Tonchidot Announces the Global Launch of Sekai Camera, a Social Augmented Reality App for iPhone
Written by Tonchidot
Monday, 21 December 2009
Your World Enhanced: Creation & Communication in a New Dimension
TOKYO--Tonchidot Corporation today announced the global availability of the iPhone application "Sekai Camera," a social, Augmented Reality (AR) service for browsing and sharing user-generated text, photo, voice, and other location-linked information. Launched September 2009 in Japan, Sekai Camera was recently named the Best App in 2009 by Apple Japan. Sekai Camera is now available for free outside Japan at iPhone's AppStore worldwide (search for "Sekai Camera").
"change the view of the real world"
The Sekai Camera application features AR and location-based services that allow users to interact with and communicate in the real world in ways that they have never been able to do before. While most mobile AR applications today are navigation oriented, Sekai Camera is social by design, giving users the ability to communicate and have fun through interaction with digital tags that float in the real world. Sekai Camera has created a completely new interface for connecting the real world to the Web.
"Look up! Sekai Camera will change the world - please imagine!," says Tonchidot CEO, Takahito Iguchi. "Sekai Camera is social, and so much fun! It is serendipity here and now. Sekai Camera will become a platform for new games, entertainment and communication. We are collaborating with many partners to create fun content. So please, join us!"
Some of the user generated and social communications features of Sekai Camera include:
1. Create : a Sekai Camera World
Air Tag: Create and browse futuristic location-linked digital Post-itsr that float in real space. See and share in real time, text, photo, voice, and web-links that are posted as Air Tags. Leave your footprint in the real world!
Air Filter: Search for the Air Tags that you are looking for. By specifying time, distance and type, you can sort through the many floating Air Tags around any given location.
Air Pocket: Bookmark your favorite Air Tags and put them in your "pocket". View and comment on Air Tags even when you are not at the location where the Air Tags were originally posted.
2. Communicate : a New Serendipity Experience
Sekai Life: Create a life-stream that shows how you and your friends have interacted with Sekai Camera in a timeline display. Follow other users and view their comments and actions.
Air Profile: Register and display your own profile as a personalized Air Tag. This virtual name-tag floats right above your iPhone for others to see - look up!
Air Tweet: See your Tweets as floating Air Tags, which are enabled through a mash-up with Twitterr.
Air Shout: Send and receive Air Tag messages that fly up to a distance of 100 meters.
About Sekai Camera Version 1.0, Japan
Sekai Camera for iPhone was launched in Japan on September 24th, 2009, and became an instant success, reaching 100,000 downloads (approximately 10% penetration of active iPhones in Japan) in just 4 days. It has since become one of the most downloaded and popular iPhone applications ever in Japan, and has been featured on national TV, newspapers, magazines, IT press and countless other media. It has also been selected as Best App (non-games) for 2009 by Apple Japan. The act of posting Air Tags has become a phenomenon, especially in areas such as Akihabara or Shibuya, Tokyo, where countless Air Tags have now been posted. Tonchidot also offers an enterprise solution for managing authorized Air Tags, which has already been utilized by numerous exhibitions, events, museums, tourist spots, shopping facilities and retail chains in Japan. Sekai Camera has also been used at Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie, Paris, where it made its overseas debut. For more information, visit www.sekaicamera.com.
About Tonchidot
Tonchidot Corporation (Tokyo, Japan) offers an innovative web service/application named "Sekai Camera", which enables mobile devices to "change the view of the real world". Sekai Camera enables camera-attached mobile devices, through an easy-to-use Augmented Reality (AR) interface, to access hypertagged social, informational and entertainment services over the internet. Tonchidot first announced its Sekai Camera concept at TC50, 2008, and released in Japan its iPhone version in September 2009. Tonchidot is a privately held company with investments from DCM and ITV (ITOCHU Technology Ventures). For more information, visit www.tonchidot.com.
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