2008

Apple releases Emojis in Japan

Shortly after the launch of the iPhone in 2007, Apple launched an internal initiative that was informed by the popularity of kamoji in Japan. Kaomoji were booming on the “J-Phones” - a nick-name given to the SoftBank’s devices at the time. Originally Apple released a set of 471 emojis for the Japanese market only. One of the goals of the first emoji set was to be compatible with SoftBank’s emoji set.