PayTM launches Bus Ticketing, repeats deep discount marketing with 50% off on tickets

Online recharge company PayTM has launched bus ticketing on their site. On 12.12.12, when Google put together the Great Indian Shopping Festival for online shoppers in India, PayTM announced 50% discounts on the site for bus tickets to market the newly launched service.

The company mentioned that one can choose from over 10,000 varied routes and more than 600 operators through PayTM tickets. Given the chatter around #GOSF (which is quite a fail, if you look at GOSF deals), the launch is well timed and rides on a larger wave.

PayTM had earlier partnered with Timesdeal to offer mobile phone currency worth Rs 100 for half the price and found that the site’s traffic went up by 90 % in a single day.

The company generated a little less than 100,000 visits on the day and got a little less than 50,000 orders.

PayTM Promo

Incubated in One97, the mobile internet services company which also invests in early stage mobile companies through its $100 million mobility fund, PayTM started off with online mobile recharge. It later added Direct To Home (DTH) Television recharge, data card recharges and utility bill payment to its website.

Disclosure: PayTM is a sponsor at NBW.

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Breast Quiz Ever? Popular Japanese App Asks if They’re Big or Small

In browsing the top app charts for Japan, I stumbled across an unusual application called ‘Big or Small.’ Currently the eighth most popular free app, it’s is a quiz game which tests your ability to guess whether a ladies… um… assets are… well, big or small — just by looking at their face. So in the interests of science, I took the app for a test run.

The application features photos of over 400 women, grouped into different categories like celebrity, cosplay, gyaru, and others. I have no idea how the application’s publisher collected these photos, but I’m willing to bet that most of these girls didn’t sign up for this. There isn’t any nudity involved here, but be warned that some of the banner ads are a little risqué.

In any case, my brief experience with the app didn’t do much but prove that I’m really not very good at this type of classification exercise (scoring only 5/10 correct, see below) — although it isn’t for lack of paying attention back during my school days.

I’m not certain that such an app will have a very long life in the app store, so if you’d like to test it out, download it while you can (note: it’s in Japanese). The idea of such a game will likely be offensive to many outside Japan I expect. But I’ll leave that to you to decide. Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

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gumi’s first English-language social game Knight Legends launched via GREE

Mobile and social game developer gumi has announced the release of Knight Legends via Japan’s GREE platform.

Mobile gaming enthusiasts take heed. gumi has recently announced the release of Knight Legends on the GREE platform for Android devices. The game is a free-to-play card battle game, which has attracted almost a million players in Japan in under a year.

According to gumi CEO Hironao Kunimitsu, the game’s release will cement the startup’s name as a leading social game developer globally. “Fans can look forward to the release of more gumi games in the near future from our global studios.” The team has actually developed a few mobile games, namely Yakuza Wars, Pirate Wars, FIFA World Class Soccer (co-developed with EA/Playfish).

Social games developed for the Japanese market are somewhat different from the ones developed in the U.S. Zynga type games from Stateside promote gaming with real friends, whereas the ones in Japan allow people to play with matching abilities — in short, anyone at all. This is what makes Knight Legends pretty exciting. It follows the preference in Japanese social networks toward anonymity and having somewhat a second identity online.

Knight Legends is currently available for Android devices on the GREE Platform and Google Play in Canada, Australia, Singapore and the United Kingdom. A global release expected in the coming weeks. An iOS version is also expected soon.

About gumi

gumi Inc. aims to change the world through innovations in entertainment and technology, and to become the top provider of mobile social games in the world. gumi is one of the top game developers in Japan, and has published over 20 titles including both original content and collaborations with popular brands. gumi has offices in Tokyo, San Francisco, Singapore, Seoul, Shanghai, Taiwan and Paris.

About GREE

GREE is a global mobile social gaming company at the forefront of mobile technology. GREE is focused on building the world’s leading mobile social gaming ecosystem for users and developers, while creating and supporting unique free-to-play game content.

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gumi’s first English-language social game Knight Legends launched via GREE

Mobile and social game developer gumi has announced the release of Knight Legends via Japan’s GREE platform.

Mobile gaming enthusiasts take heed. gumi has recently announced the release of Knight Legends on the GREE platform for Android devices. The game is a free-to-play card battle game, which has attracted almost a million players in Japan in under a year.

