In terms of total app revenue across iOS and Android, the U.S has traditionally dominated. But it appears this influence is shifting. According to a recent the report from AppAnnie, Japan overtook America as the country generating the biggest app revenues for the first time in October last year. Surprising? Perhaps, but what was also interesting is the rate of growth Japan has undertaken. Where the U.S.’s app revenues grew steadily over the year, Japan’s rise has been more meteoric in the same period. Read the rest of this entry »

Our team here at MagicSolver, composed of people from England, France, Japan, Italy, Mexico, and Pakistan has been very moved by the troubled times Japan is facing right now. We all love Japan a lot, have friends there, and have been very worried about what happened to this wonderful country. We all want to express our support to Japan, and help a little, if we can.

A few facts: on 11 March 2011, a massive 9.0-magnitude earthquake struck the northeastern coast of Japan, triggering a devastating tsunami. The quake—the most powerful to hit Japan in more than 100 years—caused massive damage and many people are missing and feared dead. Reuters reported that the overall cost of the multiple disasters exceeded $170 billion. The global-scale relief effort has provided much needed help, with significant coverage provided by online media.

We are very proud of the reactions of iOS games providers such as Sega, PopCap Games and Capcom who have shown their support by slashing prices of their apps and donating proceeds to help the earthquake relief effort. Apple too is now collecting donations for Japan’s earthquake and tsunami victims with its iTunes software. Via a specially designed iTunes page, people can make donations up to $200 and as little as $5. 100% of the donations go to the American Red Cross.

A few weeks ago, gaming company Zynga launched a campaign with Save The Children to raise money via in-game donations in Zynga games like FrontierVille, FarmVille and CityVille for the relief efforts in Japan. 100 percent of the virtual goods’ purchase prices are donated to Tsunami Relief, and over the last two weeks, Zynga players alone have raised more than $2.5 million. Today, the social gaming giant announced that Lady Gaga has donated $750,000, through the sales of her Japan Prayer Bracelets, to Zynga’s fundraising initiative. She is also donating another $750,000 to the American Red Cross to support relief efforts in Japan and has released a single, with all the money made going towards Japan’s relief.

If you are more an Android person, there is also a range of useful apps that provide information and enable fundraising. For emergency purposes, ICE (In Case of Emergency is a bare-bones app that stores your blood type, allergies, and two emergency contacts Color Flashlight transforms your phone into a flashlight and distress signal. It can also be used to communicate via flashing text. Other modes include various colored lights, strobe light, scrolling text, white light, and police lights. You also have Person Finder: 2011 Japan Earthquake, which is a Japanese language (with English) emergency disaster aid app thrown together in response to the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Widespread power failures have been affecting Japan’s rail service. To find out if trains are running normally in your area, HYPERDIA JapanRailSearch is a useful app that also allows users to search more generally for train and air routes, fares, and timetables, useful for when you visit Japan J.

And if you want to follow the latest events in Japan, the NHK WORLD TV Live provides excellent coverage of the events in English.

Have you seen any other enterprising apps, aimed at helping Japan? We would love to hear about them.

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