JazzMyApp Tackles Social App Recommendations, Pinterest Style

Malaysian startup Mobile9 has been trying to solve the app discovery issue for quite a few years. Now it’s launching JazzMyApp as a dedicated and highly social way of finding new apps for iOS and Android.

The Kuala Lumpur-based team describes JazzMyApp as a Pinterest for mobile applications, and indeed the interface does borrow heavily from the popular social pinboard site. But instead of hearts, users can single out awesome apps with a “jazz”. To make it easier to add recommendations, the site uses a combination of a Facebook login and a bookmarklet for your browser, so that you can fire off a recommended app straight from an app store page or website, and JazzMyApp will post it. Other users can follow you, like your choices, and even “re-jazz” them.

Patrick Ooi, the founder of Mobile9, tells us that JazzMyApp stands out by being able to pull in some choice apps directly from top tech blogs like TheNextWeb and Mashable. Patrick explains his angle on app discovery:

I think it’s really comes down to which service can recommend the most relevant recommendation to the users. If we recommend ten apps and the user downloads five, then JazzMyApp is successful. For the first release, we’re betting on the blogs and users for the recommendations. Once we get more data, we’ll be able to crunch them and deliver better recommendations.

The top pick on the site right now is the brand-new Temple Run 2, so JazzMyApp seems to be working well as a way to highlight an amazing new app that many people wouldn’t have realised is out if they’re not regular tech blog readers.

For now, the new apps site is focusing, quite inevitably, on just Android and iOS. But Patrick says that the team has plans to support more mobile operating systems like Windows Phone and BlackBerry pretty soon. He adds that building a user-base is the objective right now: “At this stage, monetization isn’t the focus, so we’re only monetizing via ads.”

We’ve seen quite a few startups in Asia have a go at social app exploration these days, such as Japan’s Peepapp, and the Singapore-made Applorer Gamebox.

The post JazzMyApp Tackles Social App Recommendations, Pinterest Style appeared first on Tech in Asia.

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Start it Up, Power it Up #3 happens in Thailand

Start it Up, Power it Up #3  is happening this February in Thailand with the theme “Learning the key factors of success on how to create growing and sustainable products”.

2012 was the year when Thai tech startups had just been alerted and started with so many things happened.  For 2013 tech startups in Thailand should get ready in various aspects, namely developing products and designing business model for steady and stable growth.

After the first and second Start it Up, Power it Up events being well responded, the working team of thumbsup now comes back with the third Start it Up, Power it Up under the theme of “Learning the key factors of success on how to create growing and sustainable products” as another big event.  We are organising a full day of seminars filled  with countless knowledge and data, including practice on innovative thinking, user-centric design, how to succeed in business with Cloud Technology and most of all to share experiences among various startups and VCs who have been involving in this community.

Again as usual, we provide an open stage for startups who are interested to practice pitching to receive valuable advice from experts to improve their practical workings.

Details

Date: 16 February, 2013 (Saturday)

Time:  9:30AM – 4:30PM

Venue:  Microsoft Auditorium, 38th Floor, CRC Tower, All Seasons – Google Maps (Venue kindly supported bby Microsoft (Thailand) Co.)

Agenda 

9:30AM – 10:00AM         Registration

10:00AM – 10:05AM         Opening celebration

10:05AM – 10:30AM         “How to practice creative thinking and establish innovative organizations” by Khun Rutthapoom Vuthijumrong (Founder, Gravity Innovation Consulting)

10:30AM – 11:30AM         “Azure Technology + Case Study” by Microsoft team

11:30AM – 11:45AM         “Preparing for challenges in the startup environment” by Mr. Shinsuke Tabata, Co-Founder of Nulab (Cacoo)

11:45AM – 1:00PM   =======Lunch Break=======

1:00PM – 1:30PM.        “Factors of success in Product development, User Experience (UX) and User Interface (UI)” by Khun Apiruk Bhanartkul (User Experience Specialist, Opendream) and Khun Garun Varaphongsitthikul (Interactive/Web/UI/UX director, Pheromone)

1:30PM – 2:00PM         “Japanese ICT Market and Strategy of Asian Market for Startups” by Mr. George Goda (CEO, Weglo Inc.)

