Apple “is reportedly talking to Japan’s top tier telecom carriers about selling its popular multimedia phone for use on their networks. A report by The Wall Street Journal says Apple has approached NTT DoCoMo, Japan’s largest carrier, and Softbank, currently the No. 3 player,” Daniel Del’Re reports for TheStreet.com,
“The move would take the iPhone to one of the world’s most tech savvy populations. Japanese consumers are avid gadget fans, especially when it comes to pricey multimedia cell phones… The challenge for Apple is to get Japanese consumers, who are used to fast mobile Internet connections, interested in a phone that operates on a slower 2G network,” Del’Re reports.
MacDailyNews Take: It would be a challenge unless Apple offers a 3G iPhone. Duh.
Del’Re continues, “In all four countries where the iPhone is available, consumers lined up outside of stores for hours — and in some cases, days — before of the product launch waiting to be one of the first to own the iPhone. Within hours of store openings, bloggers posted photos of eager shoppers making their purchase. Apple is clearly hoping that the same behavior plays out in Japan, where the company’s presence is still very small.”
Full article, Think Before You Click™, here.
Apple’s iPod currently dominates the Japanese portable media player market with 60% share. Characterizing Apple’s presence in Japan as “very small” — along with the inability to imagine a 3G iPhone coinciding with a Japan launch — leads us to severely question not only the quality of Del’Re’s “reporting,” but also his basic ability to reason. As both the imminent arrival of a 3G iPhone by mid-2008 and the iPod market share figures in Japan are widely known and have been widely reported, we can only conclude that Del’Re is either playing dumb or is, in fact, just plain dumb. Which is it, Danny? And, when can we expect better reporting about Apple Inc. from TheStreet.com, if ever? Sometimes these Apple articles from TheStreet.com are so slanted we can’t get through them without wearing hiking shoes.
“3G chipsets… are real power hogs. Most phones now have battery lives of 2 to 3 hours and that’s due to these very power-hungry 3G chipsets… [iPhone] has 8 hours of talktime life. That’s really important when you start to use the Internet and want to use the phone to listen to music. We’ve got to see the battery lives for 3G get back up into the 5+ hour range. Hopefully we’ll see that late next year.” – Apple CEO Steve Jobs introducing iPhone to the UK, September 18, 2007.
Shogun, I don’t want to turn this into a debate but…READ WHAT I WROTE!
I made absolutely NO gripe, silly or otherwise, about 2.5G. I said those gripes were coming from OTHER PEOPLE! I’m with you on the issue, I just don’t care.
Please take a remedial reading lesson, read what I actually did write, then I’ll stand by for your apology.
As for TwilightMoon, your arguments about the battery are specious. If you can’t stand valid opposition to your opinions, presented in a reasonable and polite way, then you’re in the wrong place.
Again, for folks who can’t read, my actual comment was that I don’t understand why there is not a flood of complaints about tying the iPhone to one carrier. For me and any other person who travels a lot, this “feature” is a deal-breaker.
IT’S THE USER INTERFACE STUPID!
I think that’ the message Apple need to get across in all new and slower markets.
1/ it’s a smart phone
2/ a 2G phone that you use is better than a 3G phone you use to scratch your bollocks with – right!
TheStreet.com faces challenges in bringing credibility to their reports.
Now that everyone is aware that for the iPhone to succeed in Japan it needs 3G, there’s something else – as always. From my experience, that of friends and an ex-colleague that now develops phones at Nokia (name dropping) Japan, FUNCTIONALITY is the key. Having owned a Sharp, Toshiba and Samsung mobile, the Japanese ones have more functionality and are better designed. Friends that have owned overseas branded mobiles switch back to Japanese ones. As for my Nokia friend, he uses a Mitsubishi even though he is issued with a company Nokia mobile… that really says it all.
Want to know more? Then go to Softbank, DoCoMo or AU’s sites, don’t worry, they have English versions.