Slashdot Mirror


Vodafone Quitting Japan

dimension6 writes "Reuters is reporting that Vodafone, the world's largest mobile phone operator, is quitting business in Japan. Vodafone has been having a difficult time since they entered the Japanese market, a result of many blunders such as introducing Nokia brick phones where flip-phones are the norm and being slow to adopt 3G technology widely used by its competitors. Vodafone claimed that being part of the most advanced mobile phone market helped boost their sales elsewhere, but few Japanese-market phones have made it to other countries. The Japanese Vodafone division is likely to be bought by Softbank, the largest ISP in Japan."

169 comments

  1. Same goes for Sweden by d99-sbr · · Score: 3, Interesting

    They recently decided to pull out of Sweden too. Margins have become razor thin after voice prices fell to a few cents per minute (/$).

    1. Re:Same goes for Sweden by MichaelSmith · · Score: 3, Informative
      They recently decided to pull out of Sweden too. Margins have become razor thin after voice prices fell to a few cents per minute (/$).

      I moved my mobile phone accounts from Vodafone over to Optus here an Australia because they kept stuffing me around through their resellers. One reseller which I had an account through was being closed down by Vodafone and it became impossible for me to change my account.

      The cheapest account they were offering me was $15/month. Optus had accounts at $5/month. It was an easy decision.

      They keep trying to offer these deals where you pay $30/month and get (supposedly) more than $100 in calls but this just gives the impression to me that they are only interested in having phone mad teenagers as customers.

    2. Re:Same goes for Sweden by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      id be curious to know exactly what you mean by the kept stuffing you around through their resellers. i was actually unaware they had resellers in .au, and even if they did why not just deal with the company itself?

      oh, an you made a bad choice. thats from someone who also things the "cap" plans are stupid
      optus charges in 30 second blocks - vodafone charges in 1 second blocks
      optus charges around 45c for a 30 second block - vodafone charges 1c per 1 second

      vodafone prepaid (of which prices i quoted, optus prices were from contract plans) credit lasts 2 months, minimum top up $20 (i think) which equates to $10 per month, 17 minutes of calls. unused credit carries over if you top up before it expires. compare this to your $5 a month, for just over 5 and a half minutes of 30 second blocks. unless you time your phone calls down the the 30 second block your going to waste at least a third of that 5.5 minutes (assuming short calls). note: flagfall ignored in both cases. so yeah, you do pay half as much a month, for a realistic 1/5 talk time. perhaps you dont use your phone and this works out fine for you, but your still supporting the 2nd largest uncompetitive telco in australia.

      personally, i put $20 then $30 in alternating bi-monthly cycles in order to get, and then keep, the masses of free sms messages they give you for topping up $30+

    3. Re:Same goes for Sweden by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Matrix fans weird me out

    4. Re:Same goes for Sweden by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They recently decided to pull out of Sweden too. Margins have become razor thin after voice prices fell to a few cents per minute (/$).

      Do you have a source for that? I ask because my company recently signed a new deal to market Vodafone in Sweden, which would be unlikely if they had decided to leave.

    5. Re:Same goes for Sweden by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Its on their Investor Relations page, press release of 5th Jan 2006. Sold up the whole shooting match to Telenor and scuttled out of Dodge.

    6. Re:Same goes for Sweden by Dr.+Cody · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Then why are their advertisements still on TV?

  2. Trend? by Kawahee · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Isn't this a general trend? Western companies have a hard time starting up over in Asia. KFC/Nike/etc have just begun to crack the Chinese markets, so it's no surprise (to me) that other companies have had trouble in Japan.

    Take Microsoft and the Xbox for example. Playstation has had a good reception outside of Japan, but not vice versa.

    --
    I'll subscribe to Slashdot when I see a month without a dupe, a typo, or an article the "editors" didn't read.
    1. Re:Trend? by omegashenron · · Score: 3, Interesting
      Western companies have a hard time starting up over in Asia.


      I agree - however part of the problem is that Western Companies generally don't understand the demographic of their customers, instead they pretend Asia is just like the West eg:

      • Vodafone not on a 3g network or offering a flip phone
      • Original Xbox not offering as many Japanese RPG's as PS2


      It will be interesting to see how XBOX360 fares in Japan when the promised new RPG's come out. At the moment, Gamecube outsells it.

      Western companies need to learn that the entire attitude of "Customers will buy what we tell them to" just wont cut it in Asia. Consumers are generally more savvy and wont tolerate crap. As a former unsatisfied vodafone customer - I must say that I delight in seeing this failure of theirs.
      --
      Excuses Are Like Assholes - Everybody's Got One
    2. Re:Trend? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Take Microsoft and the Xbox for example. Playstation has had a good reception outside of Japan, but not vice versa.

      So Japan hasn't had a good reception outside of Playstation?

    3. Re:Trend? by Zarhan · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Isn't this a general trend? Western companies have a hard time starting up over in Asia. KFC/Nike/etc have just begun to crack the Chinese markets, so it's no surprise (to me) that other companies have had trouble in Japan.

      There is an anedcotal story about how Nokia started selling their phones in China. Originally they just copied their western ad campaings, focusing on individuality, how you can customize your phone with differently colored cases, personalizing software etc, in effect "make this phone like no other according to your taste"

      Sales didn't pick up, and they studied the problem, noting that the group mentality in Asia is quite different from the West, where everyone is individualist. So the new campaign went with the idea of "Get our phone - just like everybody else". And the results were much better...

    4. Re:Trend? by Hast · · Score: 2, Informative
      Vodafone not on a 3g network or offering a flip phone

      This is incorrect. Vodafone has both a 3G network in Japan (the same they have everywhere else) and several clam-shells on the market.

      Phones do have very different demands on the Japanese market than Eu though. Software crashes is unacceptable to a large part of the market there. It's nowhere near as critical on other markets. OTOH that a phone is large like a small house is not a problem in Japan though. You reguralry see phones there that would be unsellable in the Eu market due to size.

      I just hope that the 3G network they put up will remain. It would be a damn shame if 3G phones from Eu couldn't be used in Japan anymore.
    5. Re:Trend? by bheer · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Sales didn't pick up, and they studied the problem, noting that the group mentality in Asia is quite different from the West, where everyone is individualist. So the new campaign went with the idea of "Get our phone - just like everybody else". And the results were much better...

      This potrayal of herd-mind (or hive-mind?) Asians on Slashdot has got to be the next big Slashdot meme. While it is true that Asians have historically more community minded that the West, community minded != groupthink. Indeed, given that personalizable phones (ones with removable faceplates, places to attach photos etc) do quite well in India and Singapore, two markets I'm familiar with.

      I'd really like to see one of these "get our phone - just like everybody else" ads.

    6. Re:Trend? by macshit · · Score: 2, Interesting

      This potrayal of herd-mind (or hive-mind?) Asians on Slashdot has got to be the next big Slashdot meme. While it is true that Asians have historically more community minded that the West, community minded != groupthink.

      Perhaps not, but it's absolutely true that there's a huge group-think thing going on, at least in Japan and Korea (the two countries I'm familiar with). ["Community minded", hahaha, now there's a euphemism for you! As far as I can see, the main factor is an unusually high degree of risk-aversion.]

      This isn't to say that everybody is like that in those two countries, or that group-think isn't a factor in other countries -- obviously neither is true -- but stereotypes often have a basis in reality, I think this is one fo those cases.

      --
      We live, as we dream -- alone....
    7. Re:Trend? by KDR_11k · · Score: 2, Funny

      Maybe it was an implicit Soviet Russia joke?

      --
      Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
    8. Re:Trend? by Ash-Fox · · Score: 1

      > Software crashes is unacceptable to a large part of the market there.

      I don't know anyone who'd accept that either in Europe.

      --
      Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
    9. Re:Trend? by bheer · · Score: 1

      I couldn't explain 'community minded' well-- what I meant was they tend to value familial relations, maintain contacts with their extended family, respect their elders, that sort of thing. Again, not that this doesn't happen in the West, but that it happens much less than in the East.

      But to return to the original post, I'd still like to see these "same as everybody else's" phone ads. Were the Chinese afraid that one day all those carrying purple phones would be executed?

    10. Re:Trend? by twaltari · · Score: 1

      Exactly. This is the primary reason I wanna keep Windows Mobile off my phone.

    11. Re:Trend? by Geezle2 · · Score: 1

      I can't speak for Korea, but the Japanese are very cautious around foreigners and outsiders. To the outsider, this does make the Japanese people seem somewhat clumpy and herd-like. Within their own groups, however, there seems to be just as much desire to define themselves as individuals as in any other culture. Sure, there is the whole uniform aspect of the culture. Everyone here wears uniforms, from students to gas station attendants, from office workers to highway maintenance crews, but this just makes it that much more important for them to individualize with the details. The typical cell phone here is plastered with layers of purikura stickers and has a bewildering array of little items tied into its wrist strap eyelet. This is on top of the fact that there are literally hundreds of models of cell phone to choose from in the first place, each with its own array of accessories. I was here for months before I had met someone who had the same model phone as me.

      If you really need proof of the Japanese person's need for individuality, take a look at their cars. Aside from the cookie-cutter white minipickup trucks that all of the farmers use, most cars seem to have at least a little customization done to them. For the extreme of customization, look out for those light commercial trucks driven by owner-operators. . .the ones encrusted with astonishing masses of chrome bumpers, guards, accents and light racks.

      From a foreigner's superficial examination, the Japanese do seem to be marching in lockstep. The truth, however, is very different, particulary where things like cell phones are concerned. The Japanese are just as much a bunch of individuals as any other group. . .many of them just have a particularly Japanese way of expressing it that westerners are often not able to spot right away.

    12. Re:Trend? by Hast · · Score: 1

      Well, people in Eu and US may not *like* that their phone crashes; but they do tend to accept it. The more technically inclined may bring it in to their dealer and have the phone re-flashed with newer firmware.

      In Japan people tend to return the phone if it crashes. No matter how obscure the crash.

    13. Re:Trend? by macshit · · Score: 1

      It isn't a superficial examination -- I've lived in Japan for many years, and it's patently obvious everywhere you look.

