【fonfun】Currently focusing on the short message distribution business! What kind of software did fonfun, which once developed game software as part of its business, release?

When asked “What kind of company is fonfun Corporation?”, explaining it in a single word might be a little difficult. Headquartered in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo, the company is an enterprise that has sent convenient services utilizing communication technology out into the world since the era when it was active under its old company name “NetVillage”. Currently, it is putting effort into short message distribution businesses and more, but tracing its history leads to an era when internet usage via mobile phones rapidly spread in Japan. Now you probably think “Isn't viewing emails on smartphones natural?”. However, in the past, the worlds of mobile phones and personal computers were not connected as easily as today. Thinking “Can't we access information more conveniently even while out?” from such an era, the origin of fonfun lies in having carved out the possibilities of mobile services.

What is indispensable when talking about the history of fonfun is “Remote Mail”. During a period shortly after NTT DoCoMo's “i-mode” appeared, the company quickly provided an official service where users could view emails for personal computers at home and more from i-mode terminals. “Being able to check emails even without being in front of a personal computer.” Although it is an idea not unusual at present, in an era when mobile phones were much simpler than now, it was a service bringing great convenience. Along with the growth of this Remote Mail, the company's business performance expanded as well, realizing stock listing on the Osaka Securities Exchange NASDAQ Japan, later JASDAQ, in September 2002. Finding what the times require and giving shape to it through technology -- it can be seen that such an stance supported the company's growth from an early stage.

Of course, the world of communication changes at a furious speed. While the usage environment shifted from mobile phones to smartphones, and then to various cloud services, fonfun also did not remain only at its past success. Previously, beginning with Remote Mail, it developed mobile contents mainly for mobile phones, but after that it came to focus on short message distribution businesses. Its representative service is “Bansou SMS”. Supporting broadcast sending and API integration of SMS, it supports communication connecting companies and users. Come to think of it, even if terminals and communication methods change depending on the era, the role itself of “delivering necessary information to the necessary partner” does not change. It can be said that fonfun is a company that has evolved that method in line with the times.

Some people might have thought “Is it a company for SMS alone?”, but the business domain is not only that. In the cloud telephone system “CallConnect”, it provides a telephone environment utilizing the internet, supporting corporate communication. Furthermore, it also develops an online medical care platform for corporations named “Rakushin”. Lining up email, SMS, telephone, and online medical care, at first glance they feel like different services, but there a commonality comes into view: “connecting person to person, and companies to users conveniently utilizing communication”. Rather than sticking to a single service, the point of expanding business toward new demands while utilizing technologies and experiences cultivated until then is also an interesting part.

Just because it is a company with a long history does not mean it continues walking in the same figure all the time. What became a major turning point for fonfun was the year 2023. Through a TOB (Takeover Bid) by Cybridge LLC, the management structure was renewed, and Tsubasa Mizuguchi assumed office as Representative Director and President. Catching the wave of mobile internet from the founding period, fulfilling listing, and afterward transforming business according to changes in communication environments and user needs. And to a new management structure -- looking at such footsteps, fonfun cannot be fully described by words like “a long-existing communication-related company” alone. It is a company that has reviewed its own role every time the environment changes.

Looking back at the charm of fonfun, a single axis comes into view. That is “connecting” people and companies through communication technology. Connecting mobile phone and personal computer emails in the i-mode era, supporting corporate communication through SMS, cloud telephones, and more at present, and furthermore expanding services into the field of online medical care as well. “By what method will it connect people and information next?” -- Looking from such a perspective, the interest of the company named fonfun is conveyed more. If the shape of communication changes, the shape of convenience changes as well. Rather than just chasing that change, isn't the stance of trying to connect to new value by itself a feature you want to pay attention to in knowing the company?