According to gumi CEO Hironao Kunimitsu, the game’s release will cement the startup’s name as a leading social game developer globally. “Fans can look forward to the release of more gumi games in the near future from our global studios.” The team has actually developed a few mobile games, namely Yakuza Wars, Pirate Wars, FIFA World Class Soccer (co-developed with EA/Playfish).

Social games developed for the Japanese market are somewhat different from the ones developed in the U.S. Zynga type games from Stateside promote gaming with real friends, whereas the ones in Japan allow people to play with matching abilities — in short, anyone at all. This is what makes Knight Legends pretty exciting. It follows the preference in Japanese social networks toward anonymity and having somewhat a second identity online.

Knight Legends is currently available for Android devices on the GREE Platform and Google Play in Canada, Australia, Singapore and the United Kingdom. A global release expected in the coming weeks. An iOS version is also expected soon.

About gumi

gumi Inc. aims to change the world through innovations in entertainment and technology, and to become the top provider of mobile social games in the world. gumi is one of the top game developers in Japan, and has published over 20 titles including both original content and collaborations with popular brands. gumi has offices in Tokyo, San Francisco, Singapore, Seoul, Shanghai, Taiwan and Paris.

About GREE

GREE is a global mobile social gaming company at the forefront of mobile technology. GREE is focused on building the world’s leading mobile social gaming ecosystem for users and developers, while creating and supporting unique free-to-play game content.

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Discover the Wonders of Metro Manila with Looloo App

Earlier this year, we wrote about Philippines-based startup TrafficDito, which provides updates on traffic in Manila. Nine months later, the same team has a new project: Looloo app. It allows people to discover the best dining, entertainment, and travel destinations within Metro Manila.

The Looloo app for iPhone has three core features: Explore, review, and recommend to friends. With the explore feature, there are eight different filters such as the ‘nearby’ filter, where you can find out the places around you. There are ‘trending’ and ‘latest’ filters, where you can find popular and recently reviewed places. In this way, the app aims to be a local pocket guide for people in the area.

Looloo app prides itself as the only friends-powered place discovery app that is focused on Metro Manila at the moment. In fact, the development of the app was fuelled by Odell, the founder, and his enjoyment of discovering new places, particularly new eateries. When he first moved from the United States to Manila, he had trouble searching for new places given the lack of websites and mobile apps with information about the city. He then realized that there were also people out there who shared similar frustrations, and so the app was created.

The team has been working on Looloo since the start of the year, and is also looking to grow beyond Metro Manila to other areas in the Philippines.

For those based in the metropolis who are keen to give it a try, the app is currently available in the App Store.

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Vietnam’s New Delivery Darling has an IT Backbone

A new hot startup has been taking the streets of Ho Chi Minh city by storm for the past five months. With 70 employees already since its inception this past July, giaohangnhanh.vn is the startup to watch. For me, it’s a welcome refresher from the usual web and mobile centered startups you see in the young Vietnamese startup scene. I called up one of its co-founders and current sales manager, Nguyen Tran Thi, to see what they’ve been up to.

“Giao Hang Nhanh” literally means “Delivering Products Fast.” It is a delivery service that delivers specifically for retailers, so if you’re an electronics store in Vietnam, Giao Hang Nhanh is your new best friend. It has entered a delivery market where: 1) retailers don’t want to deliver, 2) there are low quality delivery companies, and 3) where customers don’t want to go out into the smoky motorbike-filled streets.

Just as most of the top startups in Vietnam have built on top of cash-on-delivery models, Giao Hang Nhanh has done the same. Its drivers take products to customers’ houses, receive payment, and deliver the money to their clients. Current models in this space are independent delivery people, retailers’ own delivery drivers, or small companies without sophisticated shipping systems. This last model is probably Giao Hang Nhanh’s most important startup superpower.

The first 10 founders came mainly from the logistics department of thegioididong.com, one of Vietnam’s leading electronics distributors that came onto the scene in 2004. With that experience, the founders built an IT system to keep track of barcodes, drivers, products, retailers, customers, and pricing that has been its competitive edge and the key reason for its growth. This has enabled the website to offer online registration and delivery requests, cutting down on friction for retailers.