      That isn't to say that people aren't individuals (I wasn't suggesting the hive-mind thing was literally true!), or that people don't want to be individuals (there are many indicators, as you mention, which show that they do), but it's pretty clear that there's still a pervasive fundamental fear of taking individual action that might not be approved of by whatever group people identify with. People still seek to differentiate themselves, but almost always do so in a very safe manner, and usually via an "approved mechanism."

      The above is a very broad generalization, and obviously it's a matter of degree -- this sort of thing also exists everywhere else too (people in general do want to fit in, and anyway how else do you explain Britney Spears?) -- but ultimately an American is probably far more likely to say "fuck you all" and really mean it.

      [It's a common self-delusion among Japanese to say "Look at all the variation around (tick off a list of Noticeably Different subcultures) -- we are an individualistic society now!" It isn't true. Maybe it's more true now than many years ago (dunno about that), but the whole "group think" thing is not exactly dead...]

      --
      We live, as we dream -- alone....
    14. Re:Trend? by Ash-Fox · · Score: 1

      I suppose me and my aquaitences (in Europe) are in the minority of people who return mobiles then that crash in Europe, then. Seriously, I don't know *anyone* in Europe who doesn't return their mobile phone if it crashes.

      --
      Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
  3. Vodaphone had some real Chutzpah, to think they co by putko · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Vodaphone had some real chutzpah, to think they could beat the Japanese on their home turf, in a gadget-oriented market.

    Only Apple has done that in recent memory, and they are hardly "normal".

    --
    http://www.thebricktestament.com/the_law/when_to_s tone_your_children/dt21_18a.html
  4. Sucks for business travellers by BadAnalogyGuy · · Score: 1

    Even though Japan has slowly been losing ground as one of the leading business destinations (mostly to China, Korea, and India), it is still in the top tier of the electronics world, as well as in the banking world. It is unfortunate that business travellers who may have signed up with Vodafone to enjoy guaranteed global access to its networks is now going to lose that guarantee in Japan.

    Vodafone wasn't really making much headway in Japan anyway. Large, clumsy phones designed for Europeans simply don't jive with the small, sleek, feature-packed phones that typify the phones of other Japanese operators.

    1. Re:Sucks for business travellers by jrumney · · Score: 1
      It is unfortunate that business travellers who may have signed up with Vodafone to enjoy guaranteed global access to its networks is now going to lose that guarantee in Japan.

      I'm hoping the opposite will happen. When I was last in Japan, my 3G phone could see two networks - Vodafone and NTT Docomo, but whenever it was out of Vodafone range and could see only Docomo, it told me "Emergency Calls Only". Now that the old JPhone network is no longer going to be owned by Vodafone, hopefully they'll go out and get a roaming agreement with NTT Docomo.

    2. Re:Sucks for business travellers by Hast · · Score: 1
      Large, clumsy phones designed for Europeans simply don't jive with the small, sleek, feature-packed phones that typify the phones of other Japanese operators.

      In my experience it's actually the other way around. Many phones (particularly 3G) in Japan are too big to be sellable on the Eu market. Eu phones are really pretty darned good in this aspect.

      They do have higher demands on software quality though.

      FYI I work with developing mobile phones, for multiple markets.
    3. Re:Sucks for business travellers by Jearil · · Score: 1

      Very true. I just visited Japan recently and one thing I did note was that all of their cell phones were HUGE. I have a tiny Samsung for work, and it has to be perhaps half the size of a typical Japanese cell phone. They like large flip phones with big screens, probably because they always are using them.

      What a sight it is to see a Japanese school girl riding her bike down a street in the rain with an umbrella in one hand and her cell phone in the other, text messaging people as she juggles everything.

    4. Re:Sucks for business travellers by Kuukai · · Score: 1

      Large, clumsy phones designed for Europeans simply don't jive with the small, sleek, feature-packed phones that typify the phones of other Japanese operators.
      But their Japanese phones were great though. They didn't beat Docomo in popularity, but unlike most of the other companies (AU, and other companies whose names escape me due to the very point I'm making) their phones weren't "uncool" to have. I believe they were the only company offering TV phones, which were dang neat, and pretty much epitimize "feature-packed". There's nothing about their phones that really give them away as "foreign".

      --
      Sendou Wave Kick!!
    5. Re:Sucks for business travellers by BrokenHalo · · Score: 1
      The issue in the OP concerning the brick/flip format sounds a bit dubious to me. About 3 (possibly 4) years ago I was at a point where I had to replace my phone, and at the time I found it very hard to find anything in my preferred "flip" format at all (at least in my price range). I eventually had to settle on what turned out to be a particularly sucky offering from Motorola (the T720).

      My point is that these hardware trends seem to go around in cycles, and it seems unfair to pillory a provider like Vodafone for what is essentially a manufacturer's current policy.

    6. Re:Sucks for business travellers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      now we know what your fettishes are... japaneese school girls. That description sounds pretty sexy now that i think about it!

  5. For those with Japanese language skill by oddmake · · Score: 2, Informative

    For those with Japanese language skill.
    See Slashdot Japan article

    1. Re:For those with Japanese language skill by DimJim · · Score: 2, Funny

      Omg! Slashdot Japan, how did i miss that.

      Does anyone know what jokes are repeated there? My Japanese seems to be litte rusty.

      Everyone seems to have a lowId there, is that where all the old slashdotters go to die?

      --
      Draconian 'd'RM: Achtung! You vill sit in ze CHAIR ven you read my book, NOT ON ZE COUCH!!! -AC-
  6. Brick phones?? by SecureTheNet · · Score: 3, Informative

    introducing Nokia brick phones where flip-phones are the norm

    I believe the term is "candybar" phones. Bricks are from the early 90's. Oh, and while I'm getting all technical on the names, the summary more than likely refers to "clamshell" phones, where the flip portion opens on the top like a clamshell. A "flip" phone is a phone where the mouthpiece flips down, like the oldschool motorola's from the mid 90's.

    --
    SecureThe.Net - Practical Resources for Securing Systems
    1. Re:Brick phones?? by Jon+Chatow · · Score: 2, Informative

      Actually, the term is "monoblock". And they're far better. Can't understand the appeal of breakable 'phones at all; no-one I know has them, and for good reason (OK, two good reasons - the primary one is probably that they're not Nokias ;-)).

      --
      James F.
    2. Re:Brick phones?? by Jesus_666 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You don't bitch about the 3210 and I don't bitch about your feature-overladen talking camcorder that can even crash. Seriously, the 3210 is a great mobile: It has a reasonable size, it's pretty robust even compared to other monoblock mobiles and it doesn't come with unnecessary bells and whistles like WAP. I like the 3210. It's a gret device for those people who need their phone for exactly two things: Call someone and be called. For everything else there's notebooks.

      Okay, I currently do use a 6210 (a 3210 with WAP and less navigable menus), but that's because I got it for zero cost and my 3210 took a hit to the screen too many.

      --
      USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
    3. Re:Brick phones?? by LMariachi · · Score: 4, Insightful

      1) Not getting your screen all scratched up by your keys or change.
      2) Not having your other pocket items randomly dialing numbers for you, or not having to punch in a knock code to allow you to dial.
      3) A microphone that's somewhere in the vicinity of your mouth instead of pressed against your cheekbone.
      3a) Smaller when folded, bigger when open.
      4) If it's good enough for the Federation, it's good enough for me.

    4. Re:Brick phones?? by strider44 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Somehow I doubt that the submitter would see it that way, seeing how only America says "Candy" and as they also say "Cell phone" as opposed to "Mobile Phone" I'd guess that the submitter isn't American.

    5. Re:Brick phones?? by Jon+Chatow · · Score: 1, Insightful
      1) Not getting your screen all scratched up by your keys or change.

      Removeable covers. They cost next to nothing; I replace the screen cover every 6 months or so (so, about once per 'phone).

      2) Not having your other pocket items randomly dialing numbers for you, or not having to punch in a knock code to allow you to dial.

      Have you heard of keylock? It's not a "knock code", nor even a "lock code"; it's a combination of two keys, of which one is the key you'd press anyway to start finding a number.

      3) A microphone that's somewhere in the vicinity of your mouth instead of pressed against your cheekbone.

      Umm. Whut? They put some lovely DSPs in there so it doesn't matter. I speak very softly into the 'phone, but it still picks up everything I say. We're not living in the 1950s.

      3a) Smaller when folded, bigger when open.

      Since when is bigger better? And every clamshell I've ever seen is larger even when folded than my Nokia, so...

      4) If it's good enough for the Federation, it's good enough for me.

      Quite.

      I've had a mobile since '97, getting a new one every 12-18 months or so; Nokia monoblocks all the way. I seriously doubt you're going to convince me to switch. ;-) The format I intend to switch to is a chip implant, and that's quite a way off.

      --
      James F.
    6. Re:Brick phones?? by croddy · · Score: 1
      Two words: Moving parts.

      Any nerd worth his salt would look at a flip phone and say "hey, this thing has signal-bearing electronics in the crotch of a mechanical hinge -- we need to fix that right away!"

      Of course, if you replace your phone every 9 months anyway, I suppose it's no big deal.

    7. Re:Brick phones?? by unforkable · · Score: 1

      In my perception, monoblock phones are far more masculine than "breakable" phones. More robust, more practical, don't have to open it each time it rings.

    8. Re:Brick phones?? by thogard · · Score: 1

      Every 9 months? I've got an 8310 which I think is the smallest phone Nokia ever made that has number buttons and its worked fine for years. I'll replace it when they have something smaller but they seem to have given up on smaller and only are worried about being more trendy.

    9. Re:Brick phones?? by JanneM · · Score: 1

      Any nerd worth his salt would look at a flip phone and say "hey, this thing has signal-bearing electronics in the crotch of a mechanical hinge -- we need to fix that right away!"

      So you'll never buy a laptop then?

      I've had a couple of flip phones (I have a slide phone at the moment). Most people I know here in Japan has them. I have never heard of such a phone having the hinge break. I'm not saying it can't happen, of course, but based on my somewhat limited sample, I'd say it's not a major point of failure. Instead, when phones break, it seems to be the usual things - screen going wonky, keypad developing intermittent failures and so on.

