Indian googler

The popular microblogging service launched a Japan-based mobile version Thursday, hoping to penetrate a country where other U.S. social networking sites including Facebook and MySpace have failed to capture much ground.

Japanese is Twitter's sole foreign language platform so far, and the company's efforts here indicate it's serious about making it big in Japan _ and eventually all over the world.

Twitter teamed up with Tokyo-based Internet firm Digital Garage Inc. in early 2008. It launched a Japanese-language platform for PCs in the spring of 2008, and hired a Japan country manager earlier this year.

``It's an excellent opportunity for us to see where we can go in Asia in general because Japan represents a leading edge, with advanced mobile usage,'' said Twitter co-founder Biz Stone, who traveled to Tokyo this week for the launch. ``Mobile is in Twitter's DNA.''

The company will roll out the site in Spanish, German, French and Italian over the next few months, Stone added.