• iPhone takes 4.9% market share in Japan: The surprise with Apple gaining 4.9% market share in the overall mobile market & 72% of the smart-phone market. How did Apple manage such a feat in Japan? We also discuss the recent loss of the iPhone 4G by an employee from Apple and provide our Asian perspective to the issue.
• Lenovo leads the chase for Palm after HTC drops the bid: With HTC dropping the ball, is Lenovo primed for the takeover with Palm? Are there other candidates? We offer a few more, from Microsoft to Facebook. While discussing this issue, we also take a perspective on how this takeover of Palm will mean for the “war” between Apple and Google.
• Potentialpark Acquires iHipo: iHipo (which is also invested by BL) from Thymos Capital and MDA has been acquired by Potential Park. We brought Kamal on board to discuss how start-ups in Singapore and Malaysia should stop thinking about getting government grants and go building prototypes instead.

Local mobile technology provider, Xsago has recently appointed Batara Eto, co-founder and ex-CTO of the largest Japanese social network mixi, as Technical Advisor. Xsago has also raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Batara.

The undisclosed amount is the second round of funding for Xsago, following its first round with MDA and Thymos Capital (Disclosure: I’m a Partner there and have invested in Xsago). One of Xsago’s flagship products is Foyage, a mobile application to find interesting and useful places nearby. Foyage is available in the iTunes App Store and Android Market.

Apart from the usual location-based data like restaurants, petrol kiosks and ATMs, Foyage also caters to couples with babies. If you’re a parent with unanticipated emergency nursing needs, Foyage allows you to find the nearest nursing room available to change your child’s diapers.

It’s exciting having someone like Batara on the team of Xsago, shows that Singapore-based startups are getting visibility overseas.

About Batara Eto

Batara Eto, was born in 1979 in Indonesia. He graduated from Engineering Department of Takushoku University in Tokyo, Japan. He is the co-founder of mixi, the largest Social Networking Service in Japan. He proposed mixi in December 2003, and he was in charge for the development of the site. He served as Chief Technology Officer in mixi until 2007. He is a well known for advocating the use of the open source LAMP stack, Perl, MySQL and the Apache web server, especially in Japan.

In February 2008, he set up his new company called Etolabo Corporation. His new company is developing a couple of web applications that have not been released.

About Xsago Pte Ltd

Xsago is an emerging mobile company that brings the latest mobile technology into your daily life. Working with technology and content partners, Xsago builds applications for both consumers and enterprises. Xsago mostly develops applications for mobile internet platform like the Apple iPhone and Google Android. Xsago’s mobile products have been used by consumers in Singapore and Indonesia.

Contact: Founder, Willson Cuaca. willson@xsago.com.

Our friends at Tech65 start their weekly podcast on the following issues that dominated the tech landscape last week: [1] Exclusive Samsung i7500 Android hands-on (their video got honourable mentions on Engadget and Gizmodo last week), [2] Sony Ericsson’s new Theme Creator, [3] Amazon launches the Kindle DX, [4] DJ Hero, Band Hero and Guitar Hero 5 announced, [5] Windows 7 RC1 given extension well into 2010, but will shut down every two hours after March 2010, [6] iPhone 3.0 to have parental control for apps, [7] CodeXtremeApps 2009 and [8] Nokia’s Developer summit 2009 – (i) Prologue (ii) Day 1 (iii) Nokia N97, N-gage and Symbian and [9] Microsoft Dreamspark – Free Microsoft Developer tools for students and the Byte Of The Week: TokBox.com. Our editor, BL is the guest for this week’s Tech65. Do click and check out their podcast.

Helmed by three founders, Joanne, Mark and Sean, MotionElements.com is a unique marketplace that allows digital artists to browse, buy and sell Asian-themed keyed live footages, 2D / 3D animation, 3D models and other stock motion elements. We speak to them to find out more about their story.

Gwen: Hi MotionElements, thank you for accepting this interview at SGE. First, what is MotionElements and who is it for?
MotionElements: MotionElements is an online marketplace for the buying and selling of digital assets – the eBay of stock footages, animation and 3D models. It’s for post-production houses, 2D/3D animators, motion graphics designers and creatives in the media industry and anyone who wants an easy way of creating and enhancing videos.

Gwen: How did the idea come about?
MotionElements: Pain. The idea was borne because we personally felt that if such a platform existed, life would be so much sweeter. It was a need that was not met in the market.

Gwen: Tell us more about the team and your backgrounds before this.
MotionElements: 3 friends – Joanne, Mark and Sean. Joanne and Mark are partners in a post-production studio that they started called Emoxis (www.emoxis.com). Sean was in consulting and finance and does not pretend to know anything about digital media previously.

Gwen: How did you guys get together to work on MotionElements?
MotionElements: We met through common friends a while ago, and also briefly worked together creating corporate videos in our previous roles. Mark and Joanne had pondered on the idea a while ago, and Sean was roped in only later over a weekend lunch at Robertson Quay.

Gwen: What is your business model?
MotionElements: MotionElements is a platform that connects buyers and sellers. We want to make it simple and fruitful for the user to come and find exactly what elements he/she needs for his/her job for a reasonable price. Conversely, we allow the user to monetize his/her previous creations which are sitting idle on a hard-disk by using our platform to sell to other users.
Our role is one of quality control, creating an effective search tool and gathering a lively community of creatives to exchange and enhance each other’s works.

Gwen: How are you different from other video aggregation sites? And how do you intend to keep out competition?
MotionElements: We focus on content with Asian influences and aim to gather a large database of quality stock footage, animations and 3D models from the top creatives in this region. This stock motion video-exchange space is not as crowded today as say, the still picture-exchange space. Thus we want to forge ahead quickly to establish quality standards; build an easy-to-use and secure site to attract the best quality creations.

Gwen: At what stage of development is MotionElements at currently? And do you intend to add any more features?
MotionElements: We’ve soft launched MotionElements at the recent BroadcastAsia and CG Overdrive in June 2008 to a notably receptive crowd. A substantial number of enquires have been made regarding the contribution of content material and the purchase of elements.
The site is open for business!

We do not rule out any new features, but at the moment we want to focus our energies on continuing to enhance the experience of using MotionElements.

Gwen: How has the journey been so far?
MotionElements: We have not killed or sacrificed anyone yet so guess that’s a good sign.

Gwen: What experiences can you share with other entrepreneurs?
MotionElements: Do not DIY – find a team where each person has a set of complementary skills. Also, make plans to the best of your abilities, but allow room for massive changes.

Gwen: Thank you for your time, and all the best!

Editor’s Note: Bernard and Gwen are with Thymos Capital, an investor in MotionElements.