iPhone Hysteria

[Mulboyne]

Kyodo News Headlines
Aug.05 18:26 Softbank Mobile to cut minimum monthly fee on iPhone to 2,990 yen

Softbank shops will also start taking orders for the iphone from tomorrow (6th).

[Taro Toporific]

[Mulboyne]

[MaxPower]

I managed to get an iphone last week. I like it so far except for the Japanese input which BLOWS. But if the phone gets popular enough here hopefully that can get a software fix. Also, I haven't had any problems with 3g at all. Aren't most of the complaints just due to the fact that America's 3g network sucks? Oh, it's also the biggest pleasure in the world to tell people that I can't receive those little emoji shit circles.

[Doctor Stop]

Yomiuri: Challenges ahead for iPhone after initial boom

The iPhone initially sold like hotcakes, but this surge has now cooled down.

"We sold about 300 a day when it first went on sale, but daily sales have now levelled off at about 100," said a spokesman for a large home appliance store in Tokyo.

A number of other factors are preventing the iPhone from penetrating new sectors of the market. Communication charges are high because of the high speed at which large volumes of data can be sent. Usage of the iPhone also differs from existing cell phones in that it cannot be used as a "mobile wallet" for shopping and users cannot use pictorial symbols.

"It hasn't been able to capture people other than Apple fans," an industry insider said.

[jim katta]

100 phones sold per day at 'one location' over a month after launch is considered bad news/a cool down?? Jeez, the only thing that will convince people that this phone is hot WORLDWIDE is if the damn thing captures 50 percent of the entire cell phone market and the Pope shows up at Christmas tapping into his iPhone.

Seems like a lot of Japan reporters expected the iPhone to flop and now they are reaching out for any hair of doubt to prove that the phone 1)sucks, 2)won't sell in Japan, 3) sucks really bad. I don't know about anyone else, but the last time I saw a phone sell this well it was the Motorola Razor, and that was not a 'great' phone.

One thing I will agree with, the Japanese input, at least for my Western hands, is not great. I have yet to talk to a native Japanese guy who has a view on this point.

[Charles]

100 phones sold per day at 'one location' over a month after launch is considered bad news/a cool down??

Actually, they're averaging 95 phones per day across ALL locations.

[Doctor Stop]

Seems like a lot of Japan reporters expected the iPhone to flop and now they are reaching out for any hair of doubt to prove that the phone 1)sucks, 2)won't sell in Japan, 3) sucks really bad. I don't know about anyone else, but the last time I saw a phone sell this well it was the Motorola Razor, and that was not a 'great' phone.

Top Japanese cell phone innovator praises iPhone

"This is a great device," [Takeshi Natsuno, the man who developed Japan's first Internet-linking cell phone service "i-mode" in 1999,] said, affectionately fingering a black iPhone 3G during an interview Thursday with The Associated Press. "This kind of device cannot be produced by Japanese manufacturers. Never."

The iPhone, introduced in Japan last month, has drawn long lines although it still makes up a tiny portion of Japan's 115 million cell-phone market, and even Natsuno acknowledged he carries around a DoCoMo handset because the iPhone lacks some handy Japan-style features such as the wallet phone.

He'll praise it but not buy it.

[Mulboyne]

[mr. sparkle]

Check this out guys:

The 3G iPhone may be headed towards failure in Japan according to communications sector senior analyst Inui Makio who works for financial services firm UBS. In an article on Japanese tech site ItMedia +D, Inui points out all of the reasons why the 3G iPhone may have lost momentum in Japan.

More >>>

[Charles]

The 3G iPhone may be headed towards failure in Japan..

There has always been a constant flow of stories from "experts" predicting Apple's failure. None of them have ever been right.

Never bet against Apple.

[Doctor Stop]

Charles, it's not the failure of Apple we're talking about here, it's the failure of Softbank and the iPhone in Japan, at least in this iteration.

[Greji]

Charles, it's not the failure of Apple we're talking about here, it's the failure of Softbank and the iPhone in Japan, at least in this iteration.

I don't know about that, but I got called out for a kaigi and just got back. This makes me extremely jealous cause you got that up as an avatar before I did....

[Mulboyne]

[Charles]

Charles, it's not the failure of Apple we're talking about here, it's the failure of Softbank and the iPhone in Japan, at least in this iteration.

Yeah, that's what they said about AT&T and the iPhone.

