Just wait till all those Japanese early adopters realize that the iPad has no USB ports, plays no Flash, can't be used in direct sunlight, has a closed app development system, and must be synced to a "real" computer. Just you wait... and wait... and wait...
Just wait till all those Japanese early adopters realize that the iPad has no USB ports, plays no Flash, can't be used in direct sunlight, has a closed app development system, and must be synced to a "real" computer. Just you wait... and wait... and wait...
Hmmm... they still seem to be lining up.
The Japanese response to Apple's products is a very strong indication of how amazing Apple's products really are. It has been almost impossible for any other non-Japanese company to be successful in this market. (I can't think of any other, TBH).
This is a such a joke. I wonder who is always behind these garbage headlines and what their motives are (oh wait...$ AAPL $).
The launch really isn't a big deal here (Osaka.Tokyo). Many of my Japanese Apple fanboy friends didn't even know it was being released today. I haven't seen one TV commercial. A few of us are waiting for the new iPhone though. Japanese line up for a new flavor of tea!!! If five people start lining up everyone will.
I'm not surprised at the Asahi KDDI wanting to use the Sony eReader either. They are loyal to Japanese kabushikigaihsa. Asahi and KDDI suck (especially KDDI), and I'll be ditching my AU/KDDI phone in a matter of weeks )
I will be looking forward to buying an iPad to use for car navigation here. Why buy a dedicated car nav system when you can get an iPad for a little bit more. Unfortunately the nice car nav apps like TomTom etc don't have maps for Japan. But the default GPS navigation works well enough.
Btw, I just applied for a nice job at Apple Japan yesterday Keeping my fingers crossed.
Welcome to the forum. Could you explain how the iPhone can have a 72% marketshare of smartphones.
That's rather easy to explain. Most Japanese use what I would consider a 'dumbphone.' You can't install apps, you can't browse the real web. You can play music, and often watch TV, and you can text, which the Japanese do a lot of. But they're not smartphones, and they're not anything I'd want to buy. If a Japanese person decides to buy a smartphone (or a foreigner living here wants a smartphone), they naturally gravitate to the iPhone.
Welcome to the forum. Could you explain how the iPhone can have a 72% marketshare of smartphones.
I live in Hong Kong, which has a very similar development profile to Japan. Here, the iPhone is everywhere. It's like nowhere else I've been to, and I travel a lot. Although it's just a guesstimation, I could bet the share is about the same, if not higher.
I would say the reason is that: it's not like Japanese people are jap-tech buyers. They are rather the most sophisticated tech buyers. Which means there's a lot of people there who are like us in this forum, ready to adopt whatever is the best and most innovative solution out there; and less clueless people who can be sold on whatever. Before the iPhone, there wasn't really anything from the west which could really compete in terms of innovation. Now that it is here, there's nothing from the east that can match it. And That is why the Apple awareness effect, which is accelerating and effectively happening all over the world, is at its strongest there. Just like here in HK.
That, and you should see the HEAVY marketing the iPhone is getting all over Asia.
Japanese travel alot both in and out of their country. Their people are like any other earth bound humanoids easily influenced by the west especially their younger generation of populace.
That, and also Japanese love to read.
Either it's novel, news, and most of all is manga..
Weekly Shonen Jump magazine should quickly pick up the trend, and release its very own iPad app. It would be awesome to read manga on iPad..
This is the 21st century after all, if newspapers are slowly changing their business model into online subscription, then manga shouldn't be left behind..
PS. I don't really understand the necessary use of putting "of populace" in that last sentence of yours above, shouldn't without it the sentence is more easy to understand.?
This is a such a joke. I wonder who is always behind these garbage headlines and what their motives are (oh wait...$ AAPL $).
The launch really isn't a big deal here (Osaka.Tokyo). Many of my Japanese Apple fanboy friends didn't even know it was being released today. I haven't seen one TV commercial. A few of us are waiting for the new iPhone though. Japanese line up for a new flavor of tea!!! If five people start lining up everyone will.
