Folks, don't believe the exaggerated stories about the iPhone failing because it lacks some niche feature, or because "mostly foreigners" are buying it. I've seen no evidence that the iPhone is the most successful phone here in Japan, but it certainly is a hit, and I see no shortage of Japanese who buy, use, and love the thing.
I am an American electrical engineer working for Japanese companies, who has lived in central Japan for the past 15 years and is married to a Japanese woman. I can tell you that despite Japan being a very homogeneous society, no one can make a blanked statement claiming that "the Japanese love" or "the Japanese aren't buying" the iPhone. It depends on WHO you are talking about and WHERE you are talking about.
Here in Aichi prefecture, where "the money and jobs are," I see plenty of evidence that Japanese people are indeed buying the iPhone despite the economy and liking it. This includes Japanese people I work with, friends I associate with, and people I see driving down the road (many of whom have special mounts for their iPhones, even on 3-wheel scooters). It takes me 1 hour and twenty minutes to drive from Nissin City to Chita Hanto, so believe me, I see a lot of people on my trek to and from the office.
Our company president (a hard core AU lover) got his first iPhone a couple months ago and loves it. He is 40 years old, a Mac enthusiast, and has a technical background like myself. He has not found iPhone Kanji input a problem, nor has he any interest in other so-called "missing" or "crucial to Japanese life" features that Japanese in their teens or early twenties may prefer to have. He acquired the iPhone as a notebook replacement as he travels to our factories in China and Taiwan once every 3 months and needs to do a lot of email correspondence and Skype communications. To cut costs, he shutdown most of the capabilities whereby the iPhone would link to the internet (and thereby, rack up connection charges). He mostly uses it via WiFi on our office network, in airports or in the factories he visits (mostly for free). This results in the monthly bills being far lower than what you pay in the US. But by default, SoftBank has the phone setup so it links to the net, so you really need to be careful if you don't want a big bill each month. Of course, by default the phone was locked to SoftBank, but an associate at one of our factories unlocked and jailbroke the phone for him, free of charge. So he can now use the iPhone in Japan or Taiwan or China simply by swapping the SIM card -- the way the iPhone should be in all markets, out of the box.
Things may be different in other parts of Japan, but that is how the situation is here in Aichi from what I myself have experienced.
As for Brian C., the man is a joke. And even the very mention of his name gives the man more credibility than he deserves.
You guys have to be very careful with Softbank numbers:
(1) Softbank is a big business empire (they owned a big stake in Yahoo Japan), so the group doing very well doesn't necessarily mean that their mobile section is doing very well.
(2) Softbank buys and sells business regularly and gains/loses one time profit --- so its earnings swing a lot.
(3) Softbank uses the accounting laws very aggressively --- its mobile subsidiary is "winning" the net adds subscriber war each and single month because they changed their accounting standard.
(4) Softbank Mobile is still the home of the low ARPU users --- despite their iphone exclusivity. Softbank Mobile's ARPU is 1800 yen below second place KDDI.
(5) Softbank Mobile has a very low profit margin --- Softbank Mobile has about 21 million subscribers and its operating income is 60.2 billion yen vs. KDDI has about 31 million subscribers and its operating income is 141.8 billion yen.
There has been a lot of talk about how hard it is to sell to the Japanese. These useless comments came about because dumb companies like General Motors could not give away their ugly cars trucks to Japanese drivers. I laughed when I read about it years ago. I wouldn't buy GM either, and I am neither Japanese nor do I live in Japan. GM makes the ugliest cars in the world, and the dependability factor is below zero. Why would anybody wants a GM car?
Anyway, the point is this; a good product will sell anywhere. Apple makes exceptional products, and iPhone is not only world-class, it will sell in another galaxy far away. Yes, I said it!
I heard Mars is ordering another 1 million more iPhone 3GS because stock is running out at the Apple Store there.
You're the one saying I think I know too much not me. You don't have to believe anything I say. If Gollum is your messiah all the power to you. I'm just stating what I see every day in Japan when I pop into the Apple store, Bic Camera or Yodobashi camera on my way to work. I also meet a LOT of people from all walks of life in my career here and I can count all the iPod/iPod Nano holders on one hand. I usually ask my clients which carriers they prefer because I'm always thinking of switching to Softbank from AU. The conversation inevitably leads to Apple since the iPhone is on Softbank.
I see you still haven't red the links. That;s all that matters right now. You can state whatever you like, but it means little. It's just hearsay from you.
I know someone who was there for over two months, and he says differently. But that doesn't prove anything either.
Comments
iPhone keeps Softbank smiling in Japan while NTT DOCOMO, KDDI stumble
(SB is in a similar position to Apple itself recently: the only player in its market turning in great results while everyone else is a wreck.)
