Quote:
Originally Posted by Tokyo Slim 
Um... The iPhone will be a niche product in Japan at best. Most likely it will be dismissed as a relatively useless fashion item for a season or two and forgotten.
A: Every new phone in Japan has to has a HD digital reciever. I'm not sure whether its a regulation, or just that every new phone in Japan comes with one because thats what the market wants. Thats right. A digital television reciever that gets all the broadcasted television channels available. There are more coming all the time. Many new phones are also able to record these HD terrestrial broadcast channels to internal flash memory or to memory cards which can be replayed on other devices. The phone I posted below, as well as the Sharp Aquos phone, both contain the actual graphics engine from the Bravia and Aquos tv lines in the phone. mmmm tasty.
B: Phones in Japan aren't just communication tools. Many people use them to purchase goods and items. Your phone is hooked into your bank account, verified by thumbscan and can purchase subway tickets, vending machine items, groceries, and etc.
If you see something you want to purchase in a magazine, window display, or print ad, you can scan its barcode, and within minutes you will recieve a reciept and a tracking number.
Many people's phones unlock their apartment door, or allow them into the parking garage at their work.
The GPS there is also crucial, Apple would really have to step up their game, IE, real-time Satellite GPS step by step instructions.
Basically, Apple would have to completely re-think the thing for it to even be competitive in Japan. When people say that their phone tech is light years ahead of ours, we aren't kidding.
4G is currently being tested over there, 3G has only been in place in the US for about a year, and is only in a few cities right now. It will be 5 years or so before it is even widely available in Middle America.
I'm not kidding when I say that the iPhone won't work over there. It might finction as a phone... but not very well, and not for long. It also won't do 1/2 of what phones over there are doing now, and it will cost twice as much. I honestly can't see how it would be competitive.
Mmmm
A: Every new phone in Japan has to has a HD digital reciever. I'm not sure whether its a regulation, or just that every new phone in Japan comes with one because thats what the market wants. Thats right. A digital television reciever that gets all the broadcasted television channels available. There are more coming all the time. Many new phones are also able to record these HD terrestrial broadcast channels to internal flash memory or to memory cards which can be replayed on other devices. The phone I posted below, as well as the Sharp Aquos phone, both contain the actual graphics engine from the Bravia and Aquos tv lines in the phone. mmmm tasty.
B: Phones in Japan aren't just communication tools. Many people use them to purchase goods and items. Your phone is hooked into your bank account, verified by thumbscan and can purchase subway tickets, vending machine items, groceries, and etc.
If you see something you want to purchase in a magazine, window display, or print ad, you can scan its barcode, and within minutes you will recieve a reciept and a tracking number.
Many people's phones unlock their apartment door, or allow them into the parking garage at their work.
The GPS there is also crucial, Apple would really have to step up their game, IE, real-time Satellite GPS step by step instructions.
Basically, Apple would have to completely re-think the thing for it to even be competitive in Japan. When people say that their phone tech is light years ahead of ours, we aren't kidding.
4G is currently being tested over there, 3G has only been in place in the US for about a year, and is only in a few cities right now. It will be 5 years or so before it is even widely available in Middle America.
I'm not kidding when I say that the iPhone won't work over there. It might finction as a phone... but not very well, and not for long. It also won't do 1/2 of what phones over there are doing now, and it will cost twice as much. I honestly can't see how it would be competitive.
Mmmm
Seriously, the technology in Japan is so much more advanced than the iPhone that if the Japan-release version is not able to do all the things Slim mentioned and more -- and do it multilingually -- it doesn't stand a chance here.
When I got my new cell phone last month, the whole process was finished within an hour and the most time-consuming part of the process was choosing from among the ultra-slim 3G phone designs. My phone does everything the iPhone boasts and more -- way more.
What a shame. My Apple stock is performing so well.