The final icing on the cake is Vietnam’s delivery market mainly uses independent drivers, and few if any of them have branding or customer service training. This presents a problem for dissatisfied customers who too often are asked to “sympathize” when their products are damaged or not what they ordered. In contrast, Giao Hang Nhanh’s drivers have uniforms, are trained, and can tap into the IT framework.

Currently, Giao Hang Nhanh offers services to all the districts in Ho Chi Minh city but will be expanding into Ha Noi and provincial regions surrounding Ho Chi Minh city. This is an aggressive plan for a company that hasn’t even been around for a year – but its success is in the bag. It’s one of the few good examples of a startup looking at real problems in society and applying IT to solve it.

This is a refreshing change from the business-as-usual startups in Vietnam who are often just copying social media, e-commerce, and group buying models from Silicon Valley.

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Touchten expands to China through partnership with Yodo1

Touchten is collaborating with Yodo1 to bring its mobile games to the Chinese market.

Jakarta-based mobile game developer Touchten is collaborating with Yodo1, a full service publishing and localization platform for mobile game developers. This collaboration is intended for market expansion in China, and Touchten is confident that Yodo1′s expertise will not only help generate revenues from activities in China, but also new partners, as well.

Yodo1 CEO Henry Fong is optimistic about this partnership, saying that the game publishing startup will also be able to market Indonesia for its creativity in designing and developing games. Yodo1 localizes mobile games for the Chinese market, which will help developers bring their content to this region of about half a billion Internet users.

Apart from Touchten, Yodo1 has brought in eight other partners into the platform, althoughTouchten is the only one from Asia, with the other partners being western game developers.

Touchten was founded in 2009 by three people, Anton Soeharyo, Roki Soeharyo, and Dede Indrapurna. The company was built on a vision to change the world into a better place through its games. The team has since grown to 12 members, and its highest achievement so far is reaching top 10 rank in the iOS App Store in 43 countries with its mobile game Infinite Sky. Other highlighted titles include Sushi Chain, Hachiko, Hiyoko and Salaryman Dash, some of which have exceeded 2 million downloads already. Touchten is based in Jakarta, specifically in the Sudirman area.

Featured Image Credits: Touchten

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Touchten expands to China through partnership with Yodo1

Touchten is collaborating with Yodo1 to bring its mobile games to the Chinese market.

Jakarta-based mobile game developer Touchten is collaborating with Yodo1, a full service publishing and localization platform for mobile game developers. This collaboration is intended for market expansion in China, and Touchten is confident that Yodo1′s expertise will not only help generate revenues from activities in China, but also new partners, as well.

Yodo1 CEO Henry Fong is optimistic about this partnership, saying that the game publishing startup will also be able to market Indonesia for its creativity in designing and developing games. Yodo1 localizes mobile games for the Chinese market, which will help developers bring their content to this region of about half a billion Internet users.

Apart from Touchten, Yodo1 has brought in eight other partners into the platform, althoughTouchten is the only one from Asia, with the other partners being western game developers.

Touchten was founded in 2009 by three people, Anton Soeharyo, Roki Soeharyo, and Dede Indrapurna. The company was built on a vision to change the world into a better place through its games. The team has since grown to 12 members, and its highest achievement so far is reaching top 10 rank in the iOS App Store in 43 countries with its mobile game Infinite Sky. Other highlighted titles include Sushi Chain, Hachiko, Hiyoko and Salaryman Dash, some of which have exceeded 2 million downloads already. Touchten is based in Jakarta, specifically in the Sudirman area.

Featured Image Credits: Touchten

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Foodie App Burpple Has Double Order of Good News, Including $500,000 Seed Funding

The Burpple crew at OpenWebAsia 2012 in Hainan, China, this week.

The social food app Burpple has been served a double order of good news today, the largest of which is $500,000 in seed funding, which is the startup’s first-ever funding round. It’s led by Neoteny Labs, with QuestVC also providing some backing.