2:00PM – 2:30PM         Sharing marketing experience in markets abroad with Dr. Jay Jootar (Chairman and Founder, The VC Group)

2:30PM – 2:45PM ======= 15 minutes break =======

2:45PM – 3:15PM         “So You Want to Raise Early-Stage Funding for your Startup?” by Mr.James Chan (Chief Hustler, Silicon Straits)

3:15PM – 4:15PM        Startup Pitching

(Judging Panel)

Mr. Kuanhua Hsu (Principal, GREE Ventures)
Mr. George Goda (CEO, Weglo Inc.)
Mr. James Chan (Venture Partner, Global Brains)
Dr.Jay Jootar (Chairman & Founder, The VC Group)

4:15PM – 4:30PM         Announcement of competition result and prize awarding.

Finally, our working team would like to assure that thumbsup will stay side-by-side with Thai startups to support and jointly push toward the global arena and please do not forget to follow our continuously upcoming projects from thumbsup.

If you require more information, do contact the thumbsup team at contact@thumbsup.in.th.

Register for Start it Up, Power it Up #3 seminars here.

Startups who are interested to pitch can register here.

About the author

Oranuch Lerdsuwankij is co-founder and editor at thumbsup.in.th, a leading tech blog from Bangkok, Thailand that reports on digital business, local innovation, startup stories and technology. Follow her on Twitter at @mimee.

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China Now Has 242 Million E-Commerce Shoppers, Spending $40,000 per Second [INFOGRAPHIC]

Yesterday we looked at the Chinese social media side of a mammoth new infographic report. Today, let’s focus on another powerhouse aspect of the Chinese web: e-commerce. It’s a vast industry that has now grown to 242 million online shoppers, which is the largest in any nation in the world, and it means that 43 percent of all Chinese netizens buy stuff online.

Before looking at a few graphics put together by We Are Social (embedded in full below), here are some more stats from the e-tailing sector in China:

• 25 percent more online shoppers in China in 2012 from the previous year

• China has two-times more online shoppers than Japan; it has 75 million more than the US

• Older e-shoppers can’t be ignored, as five million of them in China are over 50 years of age

• There are 83.27 million shoppers on Groupon-style daily deals sites

• The total transaction value of all e-commerce in China in just Q3 2012 was US$319 billion, which amounts to $40,000 being spent per second in the country on the web.

Here are a few slides focusing on the market-leading Taobao (C2C) and Tmall (B2C) sites, which are both run by Alibaba Group, as well as some stats for mobile commerce in China:

Here’s the full report, starting at the e-commerce section:

(Source: WeAreSocial SG)

For more fun graphics like this one, check out previous entries in our infographic series.

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LINE says hello to 100M friends

The cross-platform messaging wars in Asia are just warming up, and in one corner, we have Japanese app LINE quickly rising up the ranks. The company has recently announced passing the 100 million user mark.

LINE set up a user counter a few days back to anticipate its crossing over the 100 million threshold. Just a few minutes ago, revelries (virtual and real world) were exchanged as the cross-platform messaging app just passed this milestone.

LINE competes heavily against China’s WeChat, which currently has over 300 million users, as well as South Korean KakaoTalk, which has about 72 million. Recently, KakaoTalk has been making a big push in LINE’s home turf of Japan with a set of humorous ads featuring model/actress Anna Tsuchiya.

LINE celebrates hurdling the 100M user milestone at its headquarters in Japan.

Meanwhile, Facebook Messenger, which likewise runs on various platforms like iOS and Android, has recently introduced VoIP calling Stateside. While there’s no word on when this feature will be available internationally, the prospect of being able to call from within Facebook’s network of 1 billion users might be a challenge for regional offerings like LINE, KakaoTalk and WeChat. For now, these apps offer an edge in terms of features, like group calling, personalization and locale-specific information.

Surely, SMS is here to stay for the next five years, but the rise of cross-platform messaging and VoIP apps is something that might accelerate the demise of traditional cellular-based messaging.

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What you should know about Facebook engagements and visibility

According to Facebook, an average news feed story only reaches 12-16% of your audience. And as a social media marketer looking to build your brand, this is a grave statistic.

