International Day of the iPhone: Japan
Well, the International Day of the iPhone is here, when Apple's new 3G iPhone launches around the world. In Japan, the line outside Softbank's flagship store in Omotesando, Tokyo reached 1500 people and over a kilometer in length, as Japanese fans lined up to get their hands on the device for the first time. Masayoshi Son, the enigmatic president of Softbank and the mind behind the success of Google-trouncing Yahoo Japan, was beaming as he watched the lines of iPhone buyers, most of whom were switching from competing cellphone companies au/KDDI and NTT Docomo. Being a maverick has helped make the UC Berkeley-educated Son, a third-generation Japanese of Korean descent, the richest man in Japan, and his ability to "think different" probably helped him win the contract for the iPhone from Steve Jobs. While I'm still not sure if the iPhone will bowl over Japanese keitai users, who are extremely hidebound and love their flip-fones with the fancy styling and easy-to-type (for them) numeric keypads, I do love the coming havoc the iPhone will wreak in the Japanese cellphone marketplace as users realize they don't have to give cellular providers power to dictate everything about their phone, from what music formats they can listen to to what applications they can run -- they can just stick anything in iTunes and sync it over. Today I updated my (first-gen) iPhone to the updated 2.0 firmware and downloaded the app I've always wanted, a light saber sound simulator (iTunes link). Any phone platform that can bring that kind of awesomeness to its users will certainly find a niche in Japan.
posted by Peter in Japan at 5:13 PM
7 Comments:
http://whatjapanthinks.com/2008/07/10/why-the-iphone-is-not-wanted-in-japan/
5:58 PM
yes, Peter
I'm waiting on that 2.0 upgrade, too! There's supposed to be a kana-writing feature, I think, with the new phone. I like the all-black body, but it looked like, on CNN video, nihonjin were getting white ones.
6:08 PM
Tudza, I think some of that info was a little twisted against the iPhone, for example one thing I read about was based on opinions before the iPhone was announced, when we all assumed it'd be 80,000 for one.
Here's Danny Choo's take on it all.
2:45 AM
That article was written yesterday. I'm sure the people polled knew the price...
DannyChoo is hardly an objective source for Apple comments, seeing how he's a tremendous Apple fanboy.
I'm actually surprised Japanese people are excited about the iPhone. Current keitais are so much cooler and functional.
8:29 AM
Yes, he is ^_^ I'd say a lot of the buzz is the fact that the smartphone scene in Japan is practically zero...nothing with a keyboard we'd actually use. Blackberry has been here for a year or so but at $600 for a device that (at least when it came out) had no actual Japanese support, it wasn't going to happen. And the iPhone does several major things well (iPod, web browsing device, etc.).
8:36 AM
I work for Apple, so I'm a little biased towards them, hehe. But I hope the iPhone can do well, although it'd be great if it could somehow handle those weird digital "stamps" I've seen in my magazines. I know if you scan it with your phone, you can go to web content or something. Peter, what are those black and white square symbols that people scan with their cells called? (if you understood my crazy description, haha)
Anyway, I bet the iPhone could use its camera feature to scan the box the same way the program "Delicious Monster" can scan barcodes using the iSight camera. I bet some Japanese developer is working on an app for it now ^_^
I think the iPhone is fantastic after having one for a year. My Japanese friends liked it too. The only complaint I personally have is that I want to put my とてもとてもかわい (really cute) cell phone straps on the phone! :( Maybe now that the phone is in Japan, they will release cases that allow you to put a cell phone charm on the iPhone. Peter, do you know what people call those cell phone accessories that dangle from the phones? I know you sell many cute ones on jbox/jlist.
9:49 AM
Tiffers, I happened to click over to your profile. Are you really 21 and working at Apple? Cool if so. I'm sure there are some awesome opportunities in the business world these days.
I agree that the iPhone is really an incredible thing. I used mine like 2-3 hours a day in Japan where it isn't even useful as a phone. So a full-powered, Japanese-capable iPhone with 3G, that will rock so hard. Imagine, being able to call up every train schedule with it, wow. I also use mine as a major video device, watching whole anime series on it, something that's hard as heck to do on any other phone, even the TV-enabled ones here. Having the platform be (mostly) open is also great.
The UPC thingies, I'm not sure. It's possible they could be scanned with the iPhone, although personally I never figured them out myself. Phone straps are either called "straps" (ストラップ), or sometimes more culturally, netsuke (根付), originally a little carved ikon that you'd put on the end of a drawstring to hold your money. I, too, would like a way to put a strap on the phone since I've since dropping my phone with that thing. Ah, well, Steve and his darned aesthetic ideas. (Remember when he killed all doors on laptops becuase doors block feng-shui or whatever it was.)
12:45 PM
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