Neoteny Labs has backed lots of early-stage startups in this region, as well as Path and video site Viki; while QuestVC, led by 55Tuan’s James Tan, will also be able to help out, says Burpple co-founder Dixon Chan today, with “growth strategy in China and Southeast Asia.” The funding will be used to build up its app and team even further, as well as “scale growth opportunities across a variety of markets and platforms on the mobile and on the web.” Hopefully that’ll also help speed up its in-the-works Android app.

Indeed, Burpple has already expanded into China, and now claims to have users in over 3,300 cities around the world.

The second bit of good news for the Singaporean startup is that it has been hailed as one of the ‘Top 10 Startups in Asia’ at the OpenWebAsia 2012 event which was held on Monday on the tropical island of Hainan in southern China. One other Burpple co-founder, Elisha Ong, said today:

Burpple’s iPhone app. Click to enlarge.

We’re humbled and grateful to receive this award. It’s been an exciting and favorable journey and we know that this is just the tip of the iceberg of greater things to come!

Also in contention in the top 10 at OpenWebAsia this year was the social app for couples, Between, which is made in Korea.

The Burpple app for iPhone is in the iTunes Store.

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CONFIRMED: Google Shopping Search Engine for China Shuts Today

Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) has just confirmed the closure of its Google Shopping China service, just as we speculated last night. The product search engine is thus meeting the same fate as Google’s China-only music service, which closed in September.

A Google representative tells us this morning:

We’ve decided to shut down our Google Shopping service in China. We remain committed to helping Chinese businesses export their goods around the world, and Chinese merchants will still be able to use Google Shopping to reach consumers in other markets. But Shopping in China was not providing businesses with the level of impact we had hoped, so we will be sunsetting it in order to focus on the products that do. These include in-app mobile advertising with AdMob, mobile and desktop display, and export-oriented search advertising.

Though the local version of the product search engine is still online for the time being (at Google.cn/shopping), a blog post has just gone up, in Chinese, on the official Google China blog (see here), but here’s the translation of that, courtesy of Google:

The Google.cn/shopping page yesterday. Click to enlarge.

We aspire to build great products that help businesses take advantage of the Internet to grow and succeed online. To do that, we need to prioritize high-impact products that really change how businesses use the web––which means carefully evaluating our projects to ensure that we’re working on technologies that make a real difference to the lives and businesses of our Chinese customers.

As part of our ongoing effort to prioritize our offerings, we’ve decided to shut down our Google Shopping service in China. Google Shopping helped to connect Chinese shoppers looking for goods with retailers and merchants who could provide them. We remain committed to helping Chinese businesses export their goods around the world, and Chinese merchants will be able to use Google Shopping to reach consumers in other markets. But Shopping in China was not providing businesses with the level of impact we had hoped, and so we will be sunsetting the product in order to focus on the products that do: in-app mobile advertising with AdMob, mobile and desktop display, and export-oriented search advertising. The change will take effect tomorrow, December 12, 2012.

We’ve never been afraid to try big, bold things, and that won’t change. But by targeting our resources more effectively on our core mobile, display, and export ads products, we can better help Chinese businesses grow and thrive on the web.

Other product search engines in China include Alibaba’s eTao, and Netease’s newly-launched Huihui.

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Multiply to Start iPhone 5 Pre-Orders in a Few Hours

A short time from now, at 12noon local time, Indonesian e-commerce store Multiply will start its iPhone 5 pre-orders. The site will sell two XL Axiata bundled versions of the handset – the 16GB and 32GB. Below are the pricing schemes for three of iPhone 5 packages so far (in rupiah, then in dollar):

The total number of new iPhones available for pre-order is a mere 50 – yes, fifty – with more 16GB units than 32GB ones available. With the fact that Telkomsel’s pricier packages sold out its stock of 2,000 phones for pre-order in the last five days, then Multiply’s mere 50 units should sell out very fast. The e-commerce site will offer more next week under a different offer. Buyers can expect to receive the phones on December 14th – when the iPhone 5 officially launches in Indonesia and a few other countries.

XL Axiata hasn’t started its own online pre-orders, nor has it revealed the iPhone 5 pricing scheme. The carrier will be holding its offline program, dubbed Antri Like a King, on December 14th instead. So Multiply’s offer is the first XL Axiata bundled package to be sold in Indonesia.

For more information and to pre-order the phones, you can check here.

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