Japan News & Articles

LinkedIn, the social network for professionals, has its sights set on conquering new markets, and has opened an office in Tokyo to support its growing presence in Japan.

Some call it the post-PC era, like former Apple CEO Steve Jobs would. Some claim that the popularity of tablets and smartphones is just a fad, as former Asus Chairman Stan Shih once said. But make no mistake about it: Mobile Internet is on the rise. In fact, IDC says mobile Internet access will overtake wireline access by 2015.

Microsoft (news, site) has had a successful run with its Windows Mobile platform, particularly in the corporate setting, but then the iPhone and Android rose in popularity and Microsoft found the need to refresh its mobile strategy. Microsoft is banking on the new Windows Phone 7 platform to revitalize its hold on the mobile market, and the much-anticipated second-generation -- codenamed "Mango" -- is about to get its first handset, care of Fujitsu (news, site).

Twitter (news, site) is aggressively expanding into the Japanese market, in particular partnering with mobile networks and portals in the country. Twitter's latest partnership involves adding live feeds in Yahoo! Japan search results. Is Twitter doing this as a means to expand into Asian territories just as certain Asian microblogging services are planning a coup in the English-language market?

Fujitsu (news, site) and Microsoft have announced the first production release of the Windows Azure Platform appliance. Fujitsu's Global Cloud Platform (FGCP/A5) Service, running at Fujitsu's Japan datacenter, is currently in test deployment and is expected to launch by August 2011.

In the US markets, Android has fast overtaken other smartphone operating systems in terms of market share. Symbian still leads the game in the Asia Pacific region (excluding Japan), but analysts expect the platform to cede the top spot to Android within the year.

Facebook is not particularly popular in Japan. But this highly connected nation is no stranger to social networking. In fact, Mixi (news, site), one of the more popular networks, is adding a system for easy tagging of real-world items using Near Field Communication.

Businesses have embraced the use of social networking tools in order to improve productivity, increase mindshare and engage its target clientele. However, most enterprise social networking tools are either too closed, too public, or too expensive. To give organizations a chance to start engaging its audience (both internal and external), BroadVision (news, site) has launched its free Clearvale Express, and has partnered with Asian telecom firm SoftBank for the provision of a white-label social network called Clearvale Paasport.

Facebook (news, site) might be the Internet's billion-dollar baby, but the social networking giant is not exactly a Goliath in the land of the rising sun. In Japan, which is considered to be a highly wired country, Facebook's user base is at just about 2 percent of the population. The reason: privacy.

eZ Systems, an Open Source Web CMS vendor, joined forces with its Gold Partner Mitsue-Links Co., Ltd. to open an eZ Systems office in Tokyo, Japan, this November.

Although eZ is not new to the Japanese market, the new initiative will further promote eZ Systems’ Open Source Content Management System (CMS) eZ Publish in Japan.

According to eZ CEO Aleksander Farstad, the company has been active in the Japanese market for the last two years, building a partner network and working with “significant” customers. With an accelerated growth in the market, the next step is, obviously, to get direct representation in Japan to support further growth.

eZ Systems Japan will focus on the following:

• Serve as the base for eZ Publish marketing activities in Japan
• Provide specialized for the Japanese market development and support
• Provide consulting services
• Train Japanese eZ Partners

The grand opening of eZ Systems Japan is scheduled for November 5, 2008.

SDL Tridion, a Dutch provider of Web Content Management software solutions is strengthening its market presence in the Asia Pacific with a new office in Tokyo and a new VP of Sales Asia Pacific and Middle East to help spearhead regional growth.