BTW, I won't quote Mulboyne but I will respond a bit. I just spoke to a friend in London who is a cell phone analyst. He said he bought an iPhone (just for research mind you) and he told me "Even the most fanatical Green Party treehuggers secretly lust for an iPhone although they won't admit it. I can barely use it in public without being mobbed." You can't buy that kind of mindshare at any price. That's far more valuable than any profits a single product could generate.

[Doctor Stop]

They must be starved for entertainment in London.

The iPhone, in its current incarnation, is not a cellphone for the Japanese market, well, beyond the Japanese Apple fanboy market. If I bought one, I'd have another nice toy to play with on the train, but I'd have to keep my regular cellphone until Apple brings the iPhone up to Japanese specs.

Even something as simple the lack of emoji support has the thing doomed.

[Mulboyne]

Japan Probe has spotted a WSJ article on the iphone:

Two months after its launch, the latest version of Apple Inc.'s iPhone is showing strong sales around the world -- except in Japan. Apple's partnership with Japan's third-largest mobile operator, Softbank Corp., to sell the iPhone 3G certainly created a buzz. Like elsewhere, Japanese consumers lined up at stores in advance of the phone's release on July 11, and many locations sold out almost immediately. But now analysts estimate that demand in Japan has fallen to a third of what it was initially and analysts are now expecting fewer iPhone sales. There is no supply shortage: The device is readily available in Apple and Softbank stores and other outlets. Major electronics retailer Yodobashi Camera's megastore in the western city of Osaka, for example, recently had more than 100 of them stacked up in open view. A spokesman for Softbank, which has 19.5 million wireless subscribers, said the iPhone continues to be popular, but declined to provide details. A spokesman for Apple Japan declined to comment. Sales have been slowed by the iPhone's relatively high price and the fact that Japan is already home to some of the world's most advanced cellphones. The iPhone's limited success so far shows how tough it continues to be for foreign manufacturers to crack the Japanese cellphone market.

More than 10 domestic handset manufacturers compete for a slice of Japan's cellphone market, one of the world's largest with annual sales of 50 million phones. Nokia Corp., the industry leader in global shipments, has less than 1% share in Japan. Instead, Sharp Corp. leads the Japanese market, with about 25% of shipments. The global market is more than one billion phones. Still, expectations had been high that if anyone could break into such an insular market, Apple would with the iPhone 3G because of its strong brand name and popularity of its iPod players and Macintosh computers. The original iPhone wasn't sold in Japan. According to market-research firm MM Research Institute, Apple sold about 200,000 phones in Japan in the first two months. Since then, however, demand has been falling steadily, and analysts now widely believe sales are unlikely to reach a total of 500,000 units. That is half the one million units that they previously thought Apple could sell. One big challenge is that Japanese users already have access to some of the most advanced mobile-phone technologies in the world. Models currently sold by Japanese cellphone makers typically contain a high-end color display, digital TV-viewing capability, satellite navigation service, music player and digital camera. Many models also include chips that let owners use their phones as debit cards or train passes. Noriko Tanaka, a 34-year-old Softbank customer in Tokyo, said she likes the iPhone's touch screen, but would prefer a phone with digital television capability. "The touch screen looks fun, but I'm not sure I could get used to it," said Ms. Tanaka.

Another challenge for Softbank is that Apple's marketing for the new iPhone has touted the devices compatibility with 3G wireless networks, which give users faster access to the Internet. While this is a relatively new service in the U.S., 3G access has been a standard feature on Japanese phones for years. "The iPhone is a difficult phone to use for the Japanese market because there are so many features it doesn't have," says Eimei Yokota, an analyst with MM Research. He said one small but must-have feature that is often cited as a deficiency in the iPhone is the lack of "emoji," clip art that can be inserted in sentences to jazz up emails. Japanese consumers have also shied away from the phone because of its high price. Through a complex discount equation, Softbank makes a 16-gigabyte phone available for about 58,560 yen, or around $540, for current Softbank customers or 34,560 yen, or around $320, for new customers, both prices require a two-year contract. That compares with a U.S. price of $299 with AT&T Inc. under similar conditions.

In addition, Japanese customers pay as much as $60 a month to access the Internet and download software applications, along with the usual calling charges. Softbank has lowered its starting data service price since the iPhone launch, but the potential cost is prohibitive for some people, particularly when many Japanese phones are on sale at a lower price. One iPhone feature that is unique even to Japanese users is the App Store, Apple's online clearinghouse for software, such as games and reference guides. The App Store is popular among U.S. users, but hasn't taken hold as much in Japan, where consumers tend to be more cautious about making purchases online. Takuro Hiraoka, an analyst for GfK Marketing Services Japan Ltd., says Apple could take more advantage of this feature to boost sales going forward. "Japanese users don't know what to do with an iPhone," he said. "Sales could grow if Apple provides specific examples of how it can be used."

