August 8, 2007
- Tea Cup Communication
August 8, 2008
Press Release
Tea Cup Communication Ltd.
Tea Cup Communication Launches New Technology for Communication between SecondLife and Internet
Tokyo – August 8, 2007 – Tea Cup Communication, the GMO Internet Group company that operates the comprehensive Internet community, teacup, has developed real time communication technology for use between SecondLife and a cell phone or PC browser. SecondLife is a 3D online virtual world by American company, Linden Lab.
Real time chat services become available today as the new technology is introduced between Tea Cup Communication chat service, Minna No Chat and the Tea Cup virtual island inside SecondLife, Japan Resort.
About the New Communication Technology
The new communication technology developed by Tea Cup Communication allows SecondLife and web sites outside of SecondLife to communicate in real time. This technology makes it possible for Internet users outside that have never experienced SecondLife to chat with avatars in real time inside the virtual world from their cell phone or PC browser. This allows those that have never used SecondLife to obtain information while allowing regular SecondLife users who are away from their PCs to communicate with friends inside SecondLife by cell phone24 hours a day. This is a major advance in the scope of the community.
The technology is a strategic Tea Cup Communication tool for linking the online virtual world with regular Internet browsers. Tea Cup Communication also plans to introduce it to rental bulletin boards, rental chat, rental shops and rental blogs. At the same time we will be promoting SecondLife among our 2.4 million users, (8/2007) and offering the technology to other companies as part of our consulting service for companies looking to get involved in SecondLife.
Communication between Minna No Chat and Japan Resort
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An Image from SecondLife | A Screen Shot of Minna No Chat |
Minna No Chat is the first chat service of its kind in the world available from both PC and cell phone. It allows for seamless chatting between multiple users on Internet browsers (including cell phone browsers) and the SecondLife world. (8/2007)
Minna No Chat
Minna No Chat is a community style chat service launched in April 2002. It has since become a major community conveniently accessible via PC or cell phone. The service receives around 78 million page views a month (according to our own research, 7/2007). There are currently 124 specialist chatrooms being operated in Minna No Chat including password-restricted chatrooms.
*Note: Compatible with the 3 carriers DoCoMo (i-mode), au (EZweb) and SoftBank (Yahoo! Keitai)
*Note: Not be compatible with all models
Japan Resort
Japan Resort is a beach island aimed at Japanese users. The comfortable natural environment is perfect for relaxing with friends. In line with Linden Lab policy doors are being opened to welcome international users including users from Europe, America and Brazil. On August 1 the island ranked number one in Japanese user traffic and was the fifth most popular island overall inside SecondLife.
Future Plans – Greater Usability
1. Communication between Individuals
Technology that makes chatting between individual users possible in addition to chatting between multiple users.
2. Sharing of Photos Taken Inside SecondLife in an Internet Browser
Internet users that don’t access SecondLife can still enjoy the SecondLife world with a function that allows the sharing of images.
3. SecondLife Island Management Website
The new technology can also be put to use for communication between web site administrators and SecondLife users to manage multiple SecondLife islands from one web site. A function for banning users that violate SecondLife rules can be incorporated based on messaging.
Tea Cup Communication
Tea Cup Communication operates the portal site teacup and provides Internet tools for individuals including rental bulletin boards, rental chat rooms, rental blogs and online stores. There are currently around 2.4 million teacup members. The comprehensive Internet community is one of the largest in Japan with around 7.8 million unique users* per month (NetRatings 5/2007) and 18.8 million page views** per day (NetRatings 5/2007).
*Unique user: the number of users that access a website within a specified period of time.
**Page Views: A method of measuring the number of times a website is accessed.
Related Links (All links are to Japanese language web sites unless otherwise indicated)
teacup：http://www.teacup.com/
Minna No Chat：http://chat.teacup.com/
Japan Resort (In SecondLife): http://slurl.com/SecondLife/Japan%20Resort/87/130/22/
Media Inquiries
GMO Internet Inc. Group PR Team
E-mail: [email protected]
The GMO Internet Group
The GMO Internet Group is a leading force in the Internet industry offering one of the most comprehensive ranges of Internet services in Japan. We hold top domestic market shares in domain registration, web hosting and payment processing and we provide a host of other services including e-commerce solutions, Internet advertising and online securities trading to individual and corporate customers. Striving to redefine the industry and foster a vibrant Internet culture, the GMO Internet Group is continuously working to inspire enthusiasm in our customers and put smiles on their faces.
Tea Cup Communication Ltd.
Company Name | Tea Cup Communication Ltd. http://www.teacup.com/ |
Address | Meisei Building, 8-9 Sakuragaokacho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, JAPAN |
CEO | Tomoyuki Ishikawa |
Business Description | ■Design and management of Internet communication services ■Internet Advertising ■Planning, design, implementation and operation of Internet information systems and communication networks. |
Capital | 71,000,000 yen |
GMO Internet Inc.
Company Name | GMO Internet Inc. http://www.gmo.jp/en (TSE First Section Code: 9449) |
Address | Cerulean Tower, 26-1 Sakuragaokacho, Shibuya ku, Tokyo, JAPAN |
CEO | Masatoshi Kumagai |
Business Description | ■Internet Use Support (Infrastructure) ■Internet Advertising Support (Media) ■Internet Finance |
Capital | 9,651,750,000 yen |
*au and EZweb are trademarks or registered trademarks of KDDI Corporation
*DoCoMo and i-mode are registered trademarks of NTT DoCoMo, Inc.
*Yahoo! is a registered trademark of Yahoo! Inc.
*SoftBank is a registered trademark of SOFTBANK CORP. in Japan and other countries.
*Other company and product names published in this release are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.