TOKYO--()--Dentsu Inc. (TOKYO:4324)(ISIN:JP3551520004)(President & CEO: Tadashi Ishii; Head Office: Tokyo; Capital: 58,967.1 million yen; hereinafter "Dentsu") announced today that it has developed the ";Dcloud2" cloud platform together with D2 Communications (CEO: Takayuki Hoshuyama, Head Office: Tokyo; hereinafter "D2C") and Bijutsu Shuppan Networks Co., Ltd. (President: Kentaro Oshita; Head Office: Tokyo; hereinafter "Bijutsu Shuppan Networks") to dramatically enhance ease of use for users of emoji. As of today, ;Dcloud software development kits (SDK) for Android® and iPhone® application providers (hereinafter "developers") worldwide are available free of charge.
Some of the applications developed using the ;Dcloud platform will be announced at Mobile World Congress 2012 which will be held in Spain at the end of February. These applications will also be made available to smartphone users worldwide at the same time.
Emoji-enabled services, such as Deco-mail®3, are used by more than 70 percent of young women in Japan. The emoji market in Japan alone exceeds US$300 million. DecoMarket®4, a smartphone application that offers emoji for purchase, has had more than 700,000 Android Market downloads in Japan alone since its launch in November 2010, and is now the largest emoji application in Japan. The launch of the ;Dcloud service will make emoji even more user-friendly.
A huge number of emoji are provided on the cloud platform, and users can easily use emoji as though they were already installed on their own smartphones. Seamless linking of the applications supported by ;Dcloud allows emoji to be automatically synchronized regardless of the application or the smartphone model used. Users can therefore easily choose the emoji that appeal to them.
In addition to making a major contribution to ease of use for users of emoji, ;Dcloud offers new business opportunities to developers and content providers (hereinafter "CPs") who hold rights to emoji. By using the ;Dcloud SDK, developers can easily incorporate a communication system that utilizes emoji into their applications, even if they are located on the other side of the world. CPs who use the ;Dcloud platform can distribute the emoji to which they hold rights worldwide, instead of just in their home countries.
Overview of the ;Dcloud services for users
Free-of-charge services
- Users can use a select sample of emoji provided by ;Dcloud free of charge
- Clideco© (clickable emoji) function: If a user taps an emoji provided by a corporation, it changes in various ways such as into a message, a full-screen animation (Deco effect©) or a map that enables an instant search for the nearest store location. This function enables access to special information such as how to get coupons.
- Social Palette©: Emoji palettes created from hundreds of emoji by CPs, users and DecoMarket are shared on ;Dcloud. When a user chooses a palette, the emoji on that palette are automatically downloaded and used without the user having to do anything else. These palettes allow users to insert emoji into their messages. (There are some restrictions on which palettes can be used free of charge.)
Subscription services
The following services can be used in addition to the free-of-charge services.
- New content for subscribers will be added on a daily basis. Several tens of thousands of emoji will be available at the start of the service next year, and this number will be increased to several hundreds of thousands.
- Emoji upload function: In addition to emoji provided by ;Dcloud, users who have created a ;Dcloud account can upload their own emoji to the cloud for use with applications that are supported by ;Dcloud.
- Unlimited access to social palettes: All the social palettes can be used. Users can also create their own palettes, which they can then make public and share with other users.
Note on the ;Dcloud SDKs
A unique ID is assigned to each individual emoji in accordance with the International standard IEC 622275, and they are hosted on the ;Dcloud platform together with metadata that define the title, reading, part of speech, and search keyword for each emoji. Developers can use the ;Dcloud SDK to build various services by accessing these resources. They can also use the ;Dcloud SDK's UI components to easily develop emoji applications that enable the easy creation, display and sending of messages with emoji.
As of today, Android and iOS application developers can access the
;Dcloud platform (beta version) and the ;Dcloud SDKs free of charge at
the URL given below. The official version of ;Dcloud will be launched
worldwide together with several types of supported applications at the
end of February 2012.
URL: http://decomarket.jp/dev/en
- iPhone is a trademark or registered trademark of Apple Inc.
- Android and Android Market are trademarks or registered trademarks of Google Inc.
- Deco-mail is a trademark or registered trademark of NTT DOCOMO, Inc.
| 1 |
Emoji are emoticons and other animated characters, expressed using GIF, JPEG or other image files rather than the conventional character codes such as Unicode used to create emoticons. Unlike emoticons, there are no code restrictions for emoji, which means that an infinite number of emoji can be created. Since the size of an emoji is not restricted to the size of one character, an emoji can span the length of one line, be an irregularly shaped picture or even a template for greeting cards and other messages. |
|
| 2 | ";Dcloud" is an abbreviation of ";DecoMarket® Cloud" and is pronounced "Dee cloud." | |
| Trademark registration is pending. | ||
| 3 |
An email service that enables emoji to be embedded in or attached to emails sent on mobile phones and smartphones. NTT DOCOMO is the copyright holder. |
|
| 4 |
The largest emoji application in Japan, DecoMarket® is a platform provided jointly by Dentsu, D2C and Bijutsu Shuppan Networks. More than 30 content providers offer more than 100,000 items for download. (As of December 12, 2011) |
|
| 5 | IEC 62227 is an international standard adopted by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) in June 2008 based on the Digital Rights Permission Code (DRPC) system devised in 1997 by Dentsu. DRPC represents a management method for licensing information to facilitate the distribution of content in a manner suitable for the digital era. Utilization of DRPC allows the management of content distribution in accordance with the intentions of both rights holder(s) and user(s) and enables easier development of a system to realize fair sharing of revenues between the rights holder(s) and the user(s). The IEC is one of the international standard-setting organizations that develop international standards for the fields of electrical and electronics technologies, alongside the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). | |
About Dentsu Inc.
Founded in 1901, Dentsu Inc. has
held the position of the world's largest single-brand agency for almost
40 years. Through its unique "Integrated Communication Design" approach,
Dentsu offers multinational clients the most comprehensive range of
advertising and marketing services in the industry. While continuing to
pursue innovation in the digital arena, Dentsu is active in the
production and marketing of sports, movies, anime and other
entertainment content on a global scale. The Dentsu Group has more than
6,000 clients and over 20,000 employees worldwide.
Dentsu News: http://www.dentsu.com/news/index.html
Dentsu
Inc.: http://www.dentsu.com/index.html
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