      --
      Trust the Computer. The Computer is your friend.
    10. Re:Brick phones?? by WhatAmIDoingHere · · Score: 1

      Actually, it's not an "American" thing, it's a cell phone company thing.

      That's just an common industry term.

      --
      Not a Twitter sockpuppet... but I wish I was.
    11. Re:Brick phones?? by Jacco+de+Leeuw · · Score: 1


      And also:

      1) Difficult to open with one hand
      2) Screen getting greasy because you put it against your ear
      3) Larger screens possible, ideal for SMS and WAP/i-mode/etc.

      --
      -------
      Warning: Slashdot may contain traces of nuts.
    12. Re:Brick phones?? by gilgongo · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I work for a UK company that does a lot of user testing for the Vodafone embedded client software. Last year we ran tests in Japan with a Nokia 6600 (although Voda didn't plan to ship anything there on that hardware). It's a brick even by Western standards. On the video playbacks, you can see the jaws of several users dropping to the floor when they were shown the device at the start of the test!

      --
      "And the meaning of words; when they cease to function; when will it start worrying you?"
    13. Re:Brick phones?? by Talez · · Score: 1

      Actually I'm pretty sure the honour of the smallest Nokia phone ever made is the 8210 coming in at 66cc. The 8250 which was much cooler is 69cc which is probably the greatest Series 40 mobile phone that Nokia ever made.

    14. Re:Brick phones?? by david.heyman · · Score: 2, Funny

      2) Screen getting greasy because you put it against your ear
      Perhaps you should stop stufing french fries in your ear.

    15. Re:Brick phones?? by Jacco+de+Leeuw · · Score: 1

      Don't you mean Freedom Fries?

      --
      -------
      Warning: Slashdot may contain traces of nuts.
    16. Re:Brick phones?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Somehow I doubt that the submitter would see it that way, seeing how only America says "Candy" and as they also say "Cell phone" as opposed to "Mobile Phone" I'd guess that the submitter isn't American.

      And all Americans also eat cheeseburgers dipped in chocolate for breakfast every morning.

      While "candybar" is, I believe, the official industry term, it usually is shortened to just "bar." But far more often people just don't have anything to say about the phone's form, so it's not said at all.

      "Cell" vs "mobile" phone... I hear both. "Cell" is more common, but certainly not exclusive.

      Finally, Nokia sucks. They seem to always have to do things differently even if it's a bad idea.

      - random american cell phone programmer

    17. Re:Brick phones?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Don't you mean Freedom Fries?

      Please don't put the Republicans here.

    18. Re:Brick phones?? by wfberg · · Score: 1

      The 3210 was a pretty decent phone (you couldn't beat the price at the time, as well), but a 6210/6310 has longer (stand-by) battery life, and weighs a lot less.

      I currently have an XDA2(/MDA2/qtek 2020) which is a full blown windowsCE PDA with built-in mobile phone (GPS/GPRS), but I'm thinking about getting me a simple phone to replace it. The PDA functions I don't use that often (except satnav); and as a phone it isn't great. It also keeps crashing..

      The 3210 has 2 faults (1 of which the 6210 corrects); it's heavy and it's not a clamshell.

      --
      SCO employee? Check out the bounty
    19. Re:Brick phones?? by croddy · · Score: 1
      So you'll never buy a laptop then?

      not any time in the forseeable future, no.

      i knew that was coming :-)

      and while you're attributing the failure to things like the keypad and the display... well... of course it's not the big honking steel-and-polystyrene hinge that's failing. it's the little ribbon cable that passes through the hinge.

      i've only used bar phones. the first one was free. the reason i got the second one was for a feature upgrade. i've dropped both of them from 10-15 feet onto concrete on more than one occasion. the worst i've ever had was to reseat the sim card and power cycle it.

    20. Re:Brick phones?? by Jesus_666 · · Score: 1

      Oh, I like the fact that it's not a clamshell. Firstly it makes the thing more robust, secondly it underlines the thing's simplicity. I associate clamshell mobiles with built-in cameras and similar nonsense.

      Yu are right about the 6210 being lighter and having a better battery. Especially one that desn't die more often than Kenny McCormick. We still have two 3210 replacement batteries somewhere.

      --
      USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
    21. Re:Brick phones?? by Foerstner · · Score: 1

      Removeable covers. They cost next to nothing; I replace the screen cover every 6 months or so (so, about once per 'phone).

      Ahh, I see. Instead of being unreadable because of the scratches, they're unreadable because of the glare, and the air bubbles that work their way under the vinyl.

      Have you heard of keylock? It's not a "knock code", nor even a "lock code"; it's a combination of two keys, of which one is the key you'd press anyway to start finding a number.

      That's exactly what the poster was referring to. If you like it, great. You're welcome to it. I despise it.

      Umm. Whut? They put some lovely DSPs in there so it doesn't matter. I speak very softly into the 'phone, but it still picks up everything I say. We're not living in the 1950s.

      "Umm Whut?" is exactly what you say. Because not only do those omnidirectional microphones pick up everything you say, but every bit of environmental noise as well. In a noisy environment (and seriously, does anyone use a mobile phone anywhere quiet?) the DSPs are so busy filtering out background noise that they chop up the actual voice beyond recognition.

      Since when is bigger better? And every clamshell I've ever seen is larger even when folded than my Nokia, so...

      Bigger phones mean larger screens and keypads. Every Nokia I've seen is bigger than my V60, yet still has a cramped keypad with no spacing between buttons.

      I've had a mobile since '97, getting a new one every 12-18 months or so

      I'm sure you do. Last year my Dad finally dunked his battered three-year-old StarTAC in the toilet. His replacement Nokia candybar was replaced within six months because the exposed keypad came off completly. (Yes, he does use a case.) The replacement's keypad also came off. He decided not to bother replacing it; the keypad is now held in place by transparent tape.

      --
      The US free market: two halves of a government-granted duopoly are free to set the market price.
    22. Re:Brick phones?? by Chaoticmass · · Score: 1

      Answering a call on a flip phone: open the phone

      Ending a call on a flip phone: close the phone

    23. Re:Brick phones?? by GlassHeart · · Score: 1
      For everything else there's notebooks.

      That's crazy talk. Cellular data usage (not necessarily WAP) is far from its promised land for a variety of reasons, but there are clearly use cases like checking ballgame scores that people will not be willing to carry a laptop around for. Cellular data will not replace laptops, but laptops don't cover every mobile demand either.

    24. Re:Brick phones?? by 21mhz · · Score: 1

      My sister is going through this right now, with her POS Motorola V300 which she had for two years. The inner cable got flakey, and the phone is going to flip out any day. She's going to buy herself a candybar phone as a replacement.

      --
      My exception safety is -fno-exceptions.
    25. Re:Brick phones?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Every Nokia I've seen is bigger than my V60,
      either you misspelt V3, or you're ignoring a dimension, probably the most important dimension if its going in my pocket. clamshells are mostly almost twice the thickness of a candybar phone
    26. Re:Brick phones?? by thogard · · Score: 1

      8310: Weight: 84 g Dimensions: 97 x 43 x 17-19 mm
      8210: Weight: 79 g Dimensions: 101.5 x 44.5 x 17.4 mm, 66 cc

    27. Re:Brick phones?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      8290 was like an 8210 with about 1/3 the volume shaved off. Best series 20 phone ... ever (except for the fact it was single-band)

    28. Re:Brick phones?? by Simon+Garlick · · Score: 1

      Need to see who's calling you so you can know whether or not you need to speak to them? Open the phone.

      Don't need to speak to them? Too late! You just answered the phone!

    29. Re:Brick phones?? by Simon+Garlick · · Score: 1

      I've worked for operators in three different countries, and the only time I've ever heard a phone referred to as a "cell phone" was when talking to someone in or from the USA.

    30. Re:Brick phones?? by Jesus_666 · · Score: 1

      I know that there are things you can do with mobiles; the Japanese are quite busy finding a lot of applications for i-mode. I still find most of them silly (especially sport information, but then again I find organized sport as a whole silly).

      --
      USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
    31. Re:Brick phones?? by LMariachi · · Score: 1
      I'm not trying to get you to switch. Use whatever makes you happy. I was merely putting forth some reasons for the appeal of clamshells, which you said you could not understand at all. Hopefully now you can.

      Maybe we can find common ground in making fun of people with Bluetooth earpieces, or the wired earbud with mic that makes the user look like a lunatic muttering to himself.

    32. Re:Brick phones?? by drtsystems · · Score: 1

      thats why there is a screen on the front of most phones and most phones also have the ability to choose whether opening answers automatically or not

    33. Re:Brick phones?? by Geezle2 · · Score: 1

      His StarTAC didn't survive the toilet? Mine survived the toilet once and the Atlantic Ocean twice. Fortunately, I had not used the toilet yet when my StarTAC popped out of my jeans pocket and went for a swim, otherwise I might have been less likely to try to dry it off.

      One thing I didn't like about the StarTAC was the antenna. I eventually just got a supply of them and replaced it myself whenever I broke the knob off on a beltloop or something.

      I agree. . .larger screens and keypads are a big plus. I also like the idea of a phone that is shaped like a phone when you are using it but still fits in your pants pocket when you are not. . .ideally without making you look like you are look abnormally happy.

    34. Re:Brick phones?? by Foerstner · · Score: 1

      I think it did survive, but he decided to replace it anyway.

      Mine also survived, and (after soaking it with Lysol) I continued to use it for about three months before I replaced it.

      --
      The US free market: two halves of a government-granted duopoly are free to set the market price.
    35. Re:Brick phones?? by lachlan76 · · Score: 1

      The 3210 has 2 faults (1 of which the 6210 corrects); it's heavy and it's not a clamshell.

      What? That's a fault? I pay extra to avoid clamshells...Why would I want *more* moving parts?

    36. Re:Brick phones?? by WhatAmIDoingHere · · Score: 1

      I was talking about "candy bar"

      --
      Not a Twitter sockpuppet... but I wish I was.
  7. On the flip side by BadAnalogyGuy · · Score: 0, Troll

    Just about all Japanese handset makers are quitting the European market because their small, sleek, feature-packed phones designed for Japanese customers don't jive with the large, clumsy phones that typify the phones of European manufacturers. (Except Sony-Ericsson which seems to still have a finger in the European pie.)