I'm not surprised at the Asahi KDDI wanting to use the Sony eReader either. They are loyal to Japanese kabushikigaihsa. Asahi and KDDI suck (especially KDDI), and I'll be ditching my AU/KDDI phone in a matter of weeks )
I will be looking forward to buying an iPad to use for car navigation here. Why buy a dedicated car nav system when you can get an iPad for a little bit more. Unfortunately the nice car nav apps like TomTom etc don't have maps for Japan. But the default GPS navigation works well enough.
Btw, I just applied for a nice job at Apple Japan yesterday Keeping my fingers crossed.
You should really hope (and pray) that the HRD of Apple in Japan, which you're applying for a job at, is not reading your comment there. Otherwise you might not get the job..
Although on the last paragraph there, you did show a great support for the company you want to get into. Short, but suffice enough to say the good thing about the iPad compared to other products..
Oh, and one more thing.. I crossed my fingers too for you on the job..
I was under the impression that in Japan, products built by Japanese corporations were most favored by the press/public and buying a non-Japanese product was usually considered undesirable/shameful or is that just an over-exagerated misconception/stereotype?
Yes, it's a ridiculous stereotype. Don't ask me why, but people just LOVE that "the Japanese won't buy foreign products" nonsense. Like this from another commenter:
"It has been almost impossible for any other non-Japanese company to be successful in this market. (I can't think of any other, TBH)."
You've got to be joking, commenter! You don't even have to stray an arm's length from the topic at hand, computers. What's the near-universal PC OS used in Japan? Windows. Office software? MS Office. Those products have the same 90%+ market share in Japan as in the US or anywhere. Japan's a hugely successful market for all kinds of foreign products.
I would say the reason is that: it's not like Japanese people are jap-tech buyers. They are rather the most sophisticated tech buyers. Which means there's a lot of people there who are like us in this forum, ready to adopt whatever is the best and most innovative solution out there; and less clueless people who can be sold on whatever. Before the iPhone, there wasn't really anything from the west which could really compete in terms of innovation. Now that it is here, there's nothing from the east that can match it. And That is why the Apple awareness effect, which is accelerating and effectively happening all over the world, is at its strongest there. Just like here in HK.
And I'm still clueless even up until now, on why with all of the technologies own by those big computer companies in Japan, not one of them could produce a breakthrough OS..
It's not like the hardwares made in Japan, made with Japan's own technologies, is not as good as Apple's or IBM's (even their hardwares are made in China/Taiwan). But where's the softwares? Where's the operating system that can make our jaws drop to the floor..??
I also found (above) quite interesting... I was under the impression that in Japan, products built by Japanese corporations were most favored by the press/public and buying a non-Japanese product was usually considered undesirable/shameful or is that just an over-exagerated misconception/stereotype?
I think the barrier to enter Japanese market is the input method (keyboard). BlackBerry simply failed because its keyboard can't support Japanese. No one see any Nokia handset sold in Japan. Most of them are Sony, Toshiba, Sanyo.
I think the barrier to enter Japanese market is the input method (keyboard). BlackBerry simply failed because its keyboard can't support Japanese. No one see any Nokia handset sold in Japan. Most of them are Sony, Toshiba, Sanyo.
Indeed! When I first saw the touch screen keyboard of the iPhone, I realized how powerful it could be considering that many countries of the world do not use the standard 26 letters of the English language and even the symbols for the numbers.
In an instant, the same touch screen keyboard can be transformed to the symbols or characters of the Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Thai, Arabic, German, Russian, Spanish, French, all the Slavic and Scandinavian languages, etc. -- with just a touch of a button to specify the language. Similarly, one can also easily create special touch screen equivalents for all those special symbols used in science and technology.
Obviously, Western technocrats who are not so aware of this diversity in peoples of the world, in this case the diversity of the "written form" could only see the inconvenience of the lack of a physical keyboard, for themselves.
Even in this thread, I am surprised of the lack of awareness of many posters of the reality of present "state" of other peoples of the world. Possibly some Westerners still think that the present day Japanese still wear kimono or dress like the sterotype "Madame Butterfly" to go to work, maybe even carrying a samurai sword, and go home at night to dwellings, like miniature versions of the "Imperial Palace(?)" in Tokyo.
