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Why Japan Hates the iPhone
Ponca City, We love you writes "With a high level of technical sophistication, critical customers, and high innovation rate, Japan is the toughest cell phone market in the world. So it's not surprising that although Apple is the third-largest mobile supplier in the world, selling 10 million units in 2008, in Japan the iPhone is selling so poorly it's being offered for free. The country is famous for being ahead of its time when it comes to technology, and the iPhone just doesn't cut it. For example, Japanese handset users are into video and photos — and the iPhone has neither a video camera, multimedia text messaging, nor a TV tuner. Pricing plans in Japan are also very competitive, and the iPhone's $60-and-up monthly plan is too high compared to competitors; a survey lat year showed that among Japanese consumers, 91% didn't want to buy an iPhone. The cellular weapon of choice in Japan would be the Panasonic P905i, a fancy cellphone that doubles as a 3-inch TV and features 3-G, GPS, a 5.1-megapixel camera, and motion sensors for Wii-style games. 'When I show this to visitors from the US, they're amazed,' according to journalist Nobi Hayashi, who adds, 'Carrying around an iPhone in Japan would make you look pretty lame.'"
apple wasnt able to sell a product on the premise of being 'hip' and 'cool' for once. japanese preferred function over cool factor. hipster ads didnt cut it. to the extent that apple didnt see any issues with offering the phone almost free with various subscriptions. all the while customers in u.s. being locked in, tortured, and belittled if they wanted to do more with their phone by unlocking it, after paying exorbitant amounts. there's nothing to defend about apple - only way one can do this in this thread and subject, would be probably due to sheer fanboyism. bad. fanboyism is little different from religious fundamentalism.
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They don't like the iPhone because it doesn't have 100 tentacles that spring out of it and rape every school girl within a hundred feet. Also, there's no Bukake Cartridge so you can squirt your friends. Isn't it obvious how far we are behind the Japanese in innovation? If I want to violate a girl with my iPhone I have to put it on vibrate, stick it into her nether region, and keep calling myself.
There phones don't get sold here because they think the average American is to stupid to know how to use it.
Considering shiny and limited but tard friendly iphone is a hit here, they are right.
Yeah except Apple invented copy-n-paste on their first Mac (1984), and others quickly added the feature to their own OSes (1985 - Atari ST, Microsoft Windows, Commodore GEOS, Amiga Workbench). It seems odd they would not include one of their best inventions in the Iphone.
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8-bit Mac OS clone - http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e2/GeOS_Commodore_64.gif
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
Well, in my field, the saying goes, "no accounting for BAD taste", because no matter how well designed something is, the common guy will choose the Rebel-Flag/velvet-Elvis every time. Elite much? Sure. Doesn't make it any less true.
Better a child than a Coward.
A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.
... first .... solid ... usable ... viable ... end all be all ... good ... the best ... slightly above average, .. (personally) ....
With exception of the "first" adjective, all the rest of adjectives that you use to describe this marvel phone are completely subjective judgements.
In other words you drank the KoolAid and instead to look at hard objective facts you are just using the same market speech used to promote this gadget.
The marketing people at Apple should really give themselves a pat in the back.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.