    1. Re:On the flip side by Dot.Com.CEO · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Nokia and SE make both small-size phones and "large clumsy" phones (they call them smartphones btw). I own a Nokia 6680 and although heavier than other models it is hardly just a phone...

      --
      Mother is the best bet and don't let Satan draw you too fast.
    2. Re:On the flip side by Eunuchswear · · Score: 2, Informative

      Hah, 6680, that's for wimps. I can beat off enraged pitbulls with my 9300.

      --
      Watch this Heartland Institute video
    3. Re:On the flip side by CaptainZapp · · Score: 1
      I agree. :)

      Actuallly the 9300 is the first Nokia Communicator which comes in a useful size and weight, alas, they don't call it a Communicator any more.

      The old Communicator type models where called Communicators by Nokia and a Brick, by everybody else.

      Owners however seem to love them about as affectionately as I like my 9300.

      --
      ich bin der musikant

      mit taschenrechner in der hand

      kraftwerk

  8. Nokia :: The Microsoft of Mobiles by nighty5 · · Score: 0

    Nokia mobiles are the most popular, abeit cheapest mobiles available in the Western market.

    Its no suprise that the Japanese market has rejected their crackpot mobiles.

    I have been free from a Nokia for the past 2 years and absolutely love it.

  9. Brick phones vs Flip phones by DrXym · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Why is there a vs at all? Flip phones might prevent accidental dialling & scratches but they consume more volume than the equivalent "brick" phone and often have extra protusions. I don't see why you'd fail for promoting one over the other. I don't see that Vodafone would promote one over the other. Their range in other countries includes flip phones and brick phones so its up to the consumer to pick.

    1. Re:Brick phones vs Flip phones by Lumpy · · Score: 1

      Really? Care to bet on that one. My Razr v3 certianly takes up much less space than any candybar phone out there.

      The biggest problem with american phones is the fact that the wireless providers are allowed to cripple the phones. I had to hack my razr in order to enable all the features I paid for AND enable the ability to upload Java apps in a way that does not cost me data time to do it.

      Finally American cellular companies do stupid crap like charging for incoming SMS as well as having insane pricing for outgoing SMS (0.10US per outgoing is massively overpriced and thay all know this)

      American cellphones suck because american wireless companies suck. Until the companies making the phones stand up to the carriers and say " nope. no more custom firmwares. You must sell our phones with all features enabled." They will continue to happily screw the customer over little piddley crap that does not make any sense.

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    2. Re:Brick phones vs Flip phones by DrXym · · Score: 1
      Really? Care to bet on that one. My Razr v3 certianly takes up much less space than any candybar phone out there.

      Yes really. You compare a model which comes in a flat and flipper model and the flipper is almost certainly larger by volume. Since you mentioned your Razr I suggest you compare its volume to the flat version - the Slvr. The flipper version is larger by volume. Back in the days when GSM was young, I owned a Motorola Slimlite which was a flattened Startac and the same applied. It's not Motorola either since other phone makers like Sharp often produce a flat and flipper version with the same results. Some flat models even benefit from not having some horrid antenna sticking out the top because they're generally longer to begin with.

      Besides which, the Slvr / Razr are pretty sucky phones for features. Their compactness is their main selling point, certainly not their features which don't hold a candle to most other models of comparable price.

    3. Re:Brick phones vs Flip phones by Guppy06 · · Score: 1

      You're thinking "function." When it comes to electronic trinkets in Japan, it's all about "form." It's all a matter of fashion.

    4. Re:Brick phones vs Flip phones by tknn · · Score: 1

      Just having lived in Japan, you really want a large screen on your phone for using the data services which include just about everything from GPS mapping to paying vending machines and banking. So a flip is much more space efficient in that case, especially when you also want a large keypad for typing out messages.

      Nobody cares about size. Girls will have huge stuffed animals hooked on with a keitai strap to their phone. Guys will have stuff on their phone too. What matters is the large screen and keypad.

  10. Understand the market... by tom1974 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Japanese mobile tech is at least 3 years ahead of everyone else. Vodafone just didn't get it.

    I had a beautiful clamshell 3G set light as a feather with media player, camera and imode 3-4 years ago. Snapping a picture of myself eating udon and mailing it to friends and family back then got me alot of ooos and ahhs :)

    Vodafone coming to market with the most ugly brick phones ever, the likes which we've never seen before in Japan, didn't help.

    Then there was them spending time and money on the pre-paid market. Basically, there is no pre-paid market there and there's a reason for that, nobody wants one. They came in thinking small, gunning for the niche market.

    Then there was the reputation of the network. Vodaphone bought out an old network, can't remember the name, but it was on the brink of going bust because the quality sucked major. People knew Vodaphone as the one that bought out the sucky network.

    1. Re:Understand the market... by Rosyna · · Score: 1

      Japanese mobile tech is at least 3 years ahead of everyone else. Vodafone just didn't get it.

      And their toilets.. My god, their toilets

    2. Re:Understand the market... by Hast · · Score: 1
      Japanese mobile tech is at least 3 years ahead of everyone else. Vodafone just didn't get it.

      A few years back this was still true, but not anymore.

      There are a few features which are available on the JP market which don't exist elsewhere, eg TV phones and systems which allow you to pay with your phone (Suica/Edy/Felica and such).

      Other than that I have to say that the Eu market produces just as good, and in many cases, better phones than Japan now. Korea is another country to watch for new interesting stuff. IIRC Samsung typically make phones with rediculous cameras in them.
    3. Re:Understand the market... by Tim+Browse · · Score: 1

      Judging from the icons on that control panel, this is a WarioWare toilet? :)

    4. Re:Understand the market... by SkankinMonkey · · Score: 1

      Honestly that's not the most advanced toilet I've seen while I've been here in Japan. There are some with remotes and different 'spray' options. Also, don't forget the kind that are built into the ground and you don't sit on, unlike western toilets.

    5. Re:Understand the market... by thogard · · Score: 1

      Those heated toilet seats are a great christmas present for the elderly ladies in your family and the Japanese 110V stuff works just fine in the US. Too bad you can't get just the heated seat versions anymore.

    6. Re:Understand the market... by JanneM · · Score: 1

      Do _not_ diss the Washlet! That has got to be the single greatest invention of the late 20th century. OK, a bit hyperbolic, but it really is insanely comfortable - and in a home without central heating (still common in Japan), this doubles as the bathroom heater. Perhaps the models with radio, water pulse massage (some with a bidet mode that sells surprisingly briskly) and automagic deodorizer and paper dispenser are a bit over the top, but a basic, everyday heated Washlet is a must in any comfortable home.

      --
      Trust the Computer. The Computer is your friend.
    7. Re:Understand the market... by adyus · · Score: 1


      The name of the network they bought is J-Phone. I actually still have one of their phones around.

      Funny that Vodafone is doing bad, you'd never tell by the insane amounts they're spending on advertising campaigns here lately...

    8. Re:Understand the market... by Suhas · · Score: 1

      and the name of the network was J-Sky

    9. Re:Understand the market... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      If you look at their *current* offer, actualy, japanese vodafone mobiles have better gadgets (cameras, TVs, java-powered software, video conference...) than their Docomo or Au counterparts. And I say this both as a user and software developper for in a japanese company that makes phones for several networks, including vodafone's (Sharp if you must know).

      They are indeed the only major company to offer brick phones, but they offer as many clamshell as everyone else. Their prices are competitives, both for the device and the monthly subsciption.

      3G has been around for a while (maybe shorter than the others, but still a while), and their offer is more understandable: you have "vodafone", and "vodafone 3G". For reference, docomo offers "foma" vs "mova", and AU offers"CDMA1X" vs "CDMA1X-WIN".

      I believe their main reasons for failling are:
      • Everyone already has a docomo, why switch while you can be loyal to your brand?
      • Everyone else has a docomo, why switch and become unable to send short messages to your friends? (you can only send a short message using the phone number to someone with the same provider. Other wise, you have to know his phone's email adress. Beside, emoticons do not work acrros networks)
      • Everyone else in you familly has a docomo, and docomo offers massive discounts when several people in the same household subscribe to their services
      • You can get various kind of discounts when calling people on the same network as you, and gess what, just about everyone has a docomo
      • Everyone who does not have a docomo is a student who got and AU because of the 50% monthly discount offered to students

      Even if their offer is nice now, they started late and clumsily, and japanese mobile phone market has an particularly strong vendor lock-in, due to tarrifications and a relative lack of interoperability.
  11. Amazing by quokkapox · · Score: 2, Funny
    Vodafone+Yahoo = Yodafone?
    Vodafone+Yahoo = Voodoo! [from slashdot.jp site]

    Amazing... Over there they moderate each other up for different, yet equally stupid jokes.

    --
    it's a blue bright blue Saturday hey hey
    1. Re:Amazing by Spy+Handler · · Score: 1

      Amazing...... I didn't even know there was a Japanese Slashdot.

    2. Re:Amazing by caffeination · · Score: 1

      Splendid Discernment!

    3. Re:Amazing by jamar0303 · · Score: 1

      Another suggestion over there was Y!Phone. That sounds like a good idea, we need that in America too (or at least China- 3 providers (one GSM/GPRS/WiFi, one other GSM/CDMA/1x- as in no GPRS, and one PHS) is NOT real competition. For that matter, China is really far behind Japan despite being so close- there isn't even EDGE, for that matter, and I have no clue when UMTS will happen. Eh- as long as Vodafone is still recognizable as Vodafone (or formerly Vodafone) at the end of this process, then I'll be happy when I move in a couple of years. Otherwise, DoCoMo and AU are not so attractive until I can use their phones in the US unlocked (or in the case of DoCoMo, at least a 3g-enabled country like HK (although Willcom phones can be unlocked to be used on Chinese PHS networks- and so cheap compared to GSM/CDMA phones with equivalent features!

      --
      OSx86 FTW
    4. Re:Amazing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Talking of Yoda, here's a bit of trivia for you.

      Did you know that 'Judas', as in Judas Escariot (from the bible, folks), in Chinese, is pronounced, "Yoda".

