I don't know why Apple even bothers trying to sell anything in Japan. Let them have their insane emoji-enabled phones and laptops running on JapanOS or whatever, if they're so inclined. It seems to be a very specific close-minded or culturally endemic market that is best served by its own produce.
You can sell nearly anything in Japan if you cater it to the Japanese. I mentioned this in my opening post in the previous article on this topic.
Really? That is - I hate to say it -- bu11s*it.
Here's your 'article'. Where do you provide an "example" of how you "can sell nearly anything"?
----Begin JDW's "Article"----
It's therefore hilarious to me that most all of you posting in this thread do not live here in Japan!
SoftBank has Brad Pitt on TV selling their phones and wireless service. I think Apple considered them one of the more trendy carriers here (which I would agree with), and that combined with the fact SoftBank was willing to hand over a considerable percentage of monthly subscription fees was what finalized the deal. However, AU has the most stable network over here, and most of my associates who want the iPhone badly don't quite want it badly enough to change their personal phones to SoftBank. This holds true for people who are already using SoftBank for their office phones. Drop-outs are common with SoftBank, but not so with AU. However, AU is more than double the price on its low end plans than SoftBank, so SoftBank is popular with people like me who are frugal-minded. Ironically though, the frugal-minded consumer is not about to snatch ditch their ¥980/month White Plan for the whopping ¥7,000/month iPhone plan. I myself couldn't care less how dazzling the iPhone is. Am I going to pay ¥1,000 MORE per month than I pay for my home 100Mb/sec fiber optic internet connection? I think not! And I speak as a Mac lover since 1984 here.
As this article states, there are other issues. I think the lack of bar code functionality will be a bigger loss than the stupid emoticons among "adults" (people like myself who are 30 and older). Bar codes are everywhere. I've even see them on TV ads! The Japanese consumer will be forgiving about these little things on this version. But if Apple continues to offer the same "basic" functionality that other phones here have had for years, then subsequent revisions of the iPhone may not sell so well. So while I will agree with this article for sales to date, I remain a bit skeptical to see if Apple can make the iPhone more Japanese. Americans have traditionally failed to do this when selling to Japan, and they've lost a lot of money as a result. I hope Apple can prove itself different in that regard.
I can't think why the iPhone would fail in any country, I mean it's got such great features like 3G, which the Japanese have only had for 7 years, here in the UK we've only had it for 5 so its like cutting edge stuff.
Then there's the other great stuff like a Calendar and Weather not to mention a timer, I mean this is real exciting stuff!!! Not to mention a map incase we get lost on our way to work. I mean what would the alternative be, print of directions before you go on a trip?
I think the problem is probably that the iPhone hasn't really added anything other than a nice interface. The apps on the whole are very simple and although they may add better interfaces we've seen most of it before.
What would have been good is a vpn connection on your phone so you can access all your work files rather than repeating email again. Or even something like Back to your mac but on your phone. Wouldn't it be cool if you could access all your files from your home computer from your phone, that way if you havnt transfered a song you want you could just get at it. Instead they seem to just repeating stuff done many times before.
What would have been good is a vpn connection on your phone so you can access all your work files rather than repeating email again. Or even something like Back to your mac but on your phone. Wouldn't it be cool if you could access all your files from your home computer from your phone, that way if you havnt transfered a song you want you could just get at it. Instead they seem to just repeating stuff done many times before.
There are many applications on App Store that does exactly that. There is even a web app that let you access your Mac (open files, take screen shots of your desktop or iSight, run applications... etc) using Safari on the iPhone. Google iPhone remote or look for VPN in the App Store.
If Japan is largely a cash society only supports the report that online purchasing is not as popular in Japan.
Quite a number of Japanese online purchasing sites have options for cash payment such as cash on delivery or bank transfer (which is a fairly popular option). A majority of transactions on Yahoo! Japan Auctions uses the bank transfer method.
What methodology do these analysts use to determine the number of sales?
If SoftBank says they got 215,000 iPhone activations the first month, how is 160k going to be credible?
Softbank has not officially announced the number of iPhone activations only the total number of 3G activations which they release every month. 3G activations are running 200,000 or so a month as Softbank 2G users upgrade. iPhone 3G is only part of that number.
AT&T charges more for 3G. Apple makes no money directly from that. AT&T has had to invest billions in building out its 3G infrastructure. So its not as though they are charging more for nothing.
