iButterfly- Social Media Efforts in Japan

iButterfly iPhone application

Today I learned about this iphone application iButterfly. iButterfly is an augmented reality iPhone application. I'm not entirely sure how it works since I haven't had the opportunity to try it out. My understanding is that a butterfly will "fly" across your iPhone depending on your location, and you have to try and "catch" it. The butterfly actually represents a coupon for a store or restaurant for the area that you're in. There's even the option of sharing your butterflies with your friends, again through augmented reality. iButterfly is an application that saves you money, but is appreciated by users because there is an experience associated with getting deals. This application works great in Japan because they have a culture in which they like to share with others. Not that North America doesn't have this type of culture, but in Japan, people are open to sharing just about everything (even personal space). This is why it has been so successful in Japan, but I still think it has the potential to be successful here.

Check out the YouTube video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEE6M0iW-Nw