  12. Customers Decide Not Companies by capt.Hij · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The unfortunate thing about doing business is that companies have to pay attention to a group of people we will call "customers." These "customers" tend to have preferences. Their preferences are often irrational, yet the poor companies have to pay attention especially if they face "competition." The "customers" in Japan have a strong preference for clamshell phones. Vodaphone did not pay attention to their "customers" so they did not have enough.(That and the Japanese market is notoriously hard to break in to, but that is a different conversation.)

  13. I believe they should have stayed in it by rolfwind · · Score: 3, Insightful

    to better themselves. In terms of gadgets, Japan is a tough market with lots of competitors, but like fighting any tough opponent, it would have made them better.

    It looks like they kept trying to push themselves onto the Japanese instead of adapting themselves, what with not adopting 3G and using a brickphone profile for their phones. How dumb is that? Was it a result of purely top-down leadership without some bottom-up feedback? I don't know but it looks that way if they are pulling out of Sweden too. Many companies try to do that when entering a foreign market, but they are usually spanked early on for their mistakes. I believe McDonalds serves lamb in India and wherever they go conform their menu to the locality.

    But the idea that an American company can't do well in Japan is false, look at Apple:
    http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/mar2 006/gb20060302_547553.htm?campaign_id=topStories_s si_5

    1. Re:I believe they should have stayed in it by BadAnalogyGuy · · Score: 1

      It is mostly the problem of having a global network and requiring a specific set of phone features without also realizing the existing limitations of the Japanese market. For example, Nokia (and by extension Symbian) is relatively unknown here. So the Vodafone feature requirements, which are very closely aligned with the Nokia S60 featureset, require either the importation of foreign Nokia phones or ground-up development of Japanese phones. They of course went with both tacks.

      Unfortunately, the Nokia phones they introduced were just about the opposite of existing Japanese phones. Physically ugly, strangely-shaped and heavy, the phones also had an unfamiliar user interface. On the other hand, the Japanese makers were able to come out with several attractive phones which due to the hurry to get something shipping ended up being recalled (Sharp's phones were particularly notorious). Toshiba makes a very nice phone which sells okay considering the tiny Vodafone marketshare, and other phone manufacturers have finally gotten up to speed with the featureset. Unfortunately, the Vodafone phones are still larger and heavier than their Docomo and Au counterparts.

      Add to all this that VF never really put forth the kind of advertising effort that Docomo and Au are constantly one-upping each other with, and their inherent negative starting position as a foreign company in a very nationalistic country, and you end up with a company without customers.

      It will be very interesting to see if Softbank will be able to turn the network into something more attuned to the Japanese market and eventually into a service that integrates well with other global networks.

    2. Re:I believe they should have stayed in it by slavemowgli · · Score: 3, Funny

      But the idea that an American company can't do well in Japan is false, look at Apple:

      Of course, Vodafone is actually a British company.

      --
      quidquid latine dictum sit altum videtur.
    3. Re:I believe they should have stayed in it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wuzzah? Do you know what you`re talking about? Vodafone was the major of the big 3 in Japan (docomo, voda, au) that DID push the 3G. I don`t even think docomo/au have 3G phones, although they might. Vodafone came out with a line of 3G phones, and have been pushing them very hard since 2004. Nobody seems to want them, because the line has languished. Vodafone is not pushing the crappy nokias (I think you can only get them prepaid, but even prepaid there are other options). they mostly have phones manufactured BY JAPANESE COMPANIES: Toshiba, Sharp and NEC. In fact, if you go to their webpage vodafone.jp (available in English) you can look at their lineup.

  14. Anyone know what Vodafone's Japan market share is? by Ogemaniac · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I currently live in Japan and use Vodafone. It seems to me that they hold over a 30% market share among the hundred-odd phone numbers in my cell. In general, the four major companies (docomo at the high end, vodafone and au in the middle, tsuka at the bottom) seem about equally popular.

    I don't think this sale is due to failure. Rather, it is just one business selling off a decent little piece to another corporation who wants it more. It happens all the time.

    Btw, to whoever said "Japanese cells are 3 years ahead of everyone else", I would respectfully disagree. I'd rather have an American cell. Why? Because I hardly ever use the billion and one stupid bells and whistles in my Japanese phone. What I want to do is be able to talk on my cell phone, which is absurdly expensive in Japan. For nearly $40/month, you only get ninety minutes (and your billion and two text messages and emails eat into this time)! Nor do I find the reception better in Japan than in comparable areas of the US. Reception here is near universal in the major cities unless you are underground, gets a little spotty as you move into the burbs (especially indoors), and fails quite often in the countryside unless you happen to be at a high elevation. Same is true in the states, except we have less area that is city and more that is burb and countryside.

    Japanese cells aren't better. Rather, Japanese spend lots more money on them and buy all the bells and whistles that 90% of Western users just don't care about.

  15. quick history lesson... by bahstid · · Score: 5, Informative

    Quite an interesting and unexpected turn of events...

    Vodafone has been going steadily downhill since their foray in to the market here. Their entry point was by buying out J-Phone and rebranding it as Vodafone K.K.. J-Phone was originally a division of JR, the national rail company. An interesting side effect of their original ownership was that in the early days of cell-access their networks first expanded along the railway networks giving them quite effective penetration even though their coverage was in fact quite spotty. J-Phone never quite reached the market-size of DoCoMo (the cellular division of NTT - the national telco), but was effectively their main competition with a reputation for innovation, which had cornered the younger "cooler" demographic. They were one of the first here to provide Java enabled phones and as the original originators of the camera-phone they have made their mark worldwide. In fact one of the last phones they brought to market before the buyout was the first phone to crack the 1 megapixel mark.

    No wonder Vodaphone wanted a piece.

    Some vodaphone insiders here have speculated that the main reason for the company's gradual descent has been the resistance of "old-Japan" upper management to outside pressures, almost more on principle than on particular merit, although some of those outside ideas have seemed to lack local market knowledge, amongst other things. Vodafone stagnated at a crucial point unfortunately - they were technologically ahead of the pack - their stall allowed competitors to take up the slack and old behemoth Docomo to pull ahead as many customers returned to DoCoMo for the newest gimmicks while vodaphone coasted...

    Its not hard to still spot J-phone branded phones around which speaks volumes about the strength of the original company in this "new and shiny" crazed market. I actually think this is a good thing - if Vodafone was only as commited as a three year ownership and doesn't have the kahoonas to turn things around, its only their loss. Hopefully this is the begining of a return to their former glory and I'll finally be able to rid myself of this stupid AU phone...

    1. Re:quick history lesson... by bitt3n · · Score: 1

      at first I thought you meant "cojones" but kahunas works too.

    2. Re:quick history lesson... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > J-Phone was originally a division of JR, the national rail company.

      How about providing a reference for this... I can't find any link between JR and J-Phone.

  16. Re:Anyone know what Vodafone's Japan market share by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Umm, your 90 minutes are OUTGOING CALLS ONLY.

    You can receive as many calls as you want for just your monthly fee. No minute charges for incomming, just outgoing. The Japanese plan is better if the majority of your calls are incomming. The only time it is expensive is if you make calls to a bunch of people.

    Personally, I like the prepaid plans for my kids. Buy one card and the phone is active for six months. They can't make calls but they can receive calls for six months. Then just recharge it every six months with the cheapest card.

  17. And are you a typical Japanese customer? by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 0, Flamebait
    You don't sound like one to me, you sound like an ex-pat who can't wait to get back to civilization.

    While I don't doubt there are a lot of you world wide it is not a market a vodaphone could give a shit about.

    Everything you say is confirming that the Japanese do not have the same tastes as westerners. You are a perfect vodaphone customer, the japanese are not.

    Vodafone forgot to adapt and are now bowing out to save further problems while they can still recoop their money. It is nothing new. Other western attempts in forms of partnerships have also failed. Japan != the west and the west != Japan. Just look at the success by KPN (dutch telecom who partned with docomo(?)) in bringing iMode to Holland.

    It ain't exactly running wild because they totally screwed it up. The west is used to the freedom of the real internet so KNP answered by giving it the limited iMode and then barely filling it with anything worthwhile. People try it, find nothing they like/want/need and then never use it again.

    Doing business internationally is very hard. Frankly I am not suprised that western telecoms have a hard time in japan. Japan seems to be a bit of a go getter in mobile communications while the european telecoms tend to be dinosaurs who think a 10 year planning phase is moving dangerously fast.

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

    1. Re:And are you a typical Japanese customer? by winston_pr · · Score: 1

      KPN's i-mode was a watered down, chicken version, while Boyugues in France and O2 in the UK have succesfully embraced the whole concept of i-mode - and it shows. Sales and usage of i-mode is going very well in the UK apparently.

      --
      "6EQUJ5"
    2. Re:And are you a typical Japanese customer? by Ewan · · Score: 1

      If by very well you mean "I've never heard of or seen someone use it", then yes i-mode is doing great here in the UK.

      In all fairness it's only been available for about 3 months now, but I've not seen anyone with an i-mode enabled phone, and most of the phones O2 sell have either WAP or HTML browsers instead of i-mode ones. I've also not seen any marketing for i-mode from O2, so I'm not sure what the future holds for it.

      Ewan

  18. Like department stores by mattr · · Score: 2, Informative

    Follows the Japan trend of department stores. In any given location there will be three chains: The winner, the runner up, and the pitiful loser. Vodaphone is giving up too soon, but I'm sure glad to hear this. I almost got my business partner to sign up with me for new vodaphone phones because of an unlimited $3/month for unlimited dialing! And I'm paying $200 in mobile phone bills. I also almost bought a phone from them that could work in the U.S. too. Wanted it that day for a trip. But no, you have to go to another store to get the free chip put in, and the lines were too long so I couldn't buy it. Vodaphone didn't have what it took, whereas Softbank will probably do something intelligent with them. It was a brief flash in the pan, good riddance!

  19. How long before they pull out of the US? by Sigurd_Fafnersbane · · Score: 1

    Vodafone also have a stake in a CDMA network in the US. How long before they divest that as well? When they are backing 3GSM in the rest of the world it seems odd to have a stake in CDMA in the US.

    1. Re:How long before they pull out of the US? by Mr2001 · · Score: 1

      They know GSM isn't going to replace CDMA in the United States. The American GSM market is separate from the rest of the world's anyway, with different frequency bands and different price structures.