I fail to see how those sentences apply to Japan or SoftBank. We've had 3G networks here in Japan for years.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TenoBell
You cannot carry that 100mbs fiber internet in your pocket and access it where ever you go. Fiber and wireless are not comparable like that.
Try telling that to people who aren't choosing the iPhone here. Seriously. People do what we often think "they can't do." However bad you may feel the comparisons are, people count the costs and make such comparisons.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TenoBell
Apple has attempted to cater to Japanese text input.
And you yourself use that every single day, all day long? Even so, are you going to "convince" the Japanese by making such statements? I fail to see the long behind a statement that does little more than promote the status quo.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TenoBell
It seems to be a matter of opinion as to how important this feature is. Studies of the Japanese market have shown many people don't use it.
Could you provide some links to those studies? And are those studies conducted within Japan by native Japanese? And will your mention of those studies suddenly bring the Japanese into SoftBank shops to buy the iPhone?? (Again, defense of the status quo. Basically you are saying, "what is good for the rest of the world should be good enough for Japan." It doesn't work that way.)
Quote:
Originally Posted by TenoBell
One it talks about how insular the Asian markets are and its tough for any international manufacturer to break into.
Two is the fact that Softbank is not selling the iPhone at price competitive rates. In comparison to other countries.
To save all of you the trouble of pulling up dashboard to figure out what "insular" means: "ignorant of or uninterested in cultures, ideas or peoples outside one's own experience."
Never was there made a more ignorant statement about Japan, it's people or its culture. One may argue that people here are narrow minded at time, but they are most assuredly not insular.
But again, these arguments do nothing to explain the problem here or provide a solution.
Quote:
Originally Posted by anantksundaram
Really? That is - I hate to say it -- bu11s*it.
Here's your 'article'. Where do you provide an "example" of how you "can sell nearly anything"?
Not sure what you're laughing about since you clearly lack the ability to read and comprehend the English language. Nowhere did I promise anyone "an example" as you improperly indicate. In my post, which you quote in your abusive post, I clearly speak of the disadvantages to SoftBank. I then talk about the lack of features (i.e., lack of customization for the Japanese market); namely, emoticons and bar code reading. I stand behind what I have written.
While your rudeness disturbs me beyond measure, I will provide a couple examples (for I lack the time to provide others, especially to rude folk):
Coca-cola is not a Japanese company, and yet they are very successful here. Yet, where is Pepsi? No where to be found. Why? One significant reason is that many years ago Pepsi tried to use the USA version cola-war ads here in Japan. Coke took a more passive, anti-aggressive (i.e., "Japanese" approach). Coke refrained from acting American (which satisfies Americans but not Japanese) in order to sell it's product here. Coke is now found everywhere here, unlike Pepsi. One may argue there are other reasons at work too, but ultimately it boils down to how well the Coke people catered their strategy to Japan, versus how badly the Pepsi people did it.
McDonald's has been a great success here, as it caters its products and image to the Japanese while at the same time retaining much of its American image and taste. KFC had a hard time here at first, until it followed McDonald's lead in structuring its restaurants and food to Japanese tastes. Burger King and Taco Bell, while successful in the USA, are no where to be found here. (Too bad too because I like BK better than McDonalds.)
Unmodified toys like Barbie Dolls did not do well here at first. Then came some Japanese style Barbie toys that captured the interest of many little Japanese girls.
Understanding the importance of how to properly size-down one's food item packaging has led to the success of some American companies (especially frozen foods) in many Japanese stores.
I could go on, but my purpose in posting about the iPhone was to discuss why it currently has not caught on so well here and what Apple can do to partly address that. Simply put, what may be acceptable in every single country outside Japan is not necessarily what will be accepted here. To argue against such is to argue with the Japanese people themselves, and I would challenge the insular among you to live here a few years in order to give them "your best shot." In the meantime, as an AAPL shareholder, I do hope Cupertino gives Japan a re-think and wows the market over here with something new and "exciting to the Japanese."
Hey all, I'm a long-time reader of the forum and today a first time poster.
Most of the comments from those living outside of Japan are totally useless in a topic like this, so living in Tokyo and being a long time Apple supporter, I thought I'd give my 30yen...
I've had the Sharpe 920SH since last October and my house mate has had the iPhone 3G since launch day in Japan. Comparing them side by side often, I just can't justify giving up the stability and features of my Sharpe.
