“First came ‘iPod shock,’ which knocked Japan’s favorite gadget — the Walkman from Sony, and its line of successors — off its long-held perch at the top of the tech-savvy wish list. Then came ‘iPhone shock,’ which sent Japan’s cellphone companies — long used to scoffing at the clunky offerings from their overseas peers — scrambling to develop similar smartphones,” Hiroko Tabuchi reports for The New York Times. “On Friday, ‘iPad shock’ hit Japan, threatening to bring upheaval to an ever-widening slew of industries in a nation once proud of being on the cutting edge of technology.”
“The iPad tablet computer from Apple went on sale in Japan and eight other countries — Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland — after selling more than one million units in the United States,” Tabuchi reports. A flood of orders in Japan for the iPad caused Softbank, the exclusive phone carrier of the iPad in Japan, to stop accepting them after three days. About 1,200 people lined up for the release of the iPad at an Apple Store in central Tokyo on Friday.”
Tabuchi reports, “The hype around the iPad in Tokyo highlights what has become a sobering reality for a country once considered the technological trend-setter. Japan now frequently looks overseas for innovation.”
Read more in the full article here.
Innovation is a good thing.
> The iPad tablet computer from Apple went on sale in Japan and eight other countries — Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland — after selling more than one million units in the United States
Did this story get lost in a time warp? Well, no. It’s dated “May 27, 2010.”
I thought I had read this story already!
Whaaa? Who is letting this shite through?
9 month old article, What the heck is wrong with the NYTimes. Apples sold more 13.7 million IPads since this article came out. NYTimes is the worst.
“Japan now frequently looks overseas for innovation.”
Le me make a quick correction there. “Japan now frequently looks at Apple for innovation.”
There, much better!
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That article is from May 27, 2010!!! Talk about old news MDN!!!
I thought I was in a time warp… I guess it wasn’t just me.
Yeah… Welcome to last year.
@jubei
Exactly.
Imagine living life 9 months in the rear?
“”Japan now frequently looks overseas for innovation.”
I think it’s telling that Jap/Kor still think in nationalistic terms when shopping. It’s 2011 people.
http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/25419/
Even MDN had the original story back in May of last year. Apparently, it only had about a dozen comments, so it didn’t get the notice it deserved!
old news
oops.
They’ll end up like US, suckin’ hind tit.
Well played
“The iPad tablet computer from Apple went on sale in Japan …”
Sooo …. the iPad is a computer?
Damn!
I’ve been looking for that Time-Warp app in the Store for two hours.
Does anybody know what happens if your battery goes down while you’re somewhere else in time?
Hey MDN, this story is from … 6:03 PM !
Get with it already.
WOW! And I thought the MDN server was a POS before this, when access was way too slow. Now it’s taking literally MONTHS. Time to open the hatch and pour in another gallon of WD-40…
It’s a stupid article anyways. They pick three items out of 10 years, and ignore the fact that they all come from the same company, rather than from the same country, and that every other country on the planet has had the same reaction. Somebody’s got a chip on their shoulder, and feeling rather insecure about their heritage.
I remember when the iPhone was launched there were articles describing how Asians was laughing at us saying that their phones have been able to do what iPhobe was doing for a long time and that it was nothing new.
@ Mike
You are right they still do. I own many apple products from a MBP, to iPhone, to iPhone and so on. I live in Koreans and they all thing think I own apple because it is an American company. In their eyes it Samsung vs Apple.
Samsung has tremendous pull in the Korean Government which they used to cause delays in the release of the iphone and ipad in Korea. They didn’t go on sale in Korea in Samsung could produce a copy and get it on sale.
Apple has a lot of handicaps in Korea but despite this their mobile products are very popular.
When it come to most products Koreans often base decisions on weather it was made by a Korean Company or not. Often times they don’t even have a choice.
WE’VE LANDED ON THE MOON!
When I compare the UI on my iPhone to the UI on my technically excellent, Japanese designed and made, handheld Ham radio, I think “Why doesn’t Apple do UI consulting? Te world could be such a better place.” The Ham radio UI is an arcane nightmare of tiny buttons and complex menus that make no use of the onboard computational power of the device itself. My Sony TV is much the same.
The Japanese are smart people and in some areas have a wonderful design esthetic. Just not complex consumer electronic devices.