social media or tech company in Japan
The fact is that funding and mentorship should be integrated for best results. Because of that, one of the keys to starting up a successful company in Japan in the technology sector today is finding financial backing and mentors from international sources. While recent years have seen a rise of these in Japan, there is still more that can be done to foster a more competitive, propitious environment for tech start-ups in Japan, particularly in the social media sector, where the Japanese market is among the richest and most lucrative in the world.
Another important challenge for fostering a healthy environment for innovation in Japan will also be building a community. Finding a way for tech entrepreneurs to communicate, support, and work together will be one of the most important ways of taking the Japanese tech sector to the next level. After all, innovation seldom happens in a vacuum. A complicated ecosystem is necessary in order to foster the necessary conditions for fresh new ideas and start-up companies willing to bring new ideas to the market. This is especially true in areas like cloud computing and social media, where innovation is measured in days and weeks due to the fast-moving nature of these markets.
Apart from mentorship, it will also be necessary to finding ways to take products that are highly localized for Japanese social media idiosyncrasies and translating these to the worldwide market. After all, globalization has always been one of the most important characteristics for any successful tech enterprise. While we’ve seen that this can be successfully applied to sectors such as game development, there are still many areas in social media where finding ways to create worldwide appeal have not been found.
Our articles are written to provide you with tools and information to meet your IT and cloud solution needs. Join us on Facebook and Twitter.
About the Guest Author:
Nida Rasheed is a freelance writer and owner of an outsourcing company, Nida often finds herself wanting to write about the subjects that are closest to her heart. She lives in Islamabad, Pakistan and can be found on Twitter @nidarasheed.
September 9th, 2012
A start-up firm is “tabula rasa” by nature and one of its major advantages is the possibility for great opportunities. Though well-established in our home court (country – Japan), we still count ourselves as newbies when it comes to markets outside of Japan. Resources are ready, support is already there, now our primary aim is to find the market that will greatly benefit from our services.
Learning from Japan’s Gaming Giants
One of Japan’s undeniably lucrative industries is the social gaming market; in the global gaming scene, Japan has captured a 10% share amounting to $6.5B. Web, mobile and social gaming independent consultant, Dr. Serkan Toto imparts on an informative presentation the reasons why there is a huge social gaming presence in Japan. Aside from the country having a 99% 3G penetration, platforms such as Gree and Mobage are pre-installed in handsets and ease of payment is prioritized – these are all you need to give good customer experience.
The US Gaming Scene – Where are they now?
Not far behind is the US social gaming market. According to the Casual Games Report 2012, 77.9 M Americans will play social games in 2012, a 20 M increase from 2010′s 57M.
There is, however, the question of reconciling the two nations in terms of the gaming industry. You would notice that there is little to no traction between the two, and here is what we found out about the “gaming world’s backstage” -
US-based game developers prefer directly selling their games to the English-speaking market; to cover ground, they sell the rights to their games to a Japanese party instead. This Japanese firm will then be the one to take care of localization (which could take 2 weeks to 2 months) and marketing of the game. This is, however, very costly as reportedly, it would cost approximately $300,000 to buy the rights to a single game title. On top of that, royalties need to be paid.
This is now the reason why Japanese publishers prefer to purchase rights to games from China and Korea, which are less expensive and maybe more appealing to the Japanese market; suffice to say that the opportunities of US game developers to gaining profitability from the Japanese market remains untapped. In the same way, perhaps the Japanese market is not provided with enough opportunities to full appreciate US-developed games.
On a wider scale, it is not only the Japanese market that the US game developers can try to penetrate, there is a bigger coverage for their market. Studies say that Asia-Pacific countries are highly influenced by social media.
It is a challenge if you come to think of it, but it will be quite the journey. There are indeed obstacles that are not easy to overcome but with the right medium, proper communication, and of course, stable infrastructure, a US game developer can easily get through to the Japanese gaming market.
Our articles are written to provide you with tools and information to meet your IT and cloud solution needs. Join us on Facebook and Twitter.
September 9th, 2012
In recent posts on this blog, we have been putting emphasis on the projected growth of the gaming industry. Supporting these claims are recent reports such as the Cloud Gaming Report 2012, which highlights the total global games software sales of $24 Billion in 2012 and is expected to increase to $41 Billion in 2017.
Evolution of Application Development
Also quite notable is the proliferation of native applications (applications running on iOS, Android) use as against web applications (social apps), which more or less has a usage ratio of 70:30. Native applications are usually developed in platforms led by Gree, Mobage and Mixi. There are currently almost 1.3 million mobile apps in the app stores of Apple and Android combined; and just recently, Facebook announced that it has made its native app for iOS. This, alone, shows that the game market is almost totally dominated by social apps and undeniably, marketplaces like Google Play and the App Store, which provision native apps have been significantly growing their sales.