I won't go into all the features, but an example of something I can do on my Sharpe: I flick it to widescreen view, live digital TV and browse the OSD TV guide. There's nothing on I particularly want to see, so I play highlights from the Olympics which I had recorded previously. Whilst watching I receive a mail, so I flick to split-screen view. This give me live TV on the left, and my new message on the right of the screen - instantly. The message is in Japanese and there are 2 Kanji I don't know. So i select the passage and copy it. I then close the mail and switch to my internet bookmarks. I head to excite translator, paste the Kanji and translate it. I flick back to the mail, relpy and return to full-screen TV. All of this is pretty much instant, no lag, no TV break-up, full internet.
The iPhone's movie playback / screen, iPod player and App Store are all fantastic, but they're not yet enough for me to switch (down-grade). I love Apple and I want to have an iPhone, but it's simply not good enough in Japan yet. I'll get one when it has:
Copy and Paste,
Video Recording and full MMS,
Emoji's (for foreigners writing in Japanese these are almost essential to confirm emotions when using ambibous language),
a battery that will last 2 days even with reasonable use,
Yahoo! keitai functionality for weather, GPS maps, cinema times etc,
Faster Japanese text input (i beat my housemate EVERY-time here)
A real camera (over 3.2mps, auto focus, light)
For now, I think i'm going to get a new touch and wait for the 3rd gen - does anyone know why the new touch isn't in retail stores here yet?
Also I wanted to post this link, which breaks down more of the features lacking from the iPhone:
I will always maintain that features are of little importance compared to the interface/operating system. Without a good interface, all features of any consumer electronic are basically useless; all you have is an expensive piece of junk that you can brag about to your friends.
You may have the most powerful computer in the world, but if you are running some archaic "operating system" from 1976 that can only address 1kb of ram and it requires you to write all your own programs, you would probably trade that supercomputer in for a standard iMac running OSX in a heartbeat.
[QUOTE=fender101;1309592]Hey all, I'm a long-time reader of the forum and today a first time poster.
Most of the comments from those living outside of Japan are totally useless in a topic like this.
>>Well said and cannot agree more.
For now, I think i'm going to get a new touch and wait for the 3rd gen - does anyone know why the new touch isn't in retail stores here yet?
>> Any WiFi device has to get government approval and the new iPod Touch is in the process now. Stores list the Touch being available the first week of Octobr, most likely October 4th weekend.
3G is good enough though I guess when Hikari internet at home is going up to 160mbs this month!
>> I was talking with WAN Optimization equipment resellers. They are having trouble selling because the internet infrastructure is so good here, it is also cheaper to just add another hikari internet line and add bandwidth than buy expensive IT infra equipment.
Hey all, I'm a long-time reader of the forum and today a first time poster.
Most of the comments from those living outside of Japan are totally useless in a topic like this.
>>Well said and cannot agree more.
For now, I think i'm going to get a new touch and wait for the 3rd gen - does anyone know why the new touch isn't in retail stores here yet?
>> Any WiFi device has to get government approval and the new iPod Touch is in the process now. Stores list the Touch being available the first week of Octobr, most likely October 4th weekend.
a few month test drive in the Akihabara would prevent all the problems... don't need the hot phone, just the prototype of touch and feel, plus few key features... someone skipped a key step of market testing... http://wikitravel.org/en/Tokyo/Akihabara
Remind me the right side drive US car sitting in the japanese display window many years ago...
I could go on, but my purpose in posting about the iPhone was to discuss why it currently has not caught on so well here and what Apple can do to partly address that. Simply put, what may be acceptable in every single country outside Japan is not necessarily what will be accepted here. To argue against such is to argue with the Japanese people themselves, and I would challenge the insular among you to live here a few years in order to give them "your best shot." In the meantime, as an AAPL shareholder, I do hope Cupertino gives Japan a re-think and wows the market over here with something new and "exciting to the Japanese."
Out of curiosity, are there similar examples that involve electronics companies making major, lasting inroads in Japan?
TV is one of those things that Apple will never join in if the solution is pulling out a terrestrial antenna that I have to position to get a good signal It's all a bit lame; I haven't had to do that since 1981 when my neighbor had cable put in. I'd rather have it sent over 3G or have my videos on the device.
Sony's A910??? has digital televsion capabilities and the antenna is built into the player. I played with one in Akihabara and could only saw...wow.
