Kii announced what it described as a “turnkey mobile backend-as-a-service” called Kii Cloud, with a public beta period during which it will be available to independent app developers at no cost.

The service enables developers to embed cloud services into their apps, which Kii said “to date has been led by pre-profitable, small, venture-backed start-ups such as Parse.com, Kinvey and StackMob”.

The company said that developers need a cloud backend to “understand user behaviour, engagement, and retention, for cross- and multi-platform apps and for monetisation”.

Rather than developers building their own cloud services, Kii said that backed-as-a-service “replaces hundreds of hours of server programming into a snap-in client SDK that can be up and running in your app in minutes”.

Kii Cloud is delivered on a fully self-service basis, including full documentation, sample code, SDKs, and support through a developer portal with analytic dashboards and API management.

It said that “startups, design agencies, and first-time app makers” can use the technology to integrate the technology into new or existing apps”.

Features supported are cloud user management, data management, analytics and monetisation capabilities.

Kii Cloud has previously only been available to “leading telecommunications companies and select application partners”, but “300 percent year-over-year growth in end-users persuaded the company to expand access to its mobile backed service”.

Masanari Arai, CEO and co-founder of Kii, said: “For years, we’ve been working with some of the top carriers in the world on mobile app scalability, reliability and performance. Now, any mobile developer can plug our proven, industrial strength mobile backend into their app.”

The company said it powers data synchronisation services from Japanese operators NTT Docomo and Softbank, as well as KII’s own backup product in China.

Kii described itself as an “established, profitable company with its own venture capital fund (Kii Capital) focused exclusively on independent mobile app developers”.