Tips for Japanese stores

UpSwell is an IT company basing in Tokyo, Japan. The total number of downloads of the apps developed by our company on legacy markets has exceeded 30 million so far.
We also develop apps and server systems for non-IT companies in Japan, and do business as advertising agency that spread recognition through using SP and PR.
We do business not only in Japanese, but also in English concerning making contracts, developing technology, marketing, and advertising. Our business geographically focuses on Asian countries such as Japan, Korea, Indonesia, and China, where developing and doing business in just English language is difficult.

Please refer to 'Case' for information about our outstanding performance in Japanese app market.

Aiming at maximizing partners' profit, and having been successfully providing the three Japanese biggest mobile carriers with famous domestic and foreign apps, UpSwell has built trust and reputation in Asian countries in general, and in Japan in particular.

Due to various procedures, it takes more time for commercial release comparing to Western market.
Notice of at least three months in advance is required. (Please contact us for more information as this may change depending on the situation.)

There is no 'selling-out' business model on IAP like the selling-out model offering by Google Play and App Store.
The revenue is generated from 'usage-awarded remuneration' which measures the engagement of users, and bases on users' actual usage. Therefore, developers are able to fully monetize all Android app users. As a basic calculation, it is possible to expect equal or higher sales than from Amazon Underground. Please contact us for more details.

Each carrier market has its own regulations (technical implementation specifications, regulations in the market). You do not have to do any wasteful work once partnering with UpSwell. We will explain every necessary detail, and collaborate with you in proceeding to commercial release. Please fill in the enquiry form from our website and send to us for further information. Moreover, UpSwell also do engineering servers, Android app development, and run our business as an ad agency. Unlike other companies, we communicate with technical based communication, and concrete marketing figures based communication.

The subscription market is currently a store for only paid apps. If your app is either premium or paymium, you can release it as it is. With apps that are currently using IAP to offer freemium version, it is necessary to unlock some parts of the IAP, and make it available for users to use for free. For more information, please contact us.

There is no expense incurred in advance. All the work required for the release of the app will be done in collaboration between developers and UpSwell. For developers, it is possible to reuse most of the Android source code so far. This will also enable developers to reduce the amount of work, and generate new source of revenue. Depending on the requirements from developers, we can undertake tasks such as localization, translation, source code maintenance for the targeted market, source code editing, and development. If you have any requests regarding these issues, please inform us during consulting time.

The least it can possibly take is from 2 to 3 months for market release. Generally, it takes about 3.5 months.
Please contact us for further information on detailed process and expected schedule.

To join the Japanese market as overseas developers, it is necessary to undertake Japan's credit investigation, then start doing business with big companies in Japan. This is known as a common business practice. Moreover, in order to conduct the credit investigation, it is required to establish a company based on Japanese law. Since the credit investigation requires the submission of financial data for at least three terms, many companies, such as unlisted companies, may not be able to submit their financial report due to the stage of the companies. Also, a business or native level of written and spoken Japanese is also a must. This is a major obstacle to do business in Japan as official documents in English is still not common in Japanese enterprises. Having already passed the credit investigation, developed our business for many years, and been able to do business in both English and Japanese, UpSwell is your promising business partner. Please contact us for more information.

We provide you with a business plan to enter Japanese subscription store which is the most feasible. If you request, UpSwell can help you get into the subscription markets, and submit your app to the alternative Android app stores of the following countries.

• ・Japan (three biggest domestic carrier markets, multiple other local markets)
• ・Taiwan
• ・China
• ・Korea
• ・Australia
• ・Singapore
• ・Malaysia
• ・Indonesia

As of December 2016, apps can be released into the markets of the above countries.

There is a high possibility that the premium application can be offered to the store. However, offering only one simple useful elements such as hiding advertisements is not enough for the app to be accepted.

Basically, all Android smartphones in Japan will be compatible. Specific model information and testing methods for those models are all supported by UpSwell. Currently, in Japan, if for old OS version, correspondence for from Android ver 2.3 to Android ver 6.x is often requested. Please contact us if you are developers who have already stopped app support for the old Android OS.

When it comes to provision to app stores, there is regulation for each store. Since there is a high possibility that some modification will be required, please contact us for more information. We will explain in detail for each app.