Indeed! When I first saw the touch screen keyboard of the iPhone, I realized how powerful it could be considering that many countries of the world do not use the standard 26 letters of the English language and even the symbols for the numbers.
In an instant, the same touch screen keyboard can be transformed to the symbols or characters of the Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Thai, Arabic, German, Russian, Spanish, French, all the Slavic and Scandinavian languages, etc. -- with just a touch of a button to specify the language. Similarly, one can also easily create special touch screen equivalents for all those special symbols used in science and technology.
Obviously, Western technocrats who are not so aware of this diversity in peoples of the world, in this case the diversity of the "written form" could only see the inconvenience of the lack of a physical keyboard, for themselves.
Even in this thread, I am surprised of the lack of awareness of many posters of the reality of present "state" of other peoples of the world. Possibly some Westerners still think that the present day Japanese still wear kimono or dress like the sterotype "Madame Butterfly" to go to work, maybe even carrying a samurai sword, and go home at night to dwellings, like miniature versions of the "Imperial Palace(?)" in Tokyo.
CGC
Absolutely! Apple has got the whole language issue right from the very beginning. The ability to function seamlessly in a number of languages was a big reason I switched to a Mac back with OS 10.0. The crappy Windows ME I had been using previously could barely even handle English. I've heard a lot of people whine about the space & time that language files take up when installing a new version of OS X. "Who needs Japanese fonts?!" they moan. Well, it turns out that the answer to that is, "lots of people!" And they're optional installs anyway. With the iPhone and, I assume, the iPad, Apple has made it easy for non-English speakers to feel at ease right out of the box.
And I'm still clueless even up until now, on why with all of the technologies own by those big computer companies in Japan, not one of them could produce a breakthrough OS..
It's not like the hardwares made in Japan, made with Japan's own technologies, is not as good as Apple's or IBM's (even their hardwares are made in China/Taiwan). But where's the softwares? Where's the operating system that can make our jaws drop to the floor..??
These big computer companies you are talking about were never about software... so it's not about Japan tech vs. America tech. It's about Apple vs. the rest. And visionary Apple looked into the past, present and future and made all the right decisions about hardware and software in order to provide the best experience in the long term, not just sell as much as possible based on hardware specs.
The iPad is the first product that I ever pre-ordered. Looks like I picked the right one to pounce on -- with this level of demand I don't ink I have to worry about any big price drops anytime soon.
Absolutely! Apple has got the whole language issue right from the very beginning. The ability to function seamlessly in a number of languages was a big reason I switched to a Mac back with OS 10.0. The crappy Windows ME I had been using previously could barely even handle English. I've heard a lot of people whine about the space & time that language files take up when installing a new version of OS X. "Who needs Japanese fonts?!" they moan. Well, it turns out that the answer to that is, "lots of people!" And they're optional installs anyway. With the iPhone and, I assume, the iPad, Apple has made it easy for non-English speakers to feel at ease right out of the box.
If you like the iPhone, you would like the iPad even more, especially if you like reading online; provided also that you realize it is not yet a "full" computer. Some of its deficiences may be remedied when cloud computing comes to Apple and when direct wireless printing becomes possible.
I was really shaking my head when all these self-appointed experts were disparaging the iPad as just simply a big iPod Touch. In fact, if any of these people simply took a few seconds to ponder -- that the iPad is indeed a very big iPod Touch (or a very big iPhone, almost) is one of its biggest assets, over the iPod Touch and the iPhone, or similar devices.
When a friend of mine literally fell in love with the iPhone (she said she barely use her computer once she had her iPhone in 2008), one of her first comment was that she wished there was a much larger version of the iPhone. She has severe sight impairment. What applies for her will hold true for many senior citizens and those with some sight impairments. The iPad would be a perfect solution because they could easily enlarge the printed matter and images with fingers gestures.
What you will notice immediately with the iPad is that it is "fast" or that it feels fast. I tried some of the newspapers and magazines that I browse frequently with my old iBook, and they loaded instantly or relatively much faster. This is especially true if the paper already has "non-Flash" auto-load alternatives. I guess most of the online sites I visit regularly were already "Flash free" or already offer auto-load alternatives to Flash.