In 2008, the iPhone was also #1 in Japan for customer satisfaction in mobile phones:
iPhone, Macs, iPod sweep 2008 customer satisfaction rankings in Japan
Folks, don't believe the exaggerated stories about the iPhone failing because it lacks some niche feature, or because "mostly foreigners" are buying it. I've seen no evidence that the iPhone is the most successful phone here in Japan, but it certainly is a hit, and I see no shortage of Japanese who buy, use, and love the thing.
Here in Aichi prefecture, where "the money and jobs are," I see plenty of evidence that Japanese people are indeed buying the iPhone despite the economy and liking it. This includes Japanese people I work with, friends I associate with, and people I see driving down the road (many of whom have special mounts for their iPhones, even on 3-wheel scooters). It takes me 1 hour and twenty minutes to drive from Nissin City to Chita Hanto, so believe me, I see a lot of people on my trek to and from the office.
Our company president (a hard core AU lover) got his first iPhone a couple months ago and loves it. He is 40 years old, a Mac enthusiast, and has a technical background like myself. He has not found iPhone Kanji input a problem, nor has he any interest in other so-called "missing" or "crucial to Japanese life" features that Japanese in their teens or early twenties may prefer to have. He acquired the iPhone as a notebook replacement as he travels to our factories in China and Taiwan once every 3 months and needs to do a lot of email correspondence and Skype communications. To cut costs, he shutdown most of the capabilities whereby the iPhone would link to the internet (and thereby, rack up connection charges). He mostly uses it via WiFi on our office network, in airports or in the factories he visits (mostly for free). This results in the monthly bills being far lower than what you pay in the US. But by default, SoftBank has the phone setup so it links to the net, so you really need to be careful if you don't want a big bill each month. Of course, by default the phone was locked to SoftBank, but an associate at one of our factories unlocked and jailbroke the phone for him, free of charge. So he can now use the iPhone in Japan or Taiwan or China simply by swapping the SIM card -- the way the iPhone should be in all markets, out of the box.
Things may be different in other parts of Japan, but that is how the situation is here in Aichi from what I myself have experienced.
As for Brian C., the man is a joke. And even the very mention of his name gives the man more credibility than he deserves.
(1) Softbank is a big business empire (they owned a big stake in Yahoo Japan), so the group doing very well doesn't necessarily mean that their mobile section is doing very well.
(2) Softbank buys and sells business regularly and gains/loses one time profit --- so its earnings swing a lot.
(3) Softbank uses the accounting laws very aggressively --- its mobile subsidiary is "winning" the net adds subscriber war each and single month because they changed their accounting standard.
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/...ims/2006-12-06
(4) Softbank Mobile is still the home of the low ARPU users --- despite their iphone exclusivity. Softbank Mobile's ARPU is 1800 yen below second place KDDI.
http://www.japancorp.net/Article.Asp?Art_ID=21812
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-...30-709573.html
(5) Softbank Mobile has a very low profit margin --- Softbank Mobile has about 21 million subscribers and its operating income is 60.2 billion yen vs. KDDI has about 31 million subscribers and its operating income is 141.8 billion yen.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...d=aAyzVQHGztvY
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-...30-709573.html
There has been a lot of talk about how hard it is to sell to the Japanese. These useless comments came about because dumb companies like General Motors could not give away their ugly cars trucks to Japanese drivers. I laughed when I read about it years ago. I wouldn't buy GM either, and I am neither Japanese nor do I live in Japan. GM makes the ugliest cars in the world, and the dependability factor is below zero. Why would anybody wants a GM car?
Anyway, the point is this; a good product will sell anywhere. Apple makes exceptional products, and iPhone is not only world-class, it will sell in another galaxy far away. Yes, I said it!
I heard Mars is ordering another 1 million more iPhone 3GS because stock is running out at the Apple Store there.
You're the one saying I think I know too much not me. You don't have to believe anything I say. If Gollum is your messiah all the power to you. I'm just stating what I see every day in Japan when I pop into the Apple store, Bic Camera or Yodobashi camera on my way to work. I also meet a LOT of people from all walks of life in my career here and I can count all the iPod/iPod Nano holders on one hand. I usually ask my clients which carriers they prefer because I'm always thinking of switching to Softbank from AU. The conversation inevitably leads to Apple since the iPhone is on Softbank.
I see you still haven't red the links. That;s all that matters right now. You can state whatever you like, but it means little. It's just hearsay from you.
I know someone who was there for over two months, and he says differently. But that doesn't prove anything either.
It just must be Japanese in America who love the iPhone.
LOL! +1!
Yet another win for iPhone? I'd like to think so.
Isn't that obvious?