Naviblog Europe to become Orange certified partner soon

Our long-term relationship with European operators is slowly coming together: Naviblog Europe should be a certified mobile partner with the Orange network very soon... more soon on http://naviblog.co.uk. Looking forward to a fruitful collaboration on building cool services on this very wide ranging network.

Naviblog Europe site opens

The Naviblog website is now open! The new naviblog.co.uk site will be the center for the international expansion of Naviblog, and will fuse its roots - deep in the tradition of Tokyo-based companies for innovation in new technologies - with new visions of mobile development in the booming European market and worldwide.

Naviblog strongly believes in sticking to the areas where it has worked to the greatest effect, that is, working with advertisers and advertising agencies to provide complete, multi-channel and multimedia experiences to brands and their users. From Guinness beer to our upcoming advertising partnerships, Naviblog believes that it can help bridge the gap between brands and the online consumers of cool services. We believe that the mobile phone is central, and will become more and more central to this experience.

In a departure from the past, Naviblog will also look to empower associations related to social development, ie. working to strengthen social and economic development in developing/emerging nations worldwide. We believe that Naviblog has a role to play in enabling communities in unfavored economic situations to leverage the mobile phone and the mobile web to help themselves and build an ecosystem of systems that can help their basic life and sustenance.

We are also working on a number of other projects at Naviblog, all of them mobile technologies that will make people's life easier and drive adoption of cool services on the mobile phone.

Go to the new site here: http://naviblog.co.uk

Naviblog moves to Yebisu Garden Place offices

Naviblog has moved! As of August 20, 2007, the offices of Naviblog Corporation have moved to more spacious offices on Yebisu Garden Place's 18th Floor. Please update your address books with our latest contact information, as below. We look forward to welcoming you to our new offices in the near future.

Naviblog Corporation
Level 18, Yebisu Garden Place Tower,
4-20-3 Ebisu, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-6018
See our website's top page for our new telephone and fax information.
www.naviblog.jp

Access to our office:
The closest stations are the JR Ebisu and Metro Hibiya Line Ebisu stations.
5 minute walk from Ebisu Station*, JR line, East exit.
8 minute walk from Ebisu Station*, Metro Hibiya line, Exit 1.
* A covered moving sidewalk conveys passengers quickly to Yebisu Garden Place.

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事務所移転のお知らせ！2007年8月20日付で、株式会社NAVIBLOGが恵比寿ガーデンプレイス18階の広いオフィスに移転しました。移転に伴い住所及び電話番号が変わります。お手数をお掛けいたしますが、下記内容にてご登録変更くださいますようお願いいたします。

〒150-6018
東京都渋谷区恵比寿4-20-3
恵比寿ガーデンプレイスタワー18階
株式会社NAVIBLOG
TEL/FAXに関しては、弊社HPトップページをご覧ください。
www.naviblog.jp

アクセス方法：
JR線 恵比寿駅* 東口より徒歩5分
地下鉄日比谷線 恵比寿駅*出口より徒歩8 分
*動く通路「恵比寿スカイウォーク」で約5分。雨の日でも傘なしで濡れずにアクセスできます。

Naviblog exhibits at MCPC mobile solutions fair

Naviblog Corporation will be exhibiting their latest products and services on September 9th, 2007, alongside medium to large system integrator and mobile solutions companies in Aoyama's Tepia Hall in downtown Tokyo. This yearly one-day-only fair will include the participation of all carriers, from market leader NTT Docomo to new MNOs such as Willcom, to mobile system integrators such as NEC, Toshiba Solutions, Hitachi Business Solutions, Ricoh, Microsoft and many more.

Visit us at the fair! Print out your free invitation from the URL below:
http://www.ric.co.jp/expo/fair2007/download/fair_ticket.pdf

Exhibition details
Date : Friday September 7th, 2007, from 10.00am to 5.30pm
Location : Aoyama TEPIA, Kita-aoyama 2-8-44, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan
(closest station: Tokyo Metro Gaienmae Station)
Access map : For more information on the conference, and to sign up for the seminars on the day, see here.

For more information on the conference, and to sign up for the seminars on the day, see here.

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ナビブログはＭＣＰＣソリューションフェアに出展

来る9月7日（金）に、中堅・大手のＳＩer企業やモバイルソリューション開発会社が出展する東京都港区の青山ＴＥＰＩＡで、株式会社ＮＡＶＩＢＬＯＧは最新の製品とサービスを展示します。１年に1日しか開催しないこのフェアには、携帯電話キャリアのＮＴＴドコモからＷＩＬＬＣＯＭまで、そしてＮＥＣ、東芝ソリューションズ、日立ビジネスソリューションズ、リコー、マイクロソフトなど多くのシステムインテグレーターが出展します。

弊社ブースを見に来てください！無料招待券を下記のＵＲＬから印刷して、記入の上、当日にご持参ください。
http://www.ric.co.jp/expo/fair2007/download/fair_ticket.pdf

出展詳細事項
日時 : 2007年9月7日(金)、午前10時〜午後5時
会場 : 東京都港区北青山2-8-44（最寄駅：地下鉄外苑前駅）
アクセス図 : 青山ＴＥＰＩＡのＨＰをご確認ください。

カンファレンスの詳細情報、またはセミナーの事前登録については、こちらをご覧ください。

Naviblog to speak at Red Herring Japan in Kyoto

Mobile marketing firm Naviblog will be speaking at the first-ever Red Herring Japan / Technology Summit event, on Monday July 23rd, hosted by Red Herring, CNET Japan, CMO Council, and Mobikyo among others.