[DrP]

I just bought one for my wife (Japanese) and she loves it. In spite of all the negative aspects of not being 'fit for Japanese market' . The only thing I didn't like was the inane email setup procedure required by Softbank. Poorly documented (in Japanese and English) and required visiting both the PC website AND the mobile website to accomplish. Also if you don't want to spend 10hrs searching around 2channel (like me) for the not-so-obvious IMAP parameters , here they are:

1) imap port - 143 (no SSL)
2) smtp port - 587 (no SSL)
3) imap login - just your username, NOT your username@i.softbank.jp
4) smtp login - you DO need your username in the username@i.softbank.jp form

Bear in mind - when you buy the phone it is not upgraded. So, when you attach to iTunes, you'll probably want to upgrade. Following that, your Softbank mail (and other mail) will probably fail to work. How to fix?

1) Delete your mail accounts on the iPhone - all of them.

2) Set up your accounts on Mac Mail or MS Outlook Express. Make sure they work - including your i.softbank.jp one.

3) Use iTunes to sync your phone and automatically update your email accounts.

4) Manually set your passwords (inbound and smtp) on the iPhone.

5) Now everything should work ok.

6) So my new user process would really be - connect your phone to iTunes and upgrade before you do anything else. Then setup your email accounts on your PC, sync to iPhone, tweak and you're done. Why they could not have included a meishi sized card to say that is beyond me. Or even put it on a clear tear-off over the screen. They would save alot of hassle, CRM costs and the stupid, worthless photocopy instructions that actually are missing half the really necessary info.

Oh, and Japanese users know exactly what to do with the phone. Hiraoko is just being typically oyaji in thinking that real people don't have brains and must be force fed some kind of menu for existence. Within a couple hours my wife AND my 2yo daughter were using the phone just fine.

[GomiGirl]

That article is total crap - there are no facts, no sales figures to back up this guys opinion. Give us facts or shut the fuck up. Honestly!!

[Charles]

That article is total crap - there are no facts, no sales figures to back up this guys opinion. Give us facts or shut the fuck up. Honestly!!

Just be glad he didn't give any figures, because he would have had to make them up. You know how this works, there's a whole industry of people making money writing about Apple based on crap they made up.

[MaxPower]

The Japanese input, among other things, is muuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuch better with the newest update.

[Charles]

iPhone musical performance by Denki Groove

[YT]NqNwUqNvGuA[/YT]

More info here..

[Charles]

[GomiGirl]

August figures for Japan Mobile phone subscribers.



Source:
Wireless Watch Japan

They cite their source asTelecommunications Carriers Association (Japanese)

Now in August Softbank had the largest increase in subscribers of over 163,000 new subscribers. Are these all iPhones? Hard to say as Softbank are not releasing official sales figures. However, I did see the July figures which showed a similar increase for Softbank. Given that Softbank have been bouncing along the bottom for new subs for a few years and then suddenly to have large 100K plus increases for the two months since iPhone release, then one can assume that many of these new subs are iPhones.

Not sure how many people with softbank accounts have changed their handsets as it is not possible to see that from these stats.

I am sure that Softbank would be pleased with these increases.

[Charles]

The 2.2 beta also has the ability to turn off autocorrection, according to MacRumors.

[FG Lurker]

The 2.2 beta also has the ability to turn off autocorrection, according to MacRumors.

Gee Charles, I thought you said only idiots couldn't use Google to find out how to do that already!

[soulboy]

Hmmm I am not sure why people are interested in the iphone. You can't change the battery, expensive subscription, can't install skype, no flac playback, crapy camera, crappy GPS (no driving directions) all the things I want and would make me buy one aren't available on the iphone... it looks nice and has a nice interface.... but feature wise its not there.

[GomiGirl]

[FG Lurker]

Also in the article it talks about how emoji will be available by the end of the year plus free wifi.

I was wondering when they would open access to their wifi for iPhone users. I don't know how many people use as many free pake-houdai packets as me but my packet charges last month would have been 460,000yen... Opening up wifi should help ease the load on their 3G network.

[FG Lurker]

This may be a borderline not-permissible topic on FG so I won't go into details...

Does anyone here "know anyone" in Japan who has tethered their computer to their iPhone to get computer 'net access via 3G? I am wondering if the carrier (SB) freaked out or if things seemed to be ok.