Reading newspapers and magazines are more like reading the standard size of the usual online version -- the iPad slightly auto-resizes the standard internet page to fit to the iPad screen. This minimizes the scrolling that you would otherwise do more frequently if you do web browsing with the iPod Touch or iPhone. This is a very big plus of the large screen size. Even with slight resize the prints were still clear enough.
Imagine if you are a tourist and you have the GPS, the Maps and travel guides Apps (destinations, local transportation, restaurants, etc.) for the city you visit, "shuttle" as often from one App to the other, or even "multitask them (available feature by Fall), then you almost have your personalize "Tour Guide" that will follow your pace.
The features cited were just a few of what is already in the iPad or through the Apps. I can imagine how each field or industry, or groups and institution, may develop Apps that will tailor to their specific needs.
I had difficulty typing with the iPhone but it was easier to do it with the iPad in portrait or landscape.
CGC
N.B.
Wow! Your first post after being a member since 2008?
I did find some round numbers that showed how the game console market behaves in Japan.
1 - WII 10.34m units
2 - PS3 5.0m+ units
3 - XB3 1.23m units
So yea... the US based X-Box 360 isn't getting any loving in Japan... While in the US and Europe the X-Box has more favorable numbers.
I remember, back in the old days when the first XBox came out, there was quite an argument that the XBox was too big for the shoe-boxes we live in here. It was like an old VCR. You know, in the States they make everything bigger
In an instant, the same touch screen keyboard can be transformed to the symbols or characters of the Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Thai, Arabic, German, Russian, Spanish, French, all the Slavic and Scandinavian languages, etc. -- with just a touch of a button to specify the language. Similarly, one can also easily create special touch screen equivalents for all those special symbols used in science and technology.
Agreed. Every other cellphone in Japan is either japanese-only or japanese/english. The iPhone hit the nail in the head with the foreign population here.
I think the barrier to enter Japanese market is the input method (keyboard). BlackBerry simply failed because its keyboard can't support Japanese. No one see any Nokia handset sold in Japan. Most of them are Sony, Toshiba, Sanyo.
Comments
Hmmm... they still seem to be lining up.
Just wait till all those Japanese early adopters realize that the iPad has no USB ports, plays no Flash, can't be used in direct sunlight, has a closed app development system, and must be synced to a "real" computer. Just you wait... and wait... and wait...
Hmmm... they still seem to be lining up.
The Japanese response to Apple's products is a very strong indication of how amazing Apple's products really are. It has been almost impossible for any other non-Japanese company to be successful in this market. (I can't think of any other, TBH).
The launch really isn't a big deal here (Osaka.Tokyo). Many of my Japanese Apple fanboy friends didn't even know it was being released today. I haven't seen one TV commercial. A few of us are waiting for the new iPhone though. Japanese line up for a new flavor of tea!!! If five people start lining up everyone will.
I'm not surprised at the Asahi KDDI wanting to use the Sony eReader either. They are loyal to Japanese kabushikigaihsa. Asahi and KDDI suck (especially KDDI), and I'll be ditching my AU/KDDI phone in a matter of weeks
I will be looking forward to buying an iPad to use for car navigation here. Why buy a dedicated car nav system when you can get an iPad for a little bit more. Unfortunately the nice car nav apps like TomTom etc don't have maps for Japan. But the default GPS navigation works well enough.
Btw, I just applied for a nice job at Apple Japan yesterday
Welcome to the forum. Could you explain how the iPhone can have a 72% marketshare of smartphones.
That's rather easy to explain. Most Japanese use what I would consider a 'dumbphone.' You can't install apps, you can't browse the real web. You can play music, and often watch TV, and you can text, which the Japanese do a lot of. But they're not smartphones, and they're not anything I'd want to buy. If a Japanese person decides to buy a smartphone (or a foreigner living here wants a smartphone), they naturally gravitate to the iPhone.
Welcome to the forum. Could you explain how the iPhone can have a 72% marketshare of smartphones.
I live in Hong Kong, which has a very similar development profile to Japan. Here, the iPhone is everywhere. It's like nowhere else I've been to, and I travel a lot. Although it's just a guesstimation, I could bet the share is about the same, if not higher.
