KDDI Corporation
Tonchidot Corporation
August 9, 2010
KDDI Corporation (Head office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President and Chairman: Tadashi Onodera; hereafter: "KDDI") announces the investment of ¥448 million in Tonchidot Corporation (Head office: Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo; CEO: Takahito Iguchi; hereafter: "Tonchidot") by subscribing for an allocation of new shares by Tonchidot.
KDDI and Tonchidot have cooperated in several innovative business initiatives in Augmented Reality (AR) for smartphones and mobile phones. Together with the vision to connect the real world and the Internet through AR, the two companies have strived to create innovative services and improve customer satisfaction.
KDDI installed world's first Android™ version of "Sekai Camera," an AR application, on au smartphone "IS01" in June 2010. In July 2010, KDDI also released "Sekai Camera ZOOM", an innovative AR application for au's mobile phones. "Sekai Camera ZOOM" is an AR application created through collaboration of "Capture the Real Space in Your Mobile Phone", an AR platform developed by KDDI R&D Laboratories, and "Sekai Camera" by Tonchidot.
Since releasing Sekai Camera in September 2009, Tonchidot has continuously pursued "social" and "fun" as key themes, and has added new features to the application. In July 2010, Tonchidot launched "Sekai Apps", a platform that provides globally innovative and a completely new social gaming experience for Sekai Camera.
Through this investment, KDDI and Tonchidot intend to further strengthen the cooperative relationship to expand Sekai Camera's user base among smartphone and mobile phone users. Plans include billing games utilizing KDDI's mobile billing platform and collaboration in building an advertisement business.
The two companies also plan to create attractive new services by leveraging KDDI's ability to procure various lineups of contents, and by utilizing KDDI Group's knowledge in research and development in AR.
KDDI and Tonchidot will cooperate in creating new value and hope to contribute to contribute clients by improving their convenience through discussions on the next generation AR business.