We all know that in order to improve this percentage, we have to increase engagement of users, and increase the visibility of the brand. But how does Facebook actually define engagement and visibility? Other than creating a dialogue with your fans and getting a high number of likes, all businessmen and entrepreneurs should know this simple algorithm: The Edgerank Algorithm

A simple calculation that Facebook uses to define engagement and visibility, the Edgerank algorithm can be understood as the sum of three Edges: Affinity, Weight and Time decay.

To put everything in simple terms, Edges can be treated as a subject. Just like your users that you want to acquire. Edges are basically everything that “happens” in Facebook such as status updates, comments, likes, and shares. Once you’ve gotten a high Edgeranking, every post you make would be featured high on your fans’ Newsfeed – an ideal scenario.

Affinity

Like what the word means, this should be understood as the relationship between the users and the Edge, meaning the closeness of the users and your brand or product. It’s simple, affinity is built by repeat interaction such as commenting, liking, sharing, clicking, and even messaging.

Weight

A value system that is created by Facebook, weight judges the value of certain actions within Facebook. This refers to your actions that you make while representing your brand. In this system, all Edges are assigned a value by Facebook. Actions such as comments have a higher value than a Like, and in general, actions that take more time to accomplish tend to weigh more.

Therefore, as a social media marketer representing your brand or product, it is important to also be actively part of the happenings out there that directly or indirectly involving your brand. This could mean searching for people out there talking about your brand and joining in their conversations.

For example, if you are marketing a travel app, you should engage in other conversations related to travel, as your brand. It may not be directly related to your app, but it will definitely increase the weight of the Edges.

Time Decay

The easiest to understand, time decay refers to how long the edge has been alive. As the Edge ages, its value drops. This forces the marketeers to constantly push fresh and interesting content.

By using this algorithm to guide your marketing decision, I believe that marketers can more effectively acquire new users and fans. This is because the algorithm literally teaches us how to increase the percentage of appearing on our fan’s News Feed. And thereby, increasing the chances of them sharing, commenting, liking, and appearing on their’s friend’s News Feed.

The possibilities of viral are endless. Now it’s time to sit back, and think deeper into some existing marketing strategies that you’ve had.

 

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NHN Japan’s Line Chat App Passes 100 Million Users

at Line HQ, just before the milestone was reached

As we mentioned in our post yesterday, NHN Japan’s Line application has been slowly creeping up on the impressive milestone of 100 million users recently. And it appears as though the company has just broken through, as it’s user counter (which it set up a few days ago to mark the occasion) has just rolled over.

Over on the Line Facebook page, they’ve been sharing pictures of what looks to be a big soiree (see above) over at Line headquarters in Shibuya, Tokyo. Lime Line green balloons are decorating the place, and a big projection of the user count is featured on a wall. the company also has a commemorative video which you can see below. Some of the testimonials come across as a super scripted, but it’s still sort of neat.

Yesterday, we took a look at the major players in the mobile messaging wars, and Line ranks right up there with WeChat (300 million) and Kakao Talk (72 million) as the major players in Asia. But I expect their reach will begin to solidify in western markets this year too.

I can’t help but wonder if there is a clash with Facebook on the horizon, as the social giant begins to roll our free voice calls, which have been a major selling point for the afore mentioned chat apps. If Facebook can get its mobile act together, its offerings might begin to overlap significantly with many of these chat apps.

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Thailand’s new THB300M fund M8VC opens applications for accelerator program

M8VC, Thailand’s latest venture capital firm, is releasing its first cycle application process for their accelerator program.

M8VC is a new venture capital fund set up in Thailand with plans to invest at least THB300M (about US$9.4 million) into innovative tech startups over the next year. The venture capital firm is founded by Ponthep Sethiwan, Shakrit Chanrunsakul, Pawoot Pongvitayapanu, Kit Arunanondchai, Sua Kanjanasakchat, Varut Bulakul, Permsiri Tiyavutiroj and Krisd Aksornwong.

Ponthep Sethiwan, also known as Vincent, shared that they are not limited to only local Thai entrepreneurs, but also open to anyone passionate and dedicated to building a startup.

“Unfamiliar with the Thai market? Dont worry, that’s why M8VC is here. We will guide, coach, connect, and really help you accelerate your startup to success.” - Ponthep Sethiwan

The accelerator funds up to 700,000THB ($23,400) to each successful startup. Each team will also be based out of LAUNCHPAD, and be personally coached by the amazing team behind M8VC.