      --
      Visual IRC: Fast. Powerful. Free.
    2. Re:How long before they pull out of the US? by Sigurd_Fafnersbane · · Score: 2, Interesting

      With quad-band or multi-band phones the frequency difference on the handset side is not that bad.

      A more difficult thing for Vodafone is that the infrastructure side is fully different.

      The services Vodafone can provide their customers in the US is different from what they can offer in the rest of the world and their services do not cross the different networks. They can not build a global brand which is also visible in that they do not promote the name Vodafone in the US.

      If there is no economy of scale and no Brand benefit in a presence on the US market the investment only makes sense if they get a higher return on the US investment than what they pay in interest on all the money they have borrowed to build the rest of their network.

    3. Re:How long before they pull out of the US? by finnif · · Score: 1

      Vodafone also have a stake in a CDMA network in the US. How long before they divest that as well? When they are backing 3GSM in the rest of the world it seems odd to have a stake in CDMA in the US.

      I think Vodafone bought Airtouch because they were looking for any entry point possible into the US, and the decision to go with CDMA was made before that acquisition. To rip it up and deploy GSM for pure technology compatibility would have been too expensive and frankly not worth it. Most US users don't think about or care about GSM or CDMA.

      To answer your "how long until they divest that" question... the answer is no time soon. Vodafone got outbid for the AT&T Wireless network. At $41b, that would have been an enormous price to pay to acquire a network that (still) needs a lot of help to get to 3GSM. Meanwhile, they're deploying EV-DO like gangbusters on VZW. Frankly, I think the Vodafone bid for AWE was a token bid, they had no intention of outbidding SBC and Bellsouth.

      So today, either they would have to acquire T-Mobile, a hopelessly small network with very little spectrum and one that DT probably doesn't want to sell, or they should stick with Verizon Wireless. Unlike Japan, they would never get rid of their VZW piece unless they could buy another network in the US. The US is the most lucrative mobile phone market in the world, the only way they'd leave the VZW deal is if they could find a way to get their own brand deployed into the US. Its been a while since I looked, but their VZW ownership had paid them upwards of $1b dividends in the past.

    4. Re:How long before they pull out of the US? by Mr2001 · · Score: 1

      If there is no economy of scale and no Brand benefit in a presence on the US market the investment only makes sense if they get a higher return on the US investment than what they pay in interest on all the money they have borrowed to build the rest of their network.

      Seems to me that the investment makes sense if they get a better return on it than they could've gotten from some other investment. Investing in VZW certainly must've worked out better than investing in any other US cellular company would have at the time, since Verizon was the #1 carrier until the Cingular-AT&T merger.

      Also, although Verizon Wireless doesn't use the name Vodafone in the US, I believe they do still drive some business to Vodafone in the form of international roaming/rentals when VZW customers travel overseas.

      --
      Visual IRC: Fast. Powerful. Free.
    5. Re:How long before they pull out of the US? by finnif · · Score: 1

      Investing in VZW certainly must've worked out better than investing in any other US cellular company would have at the time, Verizon was the #1 carrier until the Cingular-AT&T merger.

      If memory serves, VZW will be regaining that spot later this year. So many people were already bailing from AWE that the buyout only put Verizon out of their spot for a short time.

  20. My wife's Japanese Vodafone phone is sort of lame by Rocketship+Underpant · · Score: 2, Interesting

    My wife got a Vodafone keitai here in Japan. While it's one of the cool folding phones, Vodafone Japan seems to have the Canadian/American disease of locking down all the cool hardware features. They've made it so it's impossible to transfer files with Bluetooth, for example -- even though the phone is a full Bluetooth device with all the file transfer protocols. Also, battery life is pretty bad.

    --
    He who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me.
  21. Re:Anyone know what Vodafone's Japan market share by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I live in Japan too. The subscription base in Japan is far from equal. As of end of Jan, Vodafone has 16.7%, AU including Tu-ka 27.8% and the rest 55.9%. Check this site.

    http://www.wirelesswatch.jp/index.php

    Vodafone is tryig to force the western business model in Japan and they have failied quite badly. The first batch of 3G phones that it introduced were taken from the Western world (Nokia 6650, SE V800, 2 models from Motorola, etc). That was the month they had the worst loss of customers (abt 60,000). Unfortuntely, the Japanese market user base is driven by handsets. If you do not have a good line up, they will be gone the next month. Japanese users are not afraid to change numbers (number portability will come later this year).

    You are a typical Vodafone customers whose main use of mobile phone is voice. Japanese mobile martket have moved pass the voice stage where income from data and other broadband services are higher then voice. Vodafone Live! is not as good compared to i-mode and ezweb. They lost a lot of high ARPU customers to the other 2 mobile operators. It is hard for Vodafone to operate successfully in Japan with their global business model that they try to apply to all markets. Top management has changed 2 times last year. They are now having some limited recovery after re-intruducing Japanese specific handsets from Sharp and Toshiba. Expats like yourself are too small in numbers to sustain Vodafone in Japan.

  22. Another flash, value-destroying brand swap? by winston_pr · · Score: 0, Troll

    Vodafone+Yahoo = Yodafone

    --
    "6EQUJ5"
  23. UTMS/W-CDMA 3G phone can roam with Docomo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Not to worry. You can still use your 3G phone in Japan with Docomo. Docomo started roaming agreement with many countries in the world.

    1. Re:UTMS/W-CDMA 3G phone can roam with Docomo by Hast · · Score: 1

      Good to know, thanks for confirmation on that.

      Last I was in Japan several people I was there with noted that they got connected to DoCoMo sometimes. I never saw it myself though.

  24. Oblig Bareback Mtn reference by mjeppsen · · Score: 1

    "I wish I knew how to quit you, Japan."
    Err, wait. Never mind...

    -MJ

  25. 30% of yours? by 246o1 · · Score: 1

    Well, in my Vodafone cell here, I think about half of the numbers are Vodafone. However, and this is something I must stress, this half is comprised exclusively of foreigners. Down here, anyway (in the outer edges of Kansai), Vodafone does great business with foreigners, and can't come close to DoCoMo or even au when it comes to the Japanese.

    And of course it's a personal preference, but I find the functionality of the free or nearly-free phones I've gotten here to far exceed that of the phones my relatives in the States have paid a hundred or two hundred dollars for. A lot of that is due to the high quality cameras included (my very cheap phone has a 2 Megapixel camera and TV and video functionality), versus comparable things in the states.

    On a personal note, I think this will be a great chance to change to DoCoMo, the company I really should have been with since the beginning.

    Lastly, does anyone have any good info on the state J-phone was in and if Vodaphone's really to blame?

    --
    Although the moon is smaller than the earth, it is farther away.
    1. Re:30% of yours? by BadAnalogyGuy · · Score: 2, Informative

      Just hold off another few months on that switchover. Number portability is coming soon (within the year), so that will be the best time to jump ship.

      http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY20060 2080145.html

    2. Re:30% of yours? by 246o1 · · Score: 1

      I hadn't heard, thanks for the heads up.

      --
      Although the moon is smaller than the earth, it is farther away.
    3. Re:30% of yours? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As another foreigner in Japan with a Vodafone phone, the main reason why I got it was because of the (no longer offered) Global Call Plan with their world phones (dual W-CDMA in Japan, GSM overseas). For the same price as the Light Call Plan, I have an account in which the monthly fee goes down to a mere 570 yen (plus any overseas roaming charges) if I don't use the phone at all in Japan for an entire month. If I use the phone even once in a month in Japan, the fee goes up to the Light Call Plan fee for that month.

      That's a big benefit, since I'm not in Japan for months at a time; however I want to keep my phone number and I want it to ring even if I'm in the US. There are no bundled minutes with Global Call Plan, but the savings in the monthly fee when I'm not in Japan more than makes up for it.

      It's a shame that they don't offer Global Call Plan any more; it was great for the part-timer. On the other hand, Global Call Plan wasn't intended for us; it was intended for Japanese students who were going overseas for a while. I guess that Vodafone wised up when they discovered that all their foreigners were signing up for it.

      I don't know what will change after SoftBank takes over.

  26. Re:Anyone know what Vodafone's Japan market share by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Top management has changed 2 times last year. They are now having some limited recovery after re-intruducing Japanese specific handsets from Sharp and Toshiba. Expats like yourself are too small in numbers to sustain Vodafone in Japan.

    Actually that seems to be pretty normal for Vodafone, the internationl branch where I used to work had three changes of management in three years and, according to my former co-workers, they are about to move into the fourth year with a fresh cycle of reorganizations and layoffs (the fifth one). This is pretty nerve racking for the employees but at least the head hunters are having an easy time poaching unhappy Vodafone employees. Another thing is that.... well at least in our branch, it was something of a struggle for management to get permisison from HQ to adapt to the peculiarities of our individual markets. While I was there they kept wanting to apply a standard 'marketing template' onto our market and ignore tha fact that what sells in the UK, Germany and France does not necessarily sell elsewhere, even if that elsewhere is a market in Europe.

  27. docomo outside of Japan? by thogard · · Score: 1

    A couple of years ago I ran into a traveler that had come from Japan and he had a docomo phone in Perth. I rigged up something to recharge it so he could get some numbers out of it and we decided to make a call since it was showing that it was getting a signal. After entering the number, we got a message in Japanese saying that the service wasn't connected or some such thing. I figure that someone was running a docomo micro-cell as a demo or that the message was recored on the phone. Does anyone else have any ideas what was going on?

    1. Re:docomo outside of Japan? by jamar0303 · · Score: 1

      They did something similar for the Athens Olympics(they opened up a temporary cell in Athens during the Olympics- not sure if they did this in Turin/Torino), and even charged as if the callers using the cell were still in Japan. This may be the start of DoCoMo opening up in Australia, or possibly 3G roaming- I think that the 3G phones all ran on UMTS 2100, same as 3 Australia. In the other hand, if it was a PDC phone, then you have a miracle on your hands. On yet another hand, if it was a PHS handset, then it could be a DoCoMo microcell. They sell a "home base station" that plugs into your phone line so that your PHS can act as a cordless phone. That may be illegal to use depending on radio transmission laws in Australia, though, and it definitely has to be set up for your PHS handset, but that might be more likely. If it was a clamshell or straight(or brick or candybar or whatever you call it) unit, it might have been a PHS

      --
      OSx86 FTW
    2. Re:docomo outside of Japan? by fbjon · · Score: 1

      It was probably on the phone. I remember having some trouble figuring out which signals came over the air, and which from the phone.