No Technology is Without Challenges
There are of course, a few bumps on the road. In the application development industry, winners and losers are clearly distinguished, where winners are limited to SAP – having the capital, promotion capabilities, and IP (character rights). Having said this, those players that are most prevalent enjoy the highest royalties estimated at about 40%, while the not-so-popular ones are getting weaker. There are other issues taken into consideration like:
A Promising Future
Nonetheless, the future seems bright for the mobile app industry. One major identifier is SAP’s shift from major platforms to native apps. Other future trends seen are:
Investment and development might appear costly, but in the long run might be worth every penny. When you look at advantages of native applications like its functionality, capabilities and the potential of overwhelming market growth (ergo profitability), it is no question that the mobile app market is heading towards this direction.
Our articles are written to provide you with tools and information to meet your IT and cloud solution needs. Join us on Facebook and Twitter.
September 7th, 2012
The Japanese mobile application market is the one to beat for developers who would like to find success in their field of business. Since Japan holds one of the top-grossing shares in mobile device consumption as well as application downloads, developers from any part of the world see this leading market with colossal potential when it comes to huge returns in investment.
For years, Western mobile companies have been trying to penetrate this inward and resistant market because they know how explosive it can get if they do indeed break through the barriers of Japan. The advanced infrastructure in Japan allowed it to produce its own brand of mobile phones and applications that isolated it from the rest of the world. Japanese mobile corporations knew that they could keep the local market happy and restricted with localized applications that catch the attention of users who are more than willing to pay for what they enjoy and benefit from.
It seemed like the Japanese app market was already content with this existing setup. However, global developers did not intend to ever stop as they knew that one day, they would eventually crack this closed system of mobile app fanatics. When smartphones started to rise in the scene with its highly fast and efficient features, the Japanese market began to take notice and responded very well to this popularly used phone in the world. They began to enjoy the diversity and high level of entertainment found in smartphone applications. While Android phones already were widely patronized by the Japanese market, Apple developers finally experienced ultimate success with the iPhone 4S that seems to overtake the Japanese consumer market today.
One of the most successful Apple applications that can be downloaded in iTunes is Sekai Camera produced by Tonchidot Corporation. Instead of the typical taking of still pictures with background or border designs, Sekai Camera found a way to adapt the quirkiness of the local market by enhancing the features of augmented reality in its mobile application. Sekai Camera allows its user to take photos wherever they are and add air tags to express whatever they want to say about the photo. Other users can view these posts if they are in the same location or these can be shared in Facebook or Twitter if they want to.
Augmented reality applications have always been close to the hearts of the Japanese people. They have always supported some type of reality-based games or applications whether virtual or in this case augmented. By featuring real-time applications which are based on the actual environment, reality is merely enhanced with graphics or texts which the user can control for their own enjoyment. Another popular app from Apple is the iButterfly which has caught the attention of Japanese iPhone users with its magnificent graphics. Users can add these beautiful 3D butterflies to their actual gardens or wherever they are.
Countering the success of Apple applications, Android users find solace in Google Play, which features different kinds of applications from e-books, movies, music and more.
Google Play uses cloud services and anyone can access this application thru the Internet from their phones. The amazing benefit from Google Play is that all types of applications are already collected in one place. You won’t have to scour several stores to find what you are looking for, hence, it saves on time and effort. By utilizing the cloud, anyone can enjoy this service wherever they may be as long as they have their android phones or tablets and as long as there is a Wi-Fi connection. There is increased flexibility and efficiency when applications are accessed on the cloud since users won’t have to use up all their phone memory or battery in downloading. The Internet allows applications to store the needed information on the cloud instead of in the actual device.
Most app developers who thrive in Japan can attribute their success to localizing their product to please the specific desires of this elusive market. It is highly crucial to localize the application to suit the particular whims and needs of the consumers. More than translating the language, app developers have to study this resistant market or partner with local developers who already have a clear idea of what could click with Japanese mobile users.
Our articles are written to provide you with tools and information to meet your IT and cloud solution needs. Join us on Facebook and Twitter.
About the Guest Author:
Rodolfo Lentejas, Jr. is a fulltime freelance writer based in Toronto. He is the founder of the PostSckrippt, a growing online writing business dedicated to producing top quality, original and fresh content. To know more about him, please visit www.postsckrippt.ca. Like him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest.
« Older Entries Newer Entries »