The application process will close on the February 14th. You can find more information about the accelerator programme from their website.

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‘Handy’ smartphone rental service in Singapore, Hong Kong offers unlimited 3G data and calls

Handy's smartphone rental service prides itself on being comprehensive. Photo: Tink Labs

Getting a data connection overseas can be a traumatic experience, especially if you’re a data freak obsessed with sharing every waking moment of your life on social networks.

Usually, it involves heading to an airport counter, getting prepaid data plan, swapping your SIM cards, and activating the service. Not to mention scrutinizing confusing price plans to decide among them.

Handy, a new smartphone rental service that’s available in Hong Kong and Singapore, is simplifying the whole process. In essence, it wants to give travelers the feeling that they’ve never left home. Well, at least data-wise.

Its pricing structure is simple. At SGD 15 or HKD 68 a day, tourists get to rent a Samsung Galaxy Note, which comes loaded with guide apps, unlimited 3G data, local and international calls. Tethering is allowed too, a feature that many telcos disable.

Beyond connectivity and information, Handy provides special offers from local merchants, sourced by the startup’s in-house sales team. It’s a useful feature not just for discounts but also as a discovery mechanism to help tourists make the most of their vacation time.

Customers would need to pick up their devices at a service counter, pay on the spot, and return the phones to the same location before heading back to their home country.

The idea is pretty novel, and for its comprehensiveness, the price sounds reasonable. While a large chunk of travelers may not even buy data overseas, or would be content with existing plans supplied by telcos, a segment of tourists won’t mind shelling a little bit more for a fuss-free experience.

Handy launched first in Hong Kong before expanding to Singapore earlier this month. Hong Kong based Tink Labs is the company behind the service. Founded by Terence Kwok, the startup has raised a seed round from private investors. Terence is joined by CTO Philip Yuen, an investor and serial entrepreneur who has started two other tech companies — TextPayMe and CupidsPlay, which was sold to Zynga.

Fiona Foxon has joined Tink Labs as its vice-president for marketing and business development, while Cody Chan is the vice-president for advertising and sales.

Handy is by no means the first mobile device rental service aimed at tourists. A number of smartphone rental services exist in Japan, while Singapore has TouristPad, a company that loans iPads to tourists.

The rise of these rental services is no accident. Asia’s fragmented markets may be a big problem for startups who want to scale, but Handy is in a unique position to take advantage of the situation.

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Partnership Roundup: Snapdeal to sell Mahindra two-wheelers, Spuul partners with YRF

Snapdeal, the Gurgaon based online marketplace has partnered with Mahindra enabling customers to buy vehicles online in India. This is the first occasion that a vehicle is being sold online in India and SnapDeal claims to deliver vehicles at consumers doorstep within one week’s time once the customer submits all documents.

Mahindra on Snapdeal

After purchasing the vehicle on Snapdeal.com, the customers will be contacted by a Mahindra executive who will inform them of the required documents and will collect the same from them as per the customer’s convenience. Customers can choose to pay for the vehicle either at one go or avail 3/6 month EMI options (0% interest).

Currently Snapdeal is also offering flat discount of Rs. 6000 on the vehicle. Before purchasing the vehicle, one would also be able to book a free test drive at their home/any preferred location. Cities covered include Chennai, Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata.

Recommended Read: Saholic offers ‘On Time Guarantee’ for all multi branded products. Will compensate for delay

Spuul brings the magical Yash Raj’s film on multiple devices

Spuul.com, an online entertainment service dedicated to streaming Indian movies and TV shows, has inked an agreement with Yash Raj Films (YRF), to make the studio’s superhit movies instantly available on Spuul. Post this agreement, Spuul will enable movie buffs to access evergreen catalogue of YRF films.

Spuul makes popular Indian movies available to movie buffs via multiple devices, and has recently launched its app for Facebook, which allows users to watch full-length movies in Facebook while they chat, check feeds and notifications. Spuul is also available as a free mobile app for iOS devices (iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch).

Recommended Report: All about Indian Internet Market.

