DeNA trying to crack the US market

If you follow the Japanese market, you'll probably know all about DeNA already.

The company's Mobage Town is an innovative blend of social networking and free games, which has signed up more than 11 million people in just two years, and reported 15 billion page views in September alone.

According to MocoNews, DeNA's next plan is to take the idea to the US. It's already launched a site called MobMingle offering blogging, social networking and avatar services, but will apparently beef this up with games early next year.

Assuming it follows the pattern laid down by Mobage Town, the US site could be extremely innovative technically, since the Japanese site has pioneered the use of avatars and micro-payments, not to mention advertising.

However, there could be a fear for mobile games publishers in the US, given the way Mobage Town's games offering is overwhelmingly free. It's been suggested that the site's popularity in Japan has hurt sales of premium mobile games.

Either way, DeNA's US plans will be watched closely by the industry as they become clear over the coming months.