The one issue that these companies don't understand is that overall Japan is a hard market to enter because the folks there are loyal to Japanese products (Korea was even more like this when I was last there). Look as video games...the xbox is on its death bed with sales hardly reaching 1 million after three years.
Sharp having a 25% share of the mobile phone market in Japan doesn't shock me in the slightest.
The Japanese economy has always leaned towards the xenophobic side of things -- foreign companies, even ones who tailor their business model to Japanese wants/tastes, are always at a gigantic competitive disadvantage in Japan.
The American-made Xbox was a huge dud in Japan as well -- it consistently was the worst seller of any major console for its entire lifecycle and never came close to numbers posted by Japanese competitors Nintendo and Sony.
I fail to see how those sentences apply to Japan or SoftBank. We've had 3G networks here in Japan for years.
Earlier you accused Apple and AT&T of colluding charging more for 3G.
Quote:
Try telling that to people who aren't choosing the iPhone here. Seriously. People do what we often think "they can't do." However bad you may feel the comparisons are, people count the costs and make such comparisons.
I'm not sure what you are talking about. As no phone can use 100mbs internet. You pointing that out has nothing to do with the iPhone nor any other phone.
Quote:
And you yourself use that every single day, all day long? Even so, are you going to "convince" the Japanese by making such statements? I fail to see the long behind a statement that does little more than promote the status quo.
Your logic is confusing. Are you saying because I don't use Japanese on the iPhone means it isn't there?
Quote:
Could you provide some links to those studies? And are those studies conducted within Japan by native Japanese? And will your mention of those studies suddenly bring the Japanese into SoftBank shops to buy the iPhone?? (Again, defense of the status quo. Basically you are saying, "what is good for the rest of the world should be good enough for Japan." It doesn't work that way.)
No, I'm not saying the technology isn't useful. I'm saying its reported to not be as widely used as people make it sound.
Quote:
To save all of you the trouble of pulling up dashboard to figure out what "insular" means: "ignorant of or uninterested in cultures, ideas or peoples outside one's own experience."
Never was there made a more ignorant statement about Japan, it's people or its culture. One may argue that people here are narrow minded at time, but they are most assuredly not insular.
This is the reason why the XBox 360 has done so well against the Playstation 3 in Japan. Or the reason why Sharp owns the largest share of the mobile phone market in Japan.
Still anyway not my words, I got it from the Wall Street Journal article that this AI post is based on.
"More than 10 domestic handset manufacturers compete for a slice of Japan's cellphone market, one of the world's largest with annual sales of 50 million phones. Nokia Corp., the industry leader in global shipments, has less than 1% share in Japan. Instead, Sharp Corp. leads the Japanese market, with about 25% of shipments. The global market is more than one billion phones.
Still, expectations had been high that if anyone could break into such an insular market, Apple would with the iPhone 3G because of its strong brand name and popularity of its iPod players and Macintosh computers. The original iPhone wasn't sold in Japan."
Quote:
But again, these arguments do nothing to explain the problem here or provide a solution.
The problem was explained in the Wall Street Journal article.
Their may be no solution. Apple may be content to sell a few hundred thousand phones in Japan. Which will equate to hundreds of millions in revenue. That may be good enough.
The vast majority of Japanese consumers probably don't even know that the iPhone is available here.
They need to run ads, better yet, viral ones to post on Nico-nico-doga(the Japanese and more high-tech version of You-tube).
Suggestion: Get a bunch of junior & senior high school girls together (preferably cute ones), hand them all iPhones and let them play and text to their hearts' delight. Young females screeching, ahhing and giggling on screen is *definitely* the way to a Japanese consumer's heart (and his/her wallet). [Case in point, the Nintendo Wii commercials on TV and at their website where they showed all those families and friends having fun]
Also, iTS Japan sucks. Their music offerings are limited (many major labels are missing, most notably Sony), there are NO TV shows and NO Movie offerings other than Pixar short films. It's easier and cheaper to rent CDs and just rip those (albeit illegal).
The iPhone camera is also a disaster. Sharp and Toshiba and others have integrated great cameras into their cell phones which can also record lengthy video footage as long as you've got a decent sized mini-SD card handy. The music players aren't all that great and it takes forever to download a song even with 3G, as well as being very expensive even on an unlimited plan, so most people also carry an iPod (and/or other music player). Battery time can easily be lengthened on the run with AA portable battery chargers sold anywhere.
So it's not just emoji, TV availability and Japanese text input.
