“While Japanese companies prioritized hardware muscle and superior specifications, overseas rivals emphasized user interface and software to enhance ease of use,” Wakabayashi reports. “After already selling more than one million units in the U.S. since going on sale April 3, the iPad launches Friday in Japan and eight other countries. Softbank Corp., Apple’s exclusive mobile carrier in Japan for the iPad, stopped accepting reservations for the device after only three days.”
“More than a half-dozen Japanese business and technology magazines ran cover stories about the iPad’s debut, with one declaring in English: ‘Here comes the game-changer,'” Wakabayashi reports. “Lines were forming Thursday at Apple stores and Softbank outlets in Tokyo. Most of the waiting customers had already reserved an iPad a few weeks earlier, but they were willing to wait overnight to get the device as soon as the doors open. ‘Japanese products are very capable and powerful, but they don’t have the same charm as ones made by Apple,’ said 21-year-old college student Kazuto Ishimura, who was the third customer on line outside the Apple store in the upscale Ginza neighborhood.”
“In one Twitter exchange, Mitsuru Yoshii, who works at a music school in Tokyo, sent a message to Softbank Chief Executive Masayoshi Son saying that the iPad was the ’21st century’s black ships,'” ” Wakabayashi reports. “In response to the historical reference to the U.S. Naval fleet that opened up Japan to the West in 1853, Mr. Son, who aggressively sought out Apple to bring the iPhone and now the iPad to the carrier’s network, wrote back: ‘Indeed!'”
Full article – recommended – here.
MacDailyNews Take: Note to analysts: Bump up those iPad unit sales estimates yet again and maybe someday you’ll get up into realistic ranges.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “David E.” for the heads up.]
First there was Sony, then there was the Walkman, then there was Apple, then there was Macintosh, then there was darkness then there was NeXT, then there was the return of Steve Jobs, then there was the return of the Mac, then there was OS X, then there was iPod, then there was iPhone, then there was iPad, now there is an unstopable Avalanche, a Revolution, now there is light.
The tech industry is still in denial. Look @ how AAPL upset so many industries. Music, Computer, Software, Gaming, Telco, Handset Mfg, and MORE!!! And THEY ARE STILL kicking A$$ and Taking Names!
Expect a new wave of applications now that international developers can test and release their iPad apps. On the internet no one knows you’re Japanese…
And FOR THE LIFE OF ME I SHAKE MY HEAD AS THE STOCK fluctuates like bungy jump…. I hope the shorts get what they deserve. The MANIPULATION of Apple Stock makes me SICK!
Couldn’t have said it better ..Breeze.
ok, estimates. i was thinking a rather crazy 10 million in 2010. seems conservative now.
Wasn’t there some silly sack ‘o crap who declared that the iPad was a total failure in Japan?
@iJah420… I’m no stock market analyst, but I do know that the ENTIRE market has been fluctuating like a bungee jump lately. The volatility index has been out of this world. Very little confidence in the world markets.
But… I have noticed that when then S&P;or NASDAQ fall 2%, Apple only falls 1.7% (for example). And when the S&P;and NASDAQ rise 2%, Apple rises 2.4%. In the long run, Apple has been a safer investment than most stocks. If you’re long on it, you’ll do just fine.
Softbank has had to push very aggressively in Japan to get the iPhone some traction – very low pricing on the phones as well as the service. The iPad might be a different story since it will not compete with the other phones in Japan, just the netbooks and other super compact devices they have. Should be very interesting!
@ iJah420
Look at a trend line more than a year long. Everything will be fine.
“Wasn’t there some silly sack ‘o crap who declared that the iPad was a total failure in Japan?”
How could it be a failure if it hasn’t even been launched there?
“First there was Sony, then there was the Walkman, then there was Apple, then there was Macintosh, then there was darkness then there was NeXT, then there was the return of Steve Jobs, then there was the return of the Mac, then there was OS X, then there was iPod, then there was iPhone, then there was iPad, now there is an unstopable Avalanche, a Revolution, now there is light.”
I think the word you were looking for was “begat”.
The tech industry can’t figure out how to catch up with Apple as they are many years behind the curve. Just what are they going to do with the next innovation from Apple that is beyond their comprehension?
@ iJah420
Ah, Grasshopper! You expect rationality from the Tower of Irrationality? Do wax-on, wax-off for another two hours!
Isn’t there a great iCal item about NOT selling iPads in Japan?
Apple Rock on!
Wonder what the Linux net book and Android adoption rates are in such gadget loving country?
erai desu ne !!
I can’t wait for the All Your Base app!
Sooooo, iPad is the tipping point.
“While Japanese companies prioritized hardware muscle and superior specifications, overseas rivals emphasized user interface and software to enhance ease of use,”
Anyone who owns a Japanese Ham Radio knows this to be a fact. Talk about arcane, nested menus, microscopic multi-function buttons and user-hostile interface. Apple could take over and re-energize Ham Radio is they would rework the user interface on a couple of the very powerful Japanese portable radios. But then, good design always works best.
The iPad is a very Zen device. Very cool, calm and collected.
The dawn of iPad
In land of the rising sun
A revolution…
@Hm…:
Wow, “Kung Fu” AND “The Karate Kid”? Impressive!
Peace.
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Olmecmystic
@ iJah420 That’s just what stocks do. And the bigger the run up the bigger the fluctuation. Apple is the second most valuable company in all of America. That’s evidence of being manipulated up (which I also don’t believe) not down.
People always believe that markets that gyrate wildly (such as commodities, gasoline) are being manipulated. But if you study markets (which is just crowd behavior) this is what unmanipulated markets look like. Prices kept stable or kept high or kept low… that’s evidence of manipulation.
And remember… if you look to the long term and have faith and intelligence… volatility is your friend. Never buy at “retail”… wait for the stock you want to drop down to “wholesale”. On the day of the flash crash, one astute AAPL investor had the sense to have buy orders in for $200/share… and they were HIT right before the stock went back over $230. (Wish it had been me.)
Jobs 11:1
And Steve begat the iPad and it was good. Now the whole world had one language and a common speech.