I would say the reason is that: it's not like Japanese people are jap-tech buyers. They are rather the most sophisticated tech buyers. Which means there's a lot of people there who are like us in this forum, ready to adopt whatever is the best and most innovative solution out there; and less clueless people who can be sold on whatever. Before the iPhone, there wasn't really anything from the west which could really compete in terms of innovation. Now that it is here, there's nothing from the east that can match it. And That is why the Apple awareness effect, which is accelerating and effectively happening all over the world, is at its strongest there. Just like here in HK.
That, and you should see the HEAVY marketing the iPhone is getting all over Asia.
Japanese travel alot both in and out of their country. Their people are like any other earth bound humanoids easily influenced by the west especially their younger generation of populace.
That, and also Japanese love to read.
Either it's novel, news, and most of all is manga..
Weekly Shonen Jump magazine should quickly pick up the trend, and release its very own iPad app. It would be awesome to read manga on iPad..
This is the 21st century after all, if newspapers are slowly changing their business model into online subscription, then manga shouldn't be left behind..
PS. I don't really understand the necessary use of putting "of populace" in that last sentence of yours above, shouldn't without it the sentence is more easy to understand.?
This is a such a joke. I wonder who is always behind these garbage headlines and what their motives are (oh wait...$ AAPL $).
The launch really isn't a big deal here (Osaka.Tokyo). Many of my Japanese Apple fanboy friends didn't even know it was being released today. I haven't seen one TV commercial. A few of us are waiting for the new iPhone though. Japanese line up for a new flavor of tea!!! If five people start lining up everyone will.
I'm not surprised at the Asahi KDDI wanting to use the Sony eReader either. They are loyal to Japanese kabushikigaihsa. Asahi and KDDI suck (especially KDDI), and I'll be ditching my AU/KDDI phone in a matter of weeks
I will be looking forward to buying an iPad to use for car navigation here. Why buy a dedicated car nav system when you can get an iPad for a little bit more. Unfortunately the nice car nav apps like TomTom etc don't have maps for Japan. But the default GPS navigation works well enough.
Btw, I just applied for a nice job at Apple Japan yesterday
You should really hope (and pray) that the HRD of Apple in Japan, which you're applying for a job at, is not reading your comment there. Otherwise you might not get the job..
Although on the last paragraph there, you did show a great support for the company you want to get into. Short, but suffice enough to say the good thing about the iPad compared to other products..
Oh, and one more thing.. I crossed my fingers too for you on the job..
I was under the impression that in Japan, products built by Japanese corporations were most favored by the press/public and buying a non-Japanese product was usually considered undesirable/shameful or is that just an over-exagerated misconception/stereotype?
Yes, it's a ridiculous stereotype. Don't ask me why, but people just LOVE that "the Japanese won't buy foreign products" nonsense. Like this from another commenter:
"It has been almost impossible for any other non-Japanese company to be successful in this market. (I can't think of any other, TBH)."
You've got to be joking, commenter! You don't even have to stray an arm's length from the topic at hand, computers. What's the near-universal PC OS used in Japan? Windows. Office software? MS Office. Those products have the same 90%+ market share in Japan as in the US or anywhere. Japan's a hugely successful market for all kinds of foreign products.
I would say the reason is that: it's not like Japanese people are jap-tech buyers. They are rather the most sophisticated tech buyers. Which means there's a lot of people there who are like us in this forum, ready to adopt whatever is the best and most innovative solution out there; and less clueless people who can be sold on whatever. Before the iPhone, there wasn't really anything from the west which could really compete in terms of innovation. Now that it is here, there's nothing from the east that can match it. And That is why the Apple awareness effect, which is accelerating and effectively happening all over the world, is at its strongest there. Just like here in HK.
And I'm still clueless even up until now, on why with all of the technologies own by those big computer companies in Japan, not one of them could produce a breakthrough OS..
It's not like the hardwares made in Japan, made with Japan's own technologies, is not as good as Apple's or IBM's (even their hardwares are made in China/Taiwan). But where's the softwares? Where's the operating system that can make our jaws drop to the floor..??
