Announcing OneSky Localization Academy

Posted on November 30, 2015 by Patrick Yip

Today, we’re excited to announce OneSky Localization Academy—a resourceful place for you to become an expert localization engineer, for free. Go to OneSky Localization Academy now! A new learning hub The Academy is full of best practices we’ve learned by working with thousands of companies on their internationalization setup, translation workflow, and internal infrastructure. You’ll start with the basics of how to localize an app from scratch, best practices in internationalization (i18n), and more! We just released the first course on the

The Global App Market in 22 Stats

Posted on November 5, 2015 by Leslie Lai

You wouldn’t buy a car without looking up some stats….and that’s just a couple tons of glass and metal. When it comes to the global app market, you’re going to be thinking in billions–of dollars, of people, of downloads. So you should probably have some numbers ready. As you go about crafting your perfect global strategy, it’s helpful to be aware of the most up-to-date information about the mobile market. Luckily, we’ve gone ahead and collected that data for you. Here are

Everything You Need to Know about Hong Kong and Taiwan’s Mobile Gaming Market

Posted on October 27, 2015 by Patrick Yip

When we say, “best tech markets in East Asia” what do you think? The answer seem obvious, at least if you look at the numbers. China. Japan. Korea. And it’s true: these definitely are the biggest tech markets in the region. But bigger doesn’t necessarily mean better. These markets are huge, but they also come with huge market barriers. So, we have two other answers to throw in: Hong Kong and Taiwan. Although they’re smaller markets, they still offer

Scoping Your Localization Project in 4 Easy Steps

Posted on October 19, 2015 by Patrick Yip

Like most great ideas, localization is actually quite simple—but with a lot of tricky details. When you take on a new localization project, there are a few questions you’re going to have to answer. And it’s best to answer them before you get started. After all, localization isn’t one-size-fits-all. For some projects, it might make sense to localize everything; for others, it might make sense to localize only part, or to do it gradually. You’re going to have to figure

Using Your Conversion Rate to Find Your Target Markets

Posted on October 14, 2015 by Christine Beuhler

The good news? Your app has gained a steady foothold in your market. The even better news? You’re ready to take the next step and expand your user base: in other words, it’s time for you to localize. But there are a lot of choices to make. Amongst the hundreds of countries, dozens of languages, and thousands of potential users, how do you decide which market is going to be the most profitable for you to enter and capture? We

From Spreadsheet to Cloud Platform – Here’s How Leverate Nailed Localization

Posted on September 17, 2015 by Patrick Yip

This interview is part of our series “Bring It to the World,” which is crafted for developers of websites and apps that offer localized versions to users worldwide. We’re catching up with some of OneSky’s best-known users in order to ask them about their localization experiences, and to discover some of their secrets for building a global presence. In this installment of the series, we chat with Itai Damti, CEO APAC at Leverate, a fintech provider specializing in complete brokerage

How Line and Other Messaging Apps Localized Emoji, and Monetized Much More

Posted on September 7, 2015 by Patrick Yip

This post originally published on September 13, 2013. We’ve updated it here with the latest information, images, and resources. They’re cute. They’re funny. They’re profitable. Emojis are a global craze. And localization matters for them, too. In this post, we’ll show you how smart localizing has helped emojis spread around the world. It all started in Japan. In the 1990s, Japan’s largest mobile phone operator, NTT DoCoMo, launched a new model of pager. Along with the usual typing options, the

App Localization in Asia: Understanding the Distribution Channel

Posted on August 27, 2015 by Gracia Monica

Looking Eastward There are as many as 1.5 billion smartphone users in Asia. For developers who are unfamiliar with app localization in Asia, the question is no longer Should I try to gain a foothold in Asia? The question has become How do I properly localize my app to reach those 1.5 BILLION PEOPLE with smartphones? A big part of that equation is mastering East Asia’s diverse distribution channels. These channels provide access to the market, but they form an

How Hopster Gains Global Presence in 100 Countries by Doing Localization Right

Posted on August 19, 2015 by Patrick Yip

This interview is part of our series “Bring It to the World,” which is crafted for developers of websites and apps that offer localized versions to users worldwide. We’re catching up with some of OneSky’s best-known users in order to ask them about their localization experiences, and to discover some of their secrets for building a global presence. In this installment of the series, we chat with Nika Kuznetsova, the Head of Customer Happiness at Hopster, an app that helps

What No One Tells You About Vietnam’s Mobile Game Market

Posted on August 11, 2015 by Gracia Monica

Everyone knows about Flappy Bird, the number one iOS app in more than 100 countries. The addictive, animated game is the brainchild of Dong Nguyen, a young Vietnamese developer based in the country’s capital, Hanoi. Nguyen recently pulled the game from the market, but it’s still clearing $50,000 in profits each day. There aren’t many games in the world like Flappy Bird. But its success is not entirely a fluke. Vietnam has a vibrant mobile gaming scene—one that’s often ignored by Western