MacDailyNews - Where Mac news comes first

Feb 27, 09 - 03:23 pm Comment from: Jubei

Nice find MDN. Wired hit piece will need some commenting from us to correct his hit piece.

He's right, the email was very long, but also very informative. It clearly demonstrates just how lazy and inept 'journalists' can be.

The issue in Japan seems to be overcoming inaccurate reporting. It seems Mr. Hayashi plans to do that by putting a lot of iPhones in consumer hands (free 8 Gig iPhone promotion) then letting word of mouth and user demonstrations to friends overcome shoddy (or intentionally inaccurate) reporting.

People dont hate the iPhone here in Japan, that is ridiculous to claim. The problem is the outrageous monthly fees, pretty much the same happend in Germany last year..iPhone started to sell well after the price was lowered to a more fair bargain.

Give it some time..

Feb 27, 09 - 04:16 pm Comment from: Grigori

That's good to hear, Yamamoto; I wish they'd reduce the data plan in the US. We are having a bit of a financial crisis, you know, AT&T;. . .

Feb 27, 09 - 04:17 pm Comment from: ron

アグホプヹロㇰ

Feb 27, 09 - 04:17 pm Comment from: HMCIV

Titles of the 4 Japanese iPhone Magazines

1. Tragic Christmas Gift Support Group Magazine
2. Apps that Suck
3. iPhone Hara-Kiri
4. Alternative Uses for Toyota Cameries


Someone leak these titles to Wired. See if they print them.

Feb 27, 09 - 04:29 pm Comment from: TowerTone

'Wired' not being accurate?
Right....and Obama's going to let the telcos off the hook for spying.

Tell me another one.....

Products in the Japanese market tend to work better when they're tailored for the Japanese market. Things like the ability to put little trinkets on the phone and Japanese emoticons are important.

The ability to watch broadcast TV also has a bearing.

The iPhone is designed for a Global audience, meaning these customizations aren't really done.

Saying this, though, the iPhone does certain things much better than a lot of phones out there. However, don't compare the Japanese phone market to the US one. They're quite different.

Most of the features Japanese people are used to have everything to do with lock-in by the networks and custom phones developed to work with certain networks.

While Apple is the king of lock-in in the US. They don't have their own network in Japan. If they want a long-term presence in Japan they will have to create a Japanese version of the iPhone. They have started to do some of this, with things like the Japanese emoticons (called e-moji) but they're still behind other manufacturers.

Japan is also a Windows Stronghold. Very much so.

The japanese broadcasters would make a killing by offering an iPhone friendly stream, or creating an app to do just that. Whoever comes up with that solution will immediately further their career. The iPhone does not require a localized version for this purpose.

The iPhone is a flop in Germany, too.
It is not the phone, but rather the outrageous service plan costs from German phone company.

I would like to see the following additions to the iphone:

1 copy and paste
2 better frickin camera 6mp
3 video
4 more memory
5 easy access for other devices to use the 3g network like my watch or my camera or anything. kinda like my own portable wireless router.

No reason to have the kodak camera that can access the internet, if it can just do it through my phone!

Over here in Australia, I'd love an iPhone, but the cost of data plans are ridiculous.

The issue in Japan seems to be overcoming inaccurate reporting.

Japan?? American media isn't exactly the pinnacle of accuracy either.

MW: research. As in something the press should do before reporting...

If you read the original Wired 2008 article by Lisa Katayama...

Hayashi owns a Panasonic P905i, a fancy cellphone that doubles as a miniature but crisp 3-inch TV. In addition to 3G and GPS, the device has a 5.1-megapixel camera and motion sensors that enable Wii-style games to be played sitting on the train. "When I show this to visitors from the U.S, they're amazed," Hayashi says. "They think there's no way anybody would want an iPhone in Japan. But that's only because I'm setting it up for them so that they can see the cool features." [i.e. its not user friendly; my comment] In actuality, Hayashi says, the P905i is fatally flawed. The motion sensors are painfully slow, and the novelty of using them is quickly replaced with frustration. And while being able to watch TV anywhere is a spectacular idea, there's no signal in the subways, and even above ground, the sound cuts out every few seconds. "There's nothing more annoying than choppy TV noises," Hayashi says.

...then you can plainly see that Brian X. Chen purposely misused the Hayashi quote in his Wired article to disinguenously and unethically bolster his theme.

It also seems, based on Hayashi's blog post, that Chen snuck in a "June 2008" edit to cover his butt after Hayashi called him to task

"then you can plainly see that Brian X. Chen purposely misused the Hayashi quote in his Wired article to disinguenously and unethically bolster his theme."

Are you kidding? MDN will cut and paste sentences back together to make Macs look good.

Feb 27, 09 - 11:53 pm Comment from: cwa107

Nice catch, MDN.

@Speedyg

Why don't you just go and buy a video cam with 3G?

Also bothers me how the blog comments were shut off without more understanding. Thanks for posting about this, having Apple mentioned alone in a polarized light is sure to bring out the hostility, but generalizations against "the Japanese" just explodes that fire. I've linked here as I'm glad you noticed it, too: http://torley.com/how-not-to-handle-blog-comments

I don't think having a few mags about the iPhone is a good metric for anything. They'll probably be simple software catalog guides, possibly game-centric (game mag spinoffs?).

Ant the fact keeps being that the iPhone lacks a lot of features that are taken for granted there. That Apple is putting emoji support in there (and curiously vetoing it for all its non-Japanese clientele) would be a good tiny first step, but...

This is what Japanese cell phones can do: http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2008/09/26/the-japanese-iphone-failure-myth/#comment-13895

Wired the magazine that published that 'next month this sensational new kid on the block will take over from the iPod as the must have music player'. This was about the zune launch in the uk written May 2008. Of course no such launch ever happened let alone wiped the floor with the iPod.

Is this magazine written in a small office full of broken chairs in Redmond by any chance.

Is there ANY real journalism going on anywhere anymore or is it all now just psycho babble and horse exhaust?

Feb 28, 09 - 07:06 pm Comment from: Jubei

That Wired hit piece has done tremendous damage to Mr. Hayashi's reputation. Worse, the article has been modified by the author without an explanation nor an apology for lying and damaging someone's livelihood.

I seem to recall that Mr. Chen and Apple have had another fandango recently, in Wired of course. Mr. Chen posted a video how to load Mac OS X on a netbook. Apple legal did the usual and the video was taken down. I do not expect even handed treatment of Apple by Mr. Chen and nor should you.

Very good point, Joe S., sure sounds like Mr. Chen has an axe to grind with Apple, and allowed that sentiment to severely taint his article.

Here's other rebuttal of the Wired article – sure sounds like Mr. Chen went out of his way to distort the intent of the quotes he was using:

http://idannyb.wordpress.com/2009/02/27/wiredcom-anatomy-of-a-hit-piece/

they don't hate it, they despise it since americans are too dumb to use advance phones like they have in japan.