RE: amazon.jp, if you're going to pay at the 7/11, why not save yourself an extra trip and order at the 7/11 online store (http://www.711net.jp/). They'll email/text you a notice when your purchase arrives at your designated store and you just go in, show them the number (or you can print out a barcode if you really hate trees) pay and receive your DVDs on the spot.
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You can sell nearly anything in Japan if you cater it to the Japanese. I mentioned this in my opening post in the previous article on this topic.
Really? That is - I hate to say it -- bu11s*it.
Here's your 'article'. Where do you provide an "example" of how you "can sell nearly anything"?
----Begin JDW's "Article"----
It's therefore hilarious to me that most all of you posting in this thread do not live here in Japan!
SoftBank has Brad Pitt on TV selling their phones and wireless service. I think Apple considered them one of the more trendy carriers here (which I would agree with), and that combined with the fact SoftBank was willing to hand over a considerable percentage of monthly subscription fees was what finalized the deal. However, AU has the most stable network over here, and most of my associates who want the iPhone badly don't quite want it badly enough to change their personal phones to SoftBank. This holds true for people who are already using SoftBank for their office phones. Drop-outs are common with SoftBank, but not so with AU. However, AU is more than double the price on its low end plans than SoftBank, so SoftBank is popular with people like me who are frugal-minded. Ironically though, the frugal-minded consumer is not about to snatch ditch their ¥980/month White Plan for the whopping ¥7,000/month iPhone plan. I myself couldn't care less how dazzling the iPhone is. Am I going to pay ¥1,000 MORE per month than I pay for my home 100Mb/sec fiber optic internet connection? I think not! And I speak as a Mac lover since 1984 here.
As this article states, there are other issues. I think the lack of bar code functionality will be a bigger loss than the stupid emoticons among "adults" (people like myself who are 30 and older). Bar codes are everywhere. I've even see them on TV ads! The Japanese consumer will be forgiving about these little things on this version. But if Apple continues to offer the same "basic" functionality that other phones here have had for years, then subsequent revisions of the iPhone may not sell so well. So while I will agree with this article for sales to date, I remain a bit skeptical to see if Apple can make the iPhone more Japanese. Americans have traditionally failed to do this when selling to Japan, and they've lost a lot of money as a result. I hope Apple can prove itself different in that regard.
------End JDW's "Article"----
Then there's the other great stuff like a Calendar and Weather not to mention a timer, I mean this is real exciting stuff!!! Not to mention a map incase we get lost on our way to work. I mean what would the alternative be, print of directions before you go on a trip?
I think the problem is probably that the iPhone hasn't really added anything other than a nice interface. The apps on the whole are very simple and although they may add better interfaces we've seen most of it before.
What would have been good is a vpn connection on your phone so you can access all your work files rather than repeating email again. Or even something like Back to your mac but on your phone. Wouldn't it be cool if you could access all your files from your home computer from your phone, that way if you havnt transfered a song you want you could just get at it. Instead they seem to just repeating stuff done many times before.
What would have been good is a vpn connection on your phone so you can access all your work files rather than repeating email again. Or even something like Back to your mac but on your phone. Wouldn't it be cool if you could access all your files from your home computer from your phone, that way if you havnt transfered a song you want you could just get at it. Instead they seem to just repeating stuff done many times before.
There are many applications on App Store that does exactly that. There is even a web app that let you access your Mac (open files, take screen shots of your desktop or iSight, run applications... etc) using Safari on the iPhone. Google iPhone remote or look for VPN in the App Store.
If Japan is largely a cash society only supports the report that online purchasing is not as popular in Japan.
Quite a number of Japanese online purchasing sites have options for cash payment such as cash on delivery or bank transfer (which is a fairly popular option). A majority of transactions on Yahoo! Japan Auctions uses the bank transfer method.
What methodology do these analysts use to determine the number of sales?
If SoftBank says they got 215,000 iPhone activations the first month, how is 160k going to be credible?
Softbank has not officially announced the number of iPhone activations only the total number of 3G activations which they release every month. 3G activations are running 200,000 or so a month as Softbank 2G users upgrade. iPhone 3G is only part of that number.
AT&T charges more for 3G. Apple makes no money directly from that. AT&T has had to invest billions in building out its 3G infrastructure. So its not as though they are charging more for nothing.
I fail to see how those sentences apply to Japan or SoftBank. We've had 3G networks here in Japan for years.