I also found (above) quite interesting... I was under the impression that in Japan, products built by Japanese corporations were most favored by the press/public and buying a non-Japanese product was usually considered undesirable/shameful or is that just an over-exagerated misconception/stereotype?
I think the barrier to enter Japanese market is the input method (keyboard). BlackBerry simply failed because its keyboard can't support Japanese. No one see any Nokia handset sold in Japan. Most of them are Sony, Toshiba, Sanyo.
I think the barrier to enter Japanese market is the input method (keyboard). BlackBerry simply failed because its keyboard can't support Japanese. No one see any Nokia handset sold in Japan. Most of them are Sony, Toshiba, Sanyo.
Indeed! When I first saw the touch screen keyboard of the iPhone, I realized how powerful it could be considering that many countries of the world do not use the standard 26 letters of the English language and even the symbols for the numbers.
In an instant, the same touch screen keyboard can be transformed to the symbols or characters of the Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Thai, Arabic, German, Russian, Spanish, French, all the Slavic and Scandinavian languages, etc. -- with just a touch of a button to specify the language. Similarly, one can also easily create special touch screen equivalents for all those special symbols used in science and technology.
Obviously, Western technocrats who are not so aware of this diversity in peoples of the world, in this case the diversity of the "written form" could only see the inconvenience of the lack of a physical keyboard, for themselves.
Even in this thread, I am surprised of the lack of awareness of many posters of the reality of present "state" of other peoples of the world. Possibly some Westerners still think that the present day Japanese still wear kimono or dress like the sterotype "Madame Butterfly" to go to work, maybe even carrying a samurai sword, and go home at night to dwellings, like miniature versions of the "Imperial Palace(?)" in Tokyo.
CGC
I can see a lot of Asia's electronics mavens just scurrying around, trying to deconstruct what the heck just happened!
They'll have tough time with the secret sauce.
Like Sony! LOL!
The ipad works as advertised and people see that and are buying it. I think the success of the ipad was the reason for the recent shake up at MS.IMHO.
Indeed! When I first saw the touch screen keyboard of the iPhone, I realized how powerful it could be considering that many countries of the world do not use the standard 26 letters of the English language and even the symbols for the numbers.
In an instant, the same touch screen keyboard can be transformed to the symbols or characters of the Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Thai, Arabic, German, Russian, Spanish, French, all the Slavic and Scandinavian languages, etc. -- with just a touch of a button to specify the language. Similarly, one can also easily create special touch screen equivalents for all those special symbols used in science and technology.
Obviously, Western technocrats who are not so aware of this diversity in peoples of the world, in this case the diversity of the "written form" could only see the inconvenience of the lack of a physical keyboard, for themselves.
Even in this thread, I am surprised of the lack of awareness of many posters of the reality of present "state" of other peoples of the world. Possibly some Westerners still think that the present day Japanese still wear kimono or dress like the sterotype "Madame Butterfly" to go to work, maybe even carrying a samurai sword, and go home at night to dwellings, like miniature versions of the "Imperial Palace(?)" in Tokyo.
CGC
Absolutely! Apple has got the whole language issue right from the very beginning. The ability to function seamlessly in a number of languages was a big reason I switched to a Mac back with OS 10.0. The crappy Windows ME I had been using previously could barely even handle English. I've heard a lot of people whine about the space & time that language files take up when installing a new version of OS X. "Who needs Japanese fonts?!" they moan. Well, it turns out that the answer to that is, "lots of people!" And they're optional installs anyway. With the iPhone and, I assume, the iPad, Apple has made it easy for non-English speakers to feel at ease right out of the box.
And I'm still clueless even up until now, on why with all of the technologies own by those big computer companies in Japan, not one of them could produce a breakthrough OS..
It's not like the hardwares made in Japan, made with Japan's own technologies, is not as good as Apple's or IBM's (even their hardwares are made in China/Taiwan). But where's the softwares? Where's the operating system that can make our jaws drop to the floor..??
These big computer companies you are talking about were never about software... so it's not about Japan tech vs. America tech. It's about Apple vs. the rest. And visionary Apple looked into the past, present and future and made all the right decisions about hardware and software in order to provide the best experience in the long term, not just sell as much as possible based on hardware specs.
