Japan: DNP-DOCOMO-CHI Joint Venture “2Dfacto” to Launch Initial E-book Store Service

WorldWideTech & Science. Francisco De Jesús.

Press Release:

TOKYO, JAPAN, January 11, 2011 --- 2Dfacto, Inc., under a plan to become a new type of integrated digital/physical hybrid bookstore, announced today that it will open its first online bookstore on January 12 to sell electronic books to users of smartphones and e-book readers marketed by NTT DOCOMO, INC.

2Dfacto is a joint-venture company established by Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd. (DNP), DOCOMO and CHI Group Co., Ltd. (CHI) on December 21, 2010. The new e-bookstore, also called 2Dfacto, will be based on “honto,” DNP’s existing online e-book retail service. The new e-bookstore initially will offer about 20,000 titles of literature and Japanese manga comic books with plans to rapidly increase the catalog to some 100,000 titles by spring. New books, magazines, newspapers and rich-media e-books embedded with music and video content are expected to be added gradually.

At launch, customers will be able to purchase and enjoy e-books using seven of the latest smartphones and an e-book reader offered by DOCOMO: Xperia™, GALAXY S, REGZA Phone, LYNX 3D, Optimus chat, GALAXY Tab and SH-07C e-book reader (launching on January 21). 2Dfacto will be accessible from other smartphones and e-book readers to be announced by DOCOMO.

2Dfacto, to further expand the scope of the “honto” service within 2011, is continuing to discuss linkage of its system with “bk1,” the DNP group’s existing online bookstore offering some one million titles of printed books, as well as the group’s physical bookstore chains Maruzen, JUNKUDO and Bunkyodo. The result would be a truly digital/physical hybrid network comprising an online store for e-books, an online store for printed books and physical stores for printed books.

Under the envisaged plan, the website for this hybrid bookstore network would offer conveniences such as recommendations based on previous purchases from all three types of bookstores, network-wide loyalty points and an e-bookshelf to view network-wide purchases. Other special functions planned to be launched this year will enable users to read the same e-book on multiple devices and share bookmarks and marked information among multiple devices.

About Dai Nippon Printing

Dai Nippon Printing (DNP) is one of the world’s largest comprehensive printing companies, with annual sales of 1.583 trillion yen and 40,000 employees (as of March 2010). DNP’s wide range of businesses include publication printing, commercial printing, smart cards, business forms, network business and electronic components. While DNP maintains a 50% market share in Japan’s domestic magazine printing, the company continues to leverage its information processing techniques and printing technologies to promote e-publishing solutions. For more information about DNP, please visit www.dnp.co.jp/eng/.

About NTT DOCOMO

NTT DOCOMO is the world’s leading mobile operator and provider of advanced mobile services. The company serves over 57 million customers in Japan, including 48 million using i-mode™, the world’s most popular mobile e-mail/Internet platform, and 55 million using FOMA™, the world’s original 3G mobile service based on W-CDMA. As a leader in the development of cutting-edge mobile technologies, DOCOMO is continually expanding the role of mobile phones as versatile and highly personalized “lifestyle tools” for everyday life, including with a wide range of innovative services for mobile payments, GPS, mobile TV, multimedia content and much more. NTT DOCOMO is listed on the Tokyo (9437), London (NDCM) and New York (DCM) stock exchanges. For more information, visit www.nttdocomo.com.

FOMA and i-mode are trademarks or registered trademarks of NTT DOCOMO, INC. in Japan and/or other countries.
FOMA service is only available in Japan.
Xperia is a trademark or registered trademark of Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB.
REGZA Phone is a trademark of TOSHIBA CORPORATION.