 

Related posts:

1. News Roundup: 400 Layoffs at AOL India(?), Visa and Snapdeal Enter Strategic Partnership
2. So how many condoms did Snapdeal Sell During Valentine’s day?
3. Snapdeal Raises $40mn From Bessemer Venture Partners, Nexus Venture and IndoUS Venture Partners

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Startup TouchTalent wants to be THE platform for creative people

“Hide not your talents, they for use were made. What’s a sun-dial in the shade?”

These lines by Benjamin Franklin rightly sums up the ethos and the ideology of the Delhi based startup called Touchtalent, co-founded by fifth year student of Integrated M.Tech at IIT Delhi, Ankit Prasad is envisioning to create Touchtalent as a platform dedicated to socially creative people.

Touchtalent works on the philosophy that when we create we have the inherent desire to share and showcase our work with not only amongst our first circle of family and friends but also amongst the community of creative people to get a chain of feedback and appreciation running.

TouchTalent

The three core pillars of the Touchtalent system relies on
1.     Share: Exchange of content with creative minds cutting across geographical boundaries and talents.
2.     Appreciation/Feedback: Any community relies on quality feedback system to help promote the new talent along with filtering out the chaff from the wheat.
3.     Monetization: People can monetize on the content they have created.

Touchtalent initially began as a social experiment in the form of a Facebook page in November, 2011. Tens of thousands likes and an engaging community later it became a proof of concept that people were open to the concept of an online creative community where they could share their talent and be a part of an engaging community. By April, 2012 Touchtalent was released in the form of a beta access service.

Drawing analogy from how a typical social networking site functions, a user creates a profile, uploads images for the content they have created and engages with the community by sharing their feedback or promoting it on other platforms. A follow option allows a user to keep a tab on their favorite content creators on Touchtalent.

The homepage is a visual layout of the trending creative content shared by people ranging from paintings to photographs and everything in between. The idea is to get onboard people to share their skills which can be presented via the visual medium. The site encourages and thus is there content in the form of small comic strips, original videos and music.

Touchtalent

After gathering a sizable fan following for their service, they would now be focusing their efforts on creating brand pages, wherein individual brands could share their visual content and have a conversation running. Gamification techniques would be embedded deeply in the Touchtalent experience, encouraging badges for people to show their community standing and skill level.

Ecommerce currently plays a role on Touchtalent wherein artist has the ability to sell their content. The future release is going to focus on having a bidding system in place for making purchase of the creations.

What seems amiss right now is some of the low quality content appearing on trending page and the Pinterest inspired UI which might be an issue in the long run. The self-funded venture has seen traction from more than 15,000 users from 152 countries of the world in the past 6 months alone.

The place where it does score over other similar platforms is its ability to have hobbyists and professionals co-exist with each other on a content sharing platform.  And for this reason we would encourage you to try it out and share your feedback.

Related posts:

1. Creadivity – Marketplace for Creative Designers
2. So You Think You Are An “Effective” Worker? Would “Creative” Be Better [Linkedin Report]
3. (Crystal) Advertising gets Creative…Damn Creative.

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ASG Eye Hospitals raises INR 50 crores funding from Sequoia Capital

ASG Eye Hospitals, a Rajasthan based group of super specialty eye hospitals has raised Rs. 50 crores from Sequoia Capital. The funding will be used to support expansion in central and north India.

Started in 2006, ASG Eye Hospitals has grown significantly over the years and is currently present in 6 cities across Rajasthan. The group now plans to expand to Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Bihar.

ASG Eye Hospitals has successfully treated over 5 lakh patients till date. ASG Eye Hospitals are pioneers of the latest technology of Phacoemulsification and implantation of multifocal IOLs. Specialist treatments at the institute include advanced Vitreo Retinal surgery for treatment of complicated retinal and vitreous disorders, Squint, Oculoplastic surgery which include treatment for different types of eye tumors and cosmetic eye surgery.

The company has state of the art facility for spectacle removal by one of the fastest available lasik laser machines in the world. The hospitals also have round the clock emergency services for trauma and a 24 hour eye banking facility, for corneal transplantation to remove blindness.

Also see: Drishti Eye Care secures funding from Lok Capital

Related posts:

1. Practo secures INR 25 crores in Series A funding from Sequoia Capital
2. Sequoia Capital Invests INR 60 crores in Quick Heal
3. App Development Company SourceBits Raises $10 million From Sequoia Capital and IDG Ventures

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