Absolutely! Apple has got the whole language issue right from the very beginning. The ability to function seamlessly in a number of languages was a big reason I switched to a Mac back with OS 10.0. The crappy Windows ME I had been using previously could barely even handle English. I've heard a lot of people whine about the space & time that language files take up when installing a new version of OS X. "Who needs Japanese fonts?!" they moan. Well, it turns out that the answer to that is, "lots of people!" And they're optional installs anyway. With the iPhone and, I assume, the iPad, Apple has made it easy for non-English speakers to feel at ease right out of the box.
If you like the iPhone, you would like the iPad even more, especially if you like reading online; provided also that you realize it is not yet a "full" computer. Some of its deficiences may be remedied when cloud computing comes to Apple and when direct wireless printing becomes possible.
I was really shaking my head when all these self-appointed experts were disparaging the iPad as just simply a big iPod Touch. In fact, if any of these people simply took a few seconds to ponder -- that the iPad is indeed a very big iPod Touch (or a very big iPhone, almost) is one of its biggest assets, over the iPod Touch and the iPhone, or similar devices.
When a friend of mine literally fell in love with the iPhone (she said she barely use her computer once she had her iPhone in 2008), one of her first comment was that she wished there was a much larger version of the iPhone. She has severe sight impairment. What applies for her will hold true for many senior citizens and those with some sight impairments. The iPad would be a perfect solution because they could easily enlarge the printed matter and images with fingers gestures.
What you will notice immediately with the iPad is that it is "fast" or that it feels fast. I tried some of the newspapers and magazines that I browse frequently with my old iBook, and they loaded instantly or relatively much faster. This is especially true if the paper already has "non-Flash" auto-load alternatives. I guess most of the online sites I visit regularly were already "Flash free" or already offer auto-load alternatives to Flash.
Reading newspapers and magazines are more like reading the standard size of the usual online version -- the iPad slightly auto-resizes the standard internet page to fit to the iPad screen. This minimizes the scrolling that you would otherwise do more frequently if you do web browsing with the iPod Touch or iPhone. This is a very big plus of the large screen size. Even with slight resize the prints were still clear enough.
Imagine if you are a tourist and you have the GPS, the Maps and travel guides Apps (destinations, local transportation, restaurants, etc.) for the city you visit, "shuttle" as often from one App to the other, or even "multitask them (available feature by Fall), then you almost have your personalize "Tour Guide" that will follow your pace.
The features cited were just a few of what is already in the iPad or through the Apps. I can imagine how each field or industry, or groups and institution, may develop Apps that will tailor to their specific needs.
I had difficulty typing with the iPhone but it was easier to do it with the iPad in portrait or landscape.
CGC
N.B.
Wow! Your first post after being a member since 2008?
Thanks!
I did find some round numbers that showed how the game console market behaves in Japan.
1 - WII 10.34m units
2 - PS3 5.0m+ units
3 - XB3 1.23m units
So yea... the US based X-Box 360 isn't getting any loving in Japan... While in the US and Europe the X-Box has more favorable numbers.
I remember, back in the old days when the first XBox came out, there was quite an argument that the XBox was too big for the shoe-boxes we live in here. It was like an old VCR. You know, in the States they make everything bigger
Btw, I just applied for a nice job at Apple Japan yesterday
I saw some classifieds by Apple Japan in recruit sites, but didn't apply. Is it good?
In an instant, the same touch screen keyboard can be transformed to the symbols or characters of the Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Thai, Arabic, German, Russian, Spanish, French, all the Slavic and Scandinavian languages, etc. -- with just a touch of a button to specify the language. Similarly, one can also easily create special touch screen equivalents for all those special symbols used in science and technology.
Agreed. Every other cellphone in Japan is either japanese-only or japanese/english. The iPhone hit the nail in the head with the foreign population here.
I think the barrier to enter Japanese market is the input method (keyboard). BlackBerry simply failed because its keyboard can't support Japanese. No one see any Nokia handset sold in Japan. Most of them are Sony, Toshiba, Sanyo.
Hence the first post in this article by me.