You cannot carry that 100mbs fiber internet in your pocket and access it where ever you go. Fiber and wireless are not comparable like that.
Try telling that to people who aren't choosing the iPhone here. Seriously. People do what we often think "they can't do." However bad you may feel the comparisons are, people count the costs and make such comparisons.
Apple has attempted to cater to Japanese text input.
And you yourself use that every single day, all day long? Even so, are you going to "convince" the Japanese by making such statements? I fail to see the long behind a statement that does little more than promote the status quo.
It seems to be a matter of opinion as to how important this feature is. Studies of the Japanese market have shown many people don't use it.
Could you provide some links to those studies? And are those studies conducted within Japan by native Japanese? And will your mention of those studies suddenly bring the Japanese into SoftBank shops to buy the iPhone?? (Again, defense of the status quo. Basically you are saying, "what is good for the rest of the world should be good enough for Japan." It doesn't work that way.)
One it talks about how insular the Asian markets are and its tough for any international manufacturer to break into.
Two is the fact that Softbank is not selling the iPhone at price competitive rates. In comparison to other countries.
To save all of you the trouble of pulling up dashboard to figure out what "insular" means: "ignorant of or uninterested in cultures, ideas or peoples outside one's own experience."
Never was there made a more ignorant statement about Japan, it's people or its culture. One may argue that people here are narrow minded at time, but they are most assuredly not insular.
But again, these arguments do nothing to explain the problem here or provide a solution.
Really? That is - I hate to say it -- bu11s*it.
Here's your 'article'. Where do you provide an "example" of how you "can sell nearly anything"?
Not sure what you're laughing about since you clearly lack the ability to read and comprehend the English language. Nowhere did I promise anyone "an example" as you improperly indicate. In my post, which you quote in your abusive post, I clearly speak of the disadvantages to SoftBank. I then talk about the lack of features (i.e., lack of customization for the Japanese market); namely, emoticons and bar code reading. I stand behind what I have written.
While your rudeness disturbs me beyond measure, I will provide a couple examples (for I lack the time to provide others, especially to rude folk):
Coca-cola is not a Japanese company, and yet they are very successful here. Yet, where is Pepsi? No where to be found. Why? One significant reason is that many years ago Pepsi tried to use the USA version cola-war ads here in Japan. Coke took a more passive, anti-aggressive (i.e., "Japanese" approach). Coke refrained from acting American (which satisfies Americans but not Japanese) in order to sell it's product here. Coke is now found everywhere here, unlike Pepsi. One may argue there are other reasons at work too, but ultimately it boils down to how well the Coke people catered their strategy to Japan, versus how badly the Pepsi people did it.
McDonald's has been a great success here, as it caters its products and image to the Japanese while at the same time retaining much of its American image and taste. KFC had a hard time here at first, until it followed McDonald's lead in structuring its restaurants and food to Japanese tastes. Burger King and Taco Bell, while successful in the USA, are no where to be found here. (Too bad too because I like BK better than McDonalds.)
Unmodified toys like Barbie Dolls did not do well here at first. Then came some Japanese style Barbie toys that captured the interest of many little Japanese girls.
Understanding the importance of how to properly size-down one's food item packaging has led to the success of some American companies (especially frozen foods) in many Japanese stores.
I could go on, but my purpose in posting about the iPhone was to discuss why it currently has not caught on so well here and what Apple can do to partly address that. Simply put, what may be acceptable in every single country outside Japan is not necessarily what will be accepted here. To argue against such is to argue with the Japanese people themselves, and I would challenge the insular among you to live here a few years in order to give them "your best shot." In the meantime, as an AAPL shareholder, I do hope Cupertino gives Japan a re-think and wows the market over here with something new and "exciting to the Japanese."
Most of the comments from those living outside of Japan are totally useless in a topic like this, so living in Tokyo and being a long time Apple supporter, I thought I'd give my 30yen...
I've had the Sharpe 920SH since last October and my house mate has had the iPhone 3G since launch day in Japan. Comparing them side by side often, I just can't justify giving up the stability and features of my Sharpe.
I won't go into all the features, but an example of something I can do on my Sharpe: I flick it to widescreen view, live digital TV and browse the OSD TV guide. There's nothing on I particularly want to see, so I play highlights from the Olympics which I had recorded previously. Whilst watching I receive a mail, so I flick to split-screen view. This give me live TV on the left, and my new message on the right of the screen - instantly. The message is in Japanese and there are 2 Kanji I don't know. So i select the passage and copy it. I then close the mail and switch to my internet bookmarks. I head to excite translator, paste the Kanji and translate it. I flick back to the mail, relpy and return to full-screen TV. All of this is pretty much instant, no lag, no TV break-up, full internet.