A star-studded lineup to include such luminaries as (Japan's largest shopping site) Rakuten CEO Hiroshi Mikitani, Chairman of Sony's Advisory Board Nobuyuki Idei, Adobe's Akio Tanaka, Salesforce.com's President Jim Steele, and many others, will be speaking alongside Naviblog's CEO Mandali Khalesi on topics from entrepreneurship to tech business in Japan, to technological trends and internationalisation of the digital contents business.

According to the event website, the invitation-only, CXO-level event will "connect speakers, analysts, entrepreneurs, investors, journalists and observers from across the country for meaningful, technology-specific comparisons and insights. Half of the speakers and attendees will be from Japan, and the other half will be from international locations. If you can only attend one event in Japan this year, this is it"... We look forward to seeing you there!

Presentation details
Date : Monday July 23rd, 2007, from 11.45am to 12.45pm
Registration : Register on the website at www.herringevents.com
Location : Hotel Okura, Kyoto, Japan
Access map : See the Hotel Okura's website here.

For more information on the conference, see here.
Any press inquiries, or requests for interviews, should be directed to info@naviblog.jp.

Naviblog featured in UK marketing magazine

Web-based UK marketing magazine mad.co.uk has featured Naviblog and its Guinness Navi product as part of its latest article on mobile marketing services.

In a phone interview with co-founder Michael Harris, the article bills Naviblog's Guinness Navi service as a "next-generation service [...where] in all cases the search process is reduced to one click". The report goes on to point out that "Japan passed the 100m mobile subscriber" level a few months ago, so "innovation is now about business models and marketing tactics, as opposed to technical features and functions"... We couldn't agree more.

See the article for more: click here or Google cache here.

Naviblog to present at Tokyo Mobile Innovation conference

Mobile marketing firm Naviblog will present their latest product, NaviblogX, at the 5th Innovation Challenge on June 21st, hosted by the Mobile Computing Promotion Consortium of Japan. NaviblogX is a groundbreaking web-based application that allows brands, SMEs and individuals to set up their own mobile website, complete with maps and blogs, within 60 seconds.

As opposed to most web-based APIs, NaviblogX wraps the functionality of the Naviblog API in an easy-to-use tool, requiring no prior programming or technical knowledge from the user. The finished site is immediately viewable on more than 170 handsets from all 4 Japanese mobile carriers. NaviblogX, currently only available as a restricted developer release, is being implemented by over 30 companies and developers.

Presentation details
Date: June 21st, 2007, from 2pm to 3pm
Registration: Doors open at 12:30pm; keynote seminar "Latest on Bluetooth technologies" from 1pm to 2pm.
Place: Toranomon Pastoral Hotel, New Bldg., 4F, "Mint" room
Cocktail reception: After corporate presentations, from 5.30pm to 7.30pm.
Access map: See here.

About the MCPC
The Mobile Computing Promotion Consortium of Japan facilitates research and implements measures for technical and operational issues, promotes joint research and development, establishes de-facto standards, and promotes dissemination to implement and evolve a more advanced, efficient and economic mobile computing system. The consortium cooperates internationally with interested organizations, contributes to the evolution and expansion of the information society, and plays a leading role in mobile computing system efforts worldwide, especially in Asia. MCPC has excellent relations with the US-based PCCA.
http://www.mcpc-jp.org/english/

About Naviblog
Within 18 months of startup, the company develops 6 industry-first mobile services including its location-based mobile search product "Naviblog 2.0", for which Naviblog receives the Red Herring Top 100 award in Summer 2006, and is on the cover of the Red Herring magazine. Featured in dozens of publications, and receiving industry awards in both Japan and Europe in 2007, Naviblog is hailed worldwide as the next-generation in digital marketing for mobile services.
http://www.naviblog.jp/index_e.html


**Japanese**

NAVIBLOGは東京モバイルイノベーション会合に出席

モバイルマーケティングの株式会社ＮＡＶＩＢＬＯＧは、6月21日にモバイルコンピューティング推進コンソーシャム主催の「第5回イノベーションチャレンジ」カンファレンスに、新製品のＮＡＶＩＢＬＯＧＸを紹介いたします。ＮＡＶＩＢＬＯＧＸは60秒以内に、ブランド、中小企業や個人のモバイルサイトを、地図とブログの機能付きで構築する、斬新なウェブアプリケーションです。

