Rapidly Growing with the Needs of Mobile Phone Users

DeNA Co., Ltd.

Recently a mobile phone Web site called “Mobage” is gaining in popularity. Since it appeared in 2006, its subscribers have grown to number more than 10 million and numbers still continue to increase. The provider of the service is DeNA Co., Ltd. (CEO, NAMBA Tomoko).

At the time they set up the new company, they were running an Internet auction and shopping site called “Bidders.” Based on the skills they cultivated there, they opened an auction site called “Mobaoku” (Mobile Auction) for mobile phones in 2004, and a year later they listed their stock on the TSE Mothers Index.

Noticing that people were interested in gaming sites, they launched their own gaming site “Mobage-Town” (Mobile Game Town) in 2006. This is a site where people can enjoy good quality games free of charge. They made it possible to play for free by making profit through a result-reward system. At Mobage-Town you can enjoy more than 150 games ranging from easily playable mini games to real-time fighting games.

Mobage-Town also has the same functions as those of SNS (Social Networking Service) and Weblogs. It has spread explosively among junior and high school students by word of mouth and the number of users in their 20s and 30s has also increased after it was advertised on TV in 2007.

Mr. TANAKA Satoshi, the person in charge of advertisement says about its popularity, “People use it because it is fun and useful. We are most pleased when we hear users say ‘it’s lots of fun.’ We also receive many requests from them. Our CEO, Ms. Namba always tells us to work for the users instead of the company.”

As user numbers continue to increase rapidly, the system engineers are busy increasing server capacity. However, there are some disruptive users who leave abusive comments on the site. DeNA is making efforts to prevent such troubles by increasing the number of site moderators from 100 to 350.

According to business results as of March 2008, profits for fiscal 2007 reached 29 billion yen, double that of the previous year. While they are improving their current services, they are also seeking to create new sources of revenue. They are supplying nearly 20 services, including SNS sites for the middle-aged and seniors, online hobby clubs and “Everyone’s Wedding” in which people can exchange wedding information.

Overseas they entered the Chinese market, which has 500 million mobile phone users. They adapted Mobage-Town for Chinese users to make it easier to use, and started the service in 2007. Additionally, in the U.S.A. they set up a subsidiary company and at present are conducting market research. By 2008 they are planning to start the service in English-speaking countries.

DeNA is contributing to “Afan Wood (The C.W. Nicol Afan Woodland Trust)” in order to enrich Japan’s woodland. Since its foundation, the company’s policy has been to provide good services for its customers which also benefit society. Even when they were in the red, they used to hold events for people to enjoy recycling and reusing like fashion shows and flea markets a few times a year, and donated profits from them to Afan Wood. In addition, the staff actually go to the wood in Nagano Prefecture where they work hard to revive it.

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