The iPhone's movie playback / screen, iPod player and App Store are all fantastic, but they're not yet enough for me to switch (down-grade). I love Apple and I want to have an iPhone, but it's simply not good enough in Japan yet. I'll get one when it has:
Copy and Paste,
Video Recording and full MMS,
Emoji's (for foreigners writing in Japanese these are almost essential to confirm emotions when using ambibous language),
a battery that will last 2 days even with reasonable use,
Yahoo! keitai functionality for weather, GPS maps, cinema times etc,
Faster Japanese text input (i beat my housemate EVERY-time here)
A real camera (over 3.2mps, auto focus, light)
For now, I think i'm going to get a new touch and wait for the 3rd gen - does anyone know why the new touch isn't in retail stores here yet?
Also I wanted to post this link, which breaks down more of the features lacking from the iPhone:
http://asiajin.com/blog/2008/07/08/f...se-cellphones/
You may have the most powerful computer in the world, but if you are running some archaic "operating system" from 1976 that can only address 1kb of ram and it requires you to write all your own programs, you would probably trade that supercomputer in for a standard iMac running OSX in a heartbeat.
You knew I had to come on this thread and say "I told you so".
emoji? Are you one of those foreigners/westerners that has been here for years and still types mainly in English?
I am not.
Most of the comments from those living outside of Japan are totally useless in a topic like this.
>>Well said and cannot agree more.
For now, I think i'm going to get a new touch and wait for the 3rd gen - does anyone know why the new touch isn't in retail stores here yet?
>> Any WiFi device has to get government approval and the new iPod Touch is in the process now. Stores list the Touch being available the first week of Octobr, most likely October 4th weekend.
If the phones and 3G weren't so good in Japan, maybe we'd have more need for decent Wi-Fi coverage to actually use this functionality on the Touch!
3G is good enough though I guess when Hikari internet at home is going up to 160mbs this month!
Ahh thanks Joel, naruhodo ne...
3G is good enough though I guess when Hikari internet at home is going up to 160mbs this month!
>> I was talking with WAN Optimization equipment resellers. They are having trouble selling because the internet infrastructure is so good here, it is also cheaper to just add another hikari internet line and add bandwidth than buy expensive IT infra equipment.
Hey all, I'm a long-time reader of the forum and today a first time poster.
Most of the comments from those living outside of Japan are totally useless in a topic like this.
>>Well said and cannot agree more.
For now, I think i'm going to get a new touch and wait for the 3rd gen - does anyone know why the new touch isn't in retail stores here yet?
>> Any WiFi device has to get government approval and the new iPod Touch is in the process now. Stores list the Touch being available the first week of Octobr, most likely October 4th weekend.
a few month test drive in the Akihabara would prevent all the problems... don't need the hot phone, just the prototype of touch and feel, plus few key features... someone skipped a key step of market testing... http://wikitravel.org/en/Tokyo/Akihabara
Remind me the right side drive US car sitting in the japanese display window many years ago...
I could go on, but my purpose in posting about the iPhone was to discuss why it currently has not caught on so well here and what Apple can do to partly address that. Simply put, what may be acceptable in every single country outside Japan is not necessarily what will be accepted here. To argue against such is to argue with the Japanese people themselves, and I would challenge the insular among you to live here a few years in order to give them "your best shot." In the meantime, as an AAPL shareholder, I do hope Cupertino gives Japan a re-think and wows the market over here with something new and "exciting to the Japanese."
Out of curiosity, are there similar examples that involve electronics companies making major, lasting inroads in Japan?
TV is one of those things that Apple will never join in if the solution is pulling out a terrestrial antenna that I have to position to get a good signal It's all a bit lame; I haven't had to do that since 1981 when my neighbor had cable put in. I'd rather have it sent over 3G or have my videos on the device.
Sony's A910??? has digital televsion capabilities and the antenna is built into the player. I played with one in Akihabara and could only saw...wow.
The one issue that these companies don't understand is that overall Japan is a hard market to enter because the folks there are loyal to Japanese products (Korea was even more like this when I was last there). Look as video games...the xbox is on its death bed with sales hardly reaching 1 million after three years.