多くのウェブＡＰＩと違って、ＮＡＶＩＢＬＯＧＸはユーザにプログラミングや技術的な知識を求めることなく、ＮＡＶＩＢＬＯＧのＡＰＩを使いやすいツールに埋め込んであります。完成したサイトは瞬時に日本４キャリアの170機種以上の端末で確認できます。ＮＡＶＩＢＬＯＧＸは現在限定したデベロッパーリリース中であり、すでに30以上の企業と開発者に導入されています。

プレゼンテーション詳細事項
日時： 2007年6月21日、午後2時00分〜3時00分
受付： 当日12時30分〜；基調演説「Bluetooth最新技術情報」は、午後1時00分〜2時00分
場所： 虎ノ門パストラルホテル　新館４階「ミント」
レセプション： 全出席社プレゼンテーション後、午後5時30分〜7時30分
アクセス図： こちらをご確認ください。

ＭＣＰＣについて
モバイルコンピューティングシステムの本格的かつ健全な市場の形成・拡大のために、通信キャリア（ネットワーク）、コンピュータハードメーカ・ソフトメーカ、システムインテグレータ（含むサービスプロバイダー）、報道関係者等が連携し、より高度、効果的かつ経済的なモバイルコンピューティングシステム実現、発展のための技術上の課題、運用上の課題調査、課題への対応、共同研究、開発の推進、標準（デファクトスタンダード）化および普及啓発活動等を行い、もって情報化社会の発展拡大に貢献する（加えて世界—特にアジアにおけるモバイルコンピューティングシステムの先導的役割を果たす）ことを目的としています。
http://www.mcpc-jp.org/

NAVIBLOGについて
日本で初めて、携帯電話でアクセスする位置情報連動型ブログサービスを提供した会社です。設立してわずか18ヶ月で６つの業界初サービスを実現。国内外数十のメディアに注目され、06年夏に米有力紙「Red Herring」TOP100賞を受賞し、表紙に掲載。その後、日本やヨーロッパの業界賞を受賞し、次世代の携帯電話アプリケーション開発会社として国内外に注目。
http://www.naviblog.jp/

Naviblog featured in The Asia Media Journal

“Mobile Branding in Japan — AMJ talks to Naviblog founder and technology visionary Mandali Khalesi about what the mobile blogging revolution means for advertisers and mobile users...”

The Asia Media Journal (Media Partners Asia, Ltd.), a leading media-focused magazine which provides exclusive analysis of companies and individuals shaping media development across Asia, has featured Naviblog Corporation in its quarterly print edition (Q1 2007), Brands on Digital.

The 2-page spread takes a look at the future of mobile marketing and branding in Asia and includes excerpts of an interview with Naviblog CEO and “technology visionary” Mandali Khalesi. “Needless to say, we’re delighted to be featured in such a respected Asian publication”, says Mandali Khalesi. “And having our photos in the article is also pretty cool.”

At Naviblog, we have been discussing and implementing projects with consumer brands and advertising agencies in order to best leverage mobile user interactions. We have found that the role our platform can play in mobile marketing and branding, is increasingly affecting not only the Asia region but also brands on a global scale. Brands and advertising agencies are beginning to see the real business potential in the mobile phone, and are discovering entirely new ways of getting a marketing message out to specific user groups.

You can purchase this special edition of The Asia Media Journal in all good bookstores across the Asia-Pacific region, and find out a bit more about how we plan to make the Naviblog platform the global standard for marketing on the mobile.

For more information on Media Partners Asia, Ltd. and The Asia Media Journal, please visit their website.

Japanese teens snub mobile carrier listings

* In a revealing market research report out last Friday on Japan's CNET news website, Japanese teens are leaving the official carrier listings in favour of mobile search when trying to find a mobile service or online resource.

The multiple-choice survey taken over a representative sample of Japanese teens in the 13-19yr age segment, showed that users prefer searching using mobile search in 70.1% of cases, as opposed to official mobile carrier listings in 47.1%. Digging a little further within the categories of services searched for using either official listings or mobile search, users favoured official listings only for news/weather and train schedules, with 71.7% and 65.6% respectively. All other categories favoured mobile search, ranging from traditional content downloads (wallpapers 78.4%, ringtones 60.5%, multimedia content 77.8%), to word-of-mouth information or specialist information (such as blogs 76%, fashion/cosmetics 58.7%, food/drink/shopping 55.4%).

At the Tokyo Entrepreneur's Summit a few weeks ago in central Tokyo, I summed up the situation in 4 words: "official listings are finished". This caused a generalized uproar among other panel members that made their money during the closed-door clique of the early i-Mode days, but let the truth be told: your days are numbered.

With the arrival of the QR mobile barcode and flat-rate mobile data plans, small-to-medium firms to boutique interest sites are moving to set up their own mobile sites and market direct to their customers. If NaviblogX can help them in their endeavour, then so be it. Even a few years ago, official sites were the only way forward to get your site out with enough critical mass to generate revenue. Now it's merely a survival-of-the-deepest-pockets exercise, where established companies throw money at established carriers to get higher up on the list. This doesn't help the industry, nor does it boost its base. While the barons play, the poor scavenge. It doesn't need to be like that anymore, and users are voting with their feet.