      --
      True confidence comes not from realising you are as good as your peers, but that your peers are as bad as you are.
  28. Re:Anyone know what Vodafone's Japan market share by JanneM · · Score: 2, Informative

    My phone book is mostly to Japanese, and perhaps one in twenty have a Vodaphone account. I think foreigners are overrepresented, in part because they can easily roam with Vodaphone in other countries.

    Oh, and that spotty reception of yours could be due to it being Vodaphone too - one of the major (perceived, perhaps real) weaknesses is supposed to be their scanty coverage compared to their competition.

    --
    Trust the Computer. The Computer is your friend.
  29. This might be the end of cool phones... by jamar0303 · · Score: 3, Informative

    I most certainly hope that Vodafone doesn't quit right now. Their biggest advantage is that they are attracting sales from people who want to unlock their phones to use in America/Asia/Europe/wherever else besides Japan and from foreigners in Japan. If a domestic company takes over, we might not see phones that can be unlocked in America (see DoCoMo's only 3G/GSM/GPRS phone) anymore, which means a loss in handset sales, and a drop in subscriptions from foreigners. A friend of mine from Nara says that she and her company use Vodafone, and while that may be personal narrative, she sounded genuinely satisfied with it, and Vodafone will be my next service provider as soon as I move out of China to Japan. That, or someone finds out a way to unlock a DoCoMo 3G phone to at least use in UMTS-enabled areas like Hong Kong. Disclaimer- it's late in China where I'm posting from, so this might not be entirely coherent, but I try.

    --
    OSx86 FTW
  30. Vodafone Japan first with smart phones by webagogue · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Cred and disclaimer - I've lived in Tokyo for the last five years. Japanese phones are generally prettier, faster, and more stable than Euro/American phones. Those same phones are also extremely stupid, as opposed to smart, as in "smart phone." I am not a keitai expert and may be wrong but I believe that Vodafone Japan was the first to introduce a smart type phone with the Nokia 6210 (702NK). It is a brick and the screen is ugly, but it runs an OS that has a LOT of software available for it. This was quite a change from the proprietary, useless, custom OS' installed by everyone else. The Nokia 6210, despite its flaws, seemed to be a pretty big hit. In fact, about a year later, Willcom (which has some connection to Docomo, I think) introduced that Sharp PDA/smartphone running Windows Mobile(model number escapes me). And now, in the second half of 2006, Docomo Japan is finally going to bring out a smart phone running Windows Mobile. And as someone who likes to have the option of doing more than on thing with device, I am happy to see it and will likely buy one. Vodafone's move with the 6210 was likely desparate (they've had service issues) but I am glad they made the move and paved the way for alternate models to finally be made available in a very stagnant phone market.

    --

    Knowledge is valuable. Ignorance is dangerous. Censorship is unacceptable. http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=10
  31. But they said by palad1 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    That it was easy to be Big In Japan!

    1. Re:But they said by sparkydevil · · Score: 2, Funny

      Things are easy when you are Big in Japan. Becoming big is the hard bit.

  32. Besides Japan... by cciRRus · · Score: 1

    South Korea is another country where you'll find all the latest phones.

    --
    w00t
    1. Re:Besides Japan... by digitalchinky · · Score: 1

      Surprisingly so are the Philippines. Got everything there.

    2. Re:Besides Japan... by nerdus · · Score: 1

      hadn't bugged you for awhile so i thought it was about time, you once said that you had a lot of catching up to do with me this is nerys your little sister i dont know what to say to get you to beleive that, do you remember before you went to wa that you came to see me when i lived with mark and we walked through the back of the tech school and out of the blue you said something about carrots how they dont grow on inverted tuesdays, my email is nerysrees@bigpond.com i'll keep checking in from time to time lots of love and all my thoughts and wishes to you and your family.

  33. Re:Anyone know what Vodafone's Japan market share by KDR_11k · · Score: 1

    What, they charge you for ingoing calls? What kind of ass-backwards market do you live in and why are people accepting being double-billed like that?

    --
    Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
  34. Let's put a few of these things to bed... by McFadden · · Score: 4, Informative
    I would take an entirely different view of Vodafone's demise. I feel that it's much less to do with it failing to match up to DoCoMo and much more to do with it failing to compete for the number 2 position against KDDI (owner of the AU network).

    DoCoMo has a loyal and strong customer base. Despite being more expensive than the other two networks, it is popular amongst the middle-aged and business customers who rarely switch networks. Furthermore these customers are less likely to upgrade their handsets on a regular basis, bringing a long-term return on the heavily subsidised phone the customer bought way back when. DoCoMo don't need to work to hard to maintain their position.

    KDDI (AU) on the other hand has gone from arguably being the third-best service offering to the biggest innovator in the space of just a few years. AU has introduced attractive service plans, and intelligently captured a large share of the student market by offering an across the board 50% discount to anyone in full time education. This has reaped dividends several years later as those students are now graduating and converting to full price customers. Additionally they have invested very heavily in their 3G network, with a significantly higher proportion of their customers transferring to 3G services than either of their competitors. My own AU phone is capable of data transfer of 2.4Mbps (faster than most peoples landline based broadband in a lot of countries!) The other two networks are way behind on this count. AU has also capitalized on the i-pod craze by making virtually all handsets mp3 capable and introducing their own mobile version of i-tunes, which has access to a lot of Japanese artists unavailable on other online stores. I'd take issue with the guy moaning about smartphones. The AU OS is perfectly functional and offers a catalogue of hundreds if not thousands of downloadable JAVA applications. My phone can also handle Word, Excel, Powerpoint and PDF files and has a full featured web browser. Perfectly smart enough for my needs, and no Windows in sight.

    And what has Vodafone done in this time? Well to be honest, not very much. They were late to the table with their 3G offering, which works only in mainly urban reception areas. Most importantly, they haven't done anything to really differentiate themselves or their service which is where AU have really scored big points. I don't know the statistics, but I'd say that Vodafone have struggled, not so much because they have failed to win customers, but because both they and DoCoMo have lost market share to AU.

    The one comment I'd seriously disagree with is the "brick phone" suggestion in the original story. This is just bullshit. Walk into any Vodafone store and you'll see upwards of 20 handsets, maybe 2 of which are brick phones, and the rest are clamshells. I hardly think this is the cause of their failure, especially when DoCoMo and AU both offer bricks of their own.

    1. Re:Let's put a few of these things to bed... by Xocet_00 · · Score: 1

      You're absolutely right about AU innovating and attracting new customers. A good example:

      A parent I was chatting with the other day was saying that she is going to drop DoCoMo for her entire family and switch them all to AU, because AU has special plans for pre-paid phones for kids that include, among other things, GPS trackers.

      DoCoMo, on the other hand, is about to terminate their one-way, pager style cellular position trackers and go to GPS phones only for kids. They refuse to offer a kids pay-as-you-go plan because they will, of course, make a mountain of money off eight year olds who don't know how to limit their usage. DoCoMo is trying to cash in on the paranoia of parents with this one, and AU is going to undercut them in what is becoming a very large market (i.e. GPS phones).

    2. Re:Let's put a few of these things to bed... by dimension6 · · Score: 1

      KDDI's definitely trying hard to capture the "cutting-edge" market. I don't know if you're in Tokyo or not, but if you haven't already, you should check out the KDDI Designing Studio in Harajuku (just opposite one of the ends of Takeshita St.). It's pretty neat. You can print out business cards with your picture and barcode. Incedentally, I'm using a Vodafone 903SH right now, which is a typical high-end Japanese market mobile (and hence, was ranked #1 in Vodafone JP sales for quite a while).

    3. Re:Let's put a few of these things to bed... by McFadden · · Score: 1
      Personally I'm in Sapporo. I have an AU Win 32H myself. It's about 1 generation back in terms of capability, but it does everything I need, and it does a pretty decent job of browsing Slashdot every morning on the way to work. Got it for 1 yen about 6 months ago. But it wasn't a end of line offer -at the time it was state of the art with a price tag of about 35,000. But AU were running an offer and so I got it basically free because my wife happens to already be a subscriber. Another good example of how KDDI is pulling in new customers.

      Over the years I've owned 1 J-Phone, 1 Vodafone, 2 DoCoMos and 1 AU. Granted the AU is the most recent, but in terms of reception, price plan and call clarity, AU has beaten everyone else hands down, and unless something changes, I'm likely to be a repeat customer.

      Personally I think it's a little ridiculous that Vodafone is giving up so easily. You don't walk out on the world's second biggest economy without a good reason. Especially when you're in a solid unchallenged number 3 position. It's not like they've been beaten out of sight (like XBox for example). This is just another example of executives putting short-term share price before long-term strategic thinking.

      If Vodafone ever want to get back into Japan it'll cost them a small (actually make that 'large') fortune. Yet again a tiny minority of analysts, traders and other pigs feeding from the city trough, exert enough influence to force a major change of direction from the management of an otherwise fairly well run corporation.

  35. Re:Anyone know what Vodafone's Japan market share by KDR_11k · · Score: 1

    16.7% seems quite high for a "failure" to me.

    --
    Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
  36. They're on to us! OMGOMGOMG by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    CLICK HERE FOR SCARINESS!

  37. 3a is wrong... by YesIAmAScript · · Score: 1

    And that's why I don't use flip phones (in addition to difficulty of opening them with one hand).

    Every flip phone, including the RAZR is thicker than a candybar counterpart. Compare RAZR to SLVR for example. There is a simple reason for this, candybar phones have a single display, flip phones have to stack up two displays on top of each other when the unit is closed.

    So flip phones are always thicker, and typically larger overall, simply due to the presence of these additional displays.