The Japanese economy has always leaned towards the xenophobic side of things -- foreign companies, even ones who tailor their business model to Japanese wants/tastes, are always at a gigantic competitive disadvantage in Japan.
The American-made Xbox was a huge dud in Japan as well -- it consistently was the worst seller of any major console for its entire lifecycle and never came close to numbers posted by Japanese competitors Nintendo and Sony.
I fail to see how those sentences apply to Japan or SoftBank. We've had 3G networks here in Japan for years.
Earlier you accused Apple and AT&T of colluding charging more for 3G.
Try telling that to people who aren't choosing the iPhone here. Seriously. People do what we often think "they can't do." However bad you may feel the comparisons are, people count the costs and make such comparisons.
I'm not sure what you are talking about. As no phone can use 100mbs internet. You pointing that out has nothing to do with the iPhone nor any other phone.
And you yourself use that every single day, all day long? Even so, are you going to "convince" the Japanese by making such statements? I fail to see the long behind a statement that does little more than promote the status quo.
Your logic is confusing. Are you saying because I don't use Japanese on the iPhone means it isn't there?
Could you provide some links to those studies? And are those studies conducted within Japan by native Japanese? And will your mention of those studies suddenly bring the Japanese into SoftBank shops to buy the iPhone?? (Again, defense of the status quo. Basically you are saying, "what is good for the rest of the world should be good enough for Japan." It doesn't work that way.)
Japan?s Mobile Wallets Fail To Inspire?Yet
No, I'm not saying the technology isn't useful. I'm saying its reported to not be as widely used as people make it sound.
To save all of you the trouble of pulling up dashboard to figure out what "insular" means: "ignorant of or uninterested in cultures, ideas or peoples outside one's own experience."
Never was there made a more ignorant statement about Japan, it's people or its culture. One may argue that people here are narrow minded at time, but they are most assuredly not insular.
This is the reason why the XBox 360 has done so well against the Playstation 3 in Japan. Or the reason why Sharp owns the largest share of the mobile phone market in Japan.
Still anyway not my words, I got it from the Wall Street Journal article that this AI post is based on.
"More than 10 domestic handset manufacturers compete for a slice of Japan's cellphone market, one of the world's largest with annual sales of 50 million phones. Nokia Corp., the industry leader in global shipments, has less than 1% share in Japan. Instead, Sharp Corp. leads the Japanese market, with about 25% of shipments. The global market is more than one billion phones.
Still, expectations had been high that if anyone could break into such an insular market, Apple would with the iPhone 3G because of its strong brand name and popularity of its iPod players and Macintosh computers. The original iPhone wasn't sold in Japan."
But again, these arguments do nothing to explain the problem here or provide a solution.
The problem was explained in the Wall Street Journal article.
Their may be no solution. Apple may be content to sell a few hundred thousand phones in Japan. Which will equate to hundreds of millions in revenue. That may be good enough.
They need to run ads, better yet, viral ones to post on Nico-nico-doga(the Japanese and more high-tech version of You-tube).
Suggestion: Get a bunch of junior & senior high school girls together (preferably cute ones), hand them all iPhones and let them play and text to their hearts' delight. Young females screeching, ahhing and giggling on screen is *definitely* the way to a Japanese consumer's heart (and his/her wallet). [Case in point, the Nintendo Wii commercials on TV and at their website where they showed all those families and friends having fun]
Also, iTS Japan sucks. Their music offerings are limited (many major labels are missing, most notably Sony), there are NO TV shows and NO Movie offerings other than Pixar short films. It's easier and cheaper to rent CDs and just rip those (albeit illegal).
The iPhone camera is also a disaster. Sharp and Toshiba and others have integrated great cameras into their cell phones which can also record lengthy video footage as long as you've got a decent sized mini-SD card handy. The music players aren't all that great and it takes forever to download a song even with 3G, as well as being very expensive even on an unlimited plan, so most people also carry an iPod (and/or other music player). Battery time can easily be lengthened on the run with AA portable battery chargers sold anywhere.
So it's not just emoji, TV availability and Japanese text input.
RE: amazon.jp, if you're going to pay at the 7/11, why not save yourself an extra trip and order at the 7/11 online store (http://www.711net.jp/). They'll email/text you a notice when your purchase arrives at your designated store and you just go in, show them the number (or you can print out a barcode if you really hate trees) pay and receive your DVDs on the spot.