    --
    http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95
    1. Re:3a is wrong... by hawaiian717 · · Score: 1

      (in addition to difficulty of opening them with one hand)

      One of the first things I did when I got my current cell phone, my first flip phone after a candybar Nokia 6190 and a Sidekick, was to figure out how to do a Jim Kirk-style one handed flip opening with it.

      flip phones have to stack up two displays on top of each other when the unit is closed

      This is only true if your phone has an external display, so you can see a clock or caller ID without opening it. Admittedly useful, but not necessary. My phone doesn't have one.

      --
      End of Line.
  38. Love is in the air by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Exciting and new.

    Lovely discussion on this thread.

  39. Unbundled to Death by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 2, Insightful

    They couldn't make a business model work by unbundling the network from the hardware. Maybe because their brick HW was rejected by the market, and their non-3G network was rejected by the market. But their brand and marketing dollars are so strong, they could go "virtual", branding other companies' phones and roaming on other networks.

    Maybe it's just too competitive in Japan. While Vodaphone is used to making $BILLIONS without hardly any effort at all.

    --

    --
    make install -not war

  40. Re:Anyone know what Vodafone's Japan market share by barutanseijin · · Score: 1

    I don't know if it's true that Japanese spend more money on "bells and whistles".
    The mobile phone market seems more competitive (it's now a mature/saturated market) there than in the US or Canada, and phone features are one way to compete. An emphasis on bells and whistles would also square with the mainstream Japanese marketing philosophy of distracting consumers from price. Unfortunately for the Japanese mobile phone companies, they also have to compete on price.

    This is but an anecdote, but I had much more on my 1 Yen phones from Au than my wife has on her CDN$250 phone from Bell Canada. The monthly rates were also cheaper.

  41. Re:Anyone know what Vodafone's Japan market share by neumayr · · Score: 1

    Heh. Actually cell phone carriers would love that - a few years ago they introduced a service called 'MMS' in Europe: an SMS with pictures and sounds. They made the sender pay for uploading and the receiver pay for downloading.

    Not very surprisingly, it didn't work very well in a market used to not paying for being at the receiving end of communications.

    --
    Truth arises more readily from error than from confusion. -Francis Bacon
  42. Re:Anyone know what Vodafone's Japan market share by Breakfast+Pants · · Score: 1

    Last place--winner?

    --

    --

    WHO ATE MY BREAKFAST PANTS?
  43. Service was called "togiretogire" by Anomalyst · · Score: 1

    Means "broken" in japanese.

    --
    There is no right to feel safe thru security vaudeville at the expense of everyone's freedom, privacy and tax money.
  44. Breakables by C10H14N2 · · Score: 1

    Yeah, when I drop $500 in coin for a whiz-bang PDA phone (I've had three or four) only to have that damned flip crack and/or snap off, I lose all affection for any "feature" that stupid flip may provide. No wonder the lastest PDAs have dropped them. If I'm worried about scratching, I'll get a cover film or a leather case.

  45. Uhh by CaptainZapp · · Score: 2, Interesting
    I associate clamshell mobiles with built-in cameras and similar nonsense.

    Do I get bonus points for using a 9300, even though it folds, but it doesn't have a camera?

    --
    ich bin der musikant

    mit taschenrechner in der hand

    kraftwerk

  46. Then why do nearly 1/3 of my Japanese by Ogemaniac · · Score: 1

    friends use Vodafone? It is somewhat harder to talk on your phone here, as talking in public indoors is generally taboo (God, I wish this was true in the states). Hence, they do not need quite as many minutes. On the other hand, ninety minutes is pathetic - a couple of twenty minute calls to friends from out of town will burn all of your spare minutes from the month, and after that you pay through the teeth. This is true for all the companies.

  47. Actually, expats do not use Vodafone that much by Ogemaniac · · Score: 1

    Most use Tsuka because they are cheap and it doesn't require the commitments. The large number of Vodafone users listed in my cell are Japanese. Perhaps it has something to do with region. I live in Kansai, not near Tokyo.

  48. Oh God, it's so true... by meringuoid · · Score: 1
    One of the first things I did when I got my current cell phone, my first flip phone after a candybar Nokia 6190 and a Sidekick, was to figure out how to do a Jim Kirk-style one handed flip opening with it.

    Heh. I've been looking at getting a new phone lately (my current one is suffering badly from Sony Ericsson Joystick Death) and getting interested in the LG 880 - a very Kirkish clamshell design. But before ordering it I had to actually poke and prod one in meatspace. So - earlier today I looked around some high street stores and found one of these things.

    And, yes, there I was in the store with this dummy model phone in my hand, practising my Starfleet communication techniques. Pocket - hand - thumb in the crack to start it opening then flick - "Kirk to Enterprise!" YES! Works perfectly, just like it did on TV!

    And best of all the damn thing's a 3G video phone. All it takes is some other geek to get one and we can have conversations holding the things Starfleet style! Not up to the ear, like a phone - but in front of the face, just like Spock!

    All it takes once my lovely new phone arrives is to set my ringtone to 'bweepbeep!' - which I'm sure I'll be able to download from some Trek fansite - and practise my heroic pose and intonation. 'Mr Scott! Three to beam up!'

    --
    Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
  49. Re:Vodaphone had some real Chutzpah, to think they by Simon+Garlick · · Score: 1

    In the real world we don't call that "chutzpah". We call that "retarded".

  50. Of the 92 numbers I have by Ogemaniac · · Score: 1

    only five are foreigners (American, Brit, and three Chinese). The American and one Chinese are vodafone. Obviously, the sample size is too small to infer anything. The other 87 are Japanese, and vodafone is heavily represented. Actually, the reason I chose vodafone is because my closest Japanese friends/colleagues use it. Of those 87 numbers, probably 20% are my coworkers (generally Japanese graduate students) and 80% are twenty-something Japanese women (what the hell else would be in my cell phone?). I find it funny that everyone seems to think that I would be carrying around a cell phone full of gaijin numbers...hehehehe

  51. Good riddance by TheGuano · · Score: 1
    I love Nokia UI, but when I was in Japan, all I saw were big, flat, rectangular flip-phones with massively high-resolution internet-text-ready screens.

    I walked into a store in Akiba and saw a tiny flaccid Nokia booth showing off a 68xx phone, which I actually want, and after comparing the build and the low-res screen, walked away wondering, "who are the poor suckers who thought this thing would sell in the Japanese market?"

    Finding out it was Vodaphone was disappointing. Finding out they're folding from the Jp market brings to me a sense of rightness with the world.

  52. What's so great about Japan anyway ? by billcopc · · Score: 1

    We always hear of how far advanced Japanese telecommunications are, many "years" ahead of everyone else. Is anyone here able to explain just what they're doing better over there ? I'm of the camp that wants a phone to be a phone and nothing more. I don't want to play Madden 2006 on my phone, I don't want to buy MP3's on my phone, I don't even want a friggin camera on there. Hell, I'd pay someone to transcribe voice into text just so I don't have to waste my life listening to voice.

    --
    -Billco, Fnarg.com
  53. I haven't seen one of those in years... by YesIAmAScript · · Score: 1

    I wouldn't use one either, since then you have to open it even more often, as you point out.

    What model is this that still comes with no external display?

    In a way, I'm glad to hear one exists, since it seems like every phone is sprouting zillions of features, whether people need them or not.

    Some phones can be opened easily with one hand, some cannot. When looking at a flip phone, it's one of the things I check before even considering it. I do consider flip phones, but I don't consider swivels, as they are a nightmare to open.

    --
    http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95
    1. Re:I haven't seen one of those in years... by hawaiian717 · · Score: 1

      What model is this that still comes with no external display?

      Samsung SCH-A650, which I use with Verizon. I don't know if it's still in production or not; I got it a year ago. It has a slightly more expensive twin, the SCH-A670, which does have an external display and also a camera.

      I have a case on my phone, which makes it a little easier to flip open one handed since the plastic cover that protects the screen and keys makes it so that it doesn't close completely; rather it's a millimeter or two open.

      --
      End of Line.
    2. Re:I haven't seen one of those in years... by Geezle2 · · Score: 1

      There are many models here in Japan with no external display. . .after all, when you are not messaging or chatting on your phone here, you are reading manga with it or watching TV or some such. Why close it up?

      The swivels are not that bad once you get used to them. What is popular here now is the type that slide open. Some of them are spring loaded and some are not. Either way, they are easy to open with one hand.

  54. Terrible Reception by nikko_wild · · Score: 1

    I live in Tokyo and owned a Vodafone for a while. From my experience, Vodafone's problem has nothing to do with Japanese people preferring Japanese products. It has nothing to do with style. Terrible reception is the biggest problem with Vodafone. My Vodafone didn't work at home, at my work, or at my wife's work. Many people I have talked to have this same problem. Owning a Vodafone was the same as not having a phone. DoCoMo and AU have MUCH better reception.

  55. Re:Vodaphone had some real Chutzpah, to think they by PHPfanboy · · Score: 1

    Why is this chutzpah? They bought a local operator (J-Phone) and they operate a phone network, not exactly rocket science. Yes they have some unique data services and they decide which phones to market, but that's not chutzpah, that's just bad execution.

    --
    29 mpg. YMMV.
  56. Japan is not so far infront.. by Travy.b · · Score: 0

    .. but rather the US is so far behind. 3g became popular in the rest of the world years ago. Why is it that because Japan is ahead of the USA then it is assumed that it is ahead of the rest of the world as well??

    Even my current phone (in Australia) has a 2 megapixal camera, Video ring tones, and Video conferencing. Sure, a lot of it may be useless but this stuff IS available in other parts of the world, and actually quite popular

  57. CORRECTION by dafing · · Score: 1

    Fliphone is a term used outside the US. Here in New Zealand, its kinda common I guess, if anyone said "flip phone", even people without cellphones (and 3/4 of NZ have cellphones according to stats) would know what you were on about.
    I guess its a popular term in many countries. I personally HATE the term Clamshell that is used by Yank sites. I think of a rancid shellfish.
    So what if more of the phone "flip"s than the old phones did, they do a lot more than older phones

    --
    --- ...or a new slashdot signature. Dear aunt, let's set so double the killer delete select all
  58. Thanks for pointing that out! by dafing · · Score: 1

    Hahaha, You Americans think you rule the world! As if its only America and Asia, LOL Good times! *bring on the modding down*

    --
    --- ...or a new slashdot signature. Dear aunt, let's set so double the killer delete select all