iPhone flops in Japan!

The September 15 issue of the Wall Street Journal reports that, after an
initial rush in which 200,000 iPhones were purchased by Apple fanboys in 2
months, iPhone sales have slowed to a trickle. When iPhone was released
in Japan, there were breathless predictions that a million would be sold;
now sales are unlikely to reach even 500,000.

There are two reasons for the slow iPhone sales.

[1] It's expensive compared to other phones. A 16GB iPhone solves for
58,600 yen (about $540) for existing SoftBank customers and 34,560 yen
(about $320) for new customers. A two-year minimum contract is required,
with a $60 data plan on top of the voice plan.

[2] It lacks many features that are common to Japanese phones selling for
much less, including a critical feature for the Japanese mobile phone
market: emoji. It's beyond comprension that any mobile phone vendor would
try to market in Japan without emoji.

Almost all mobile phones in Japan -- including phones much cheaper than
iPhone -- have a high end color display, satellite navigation, music
player, and digital camera. In addition, many Japanese phones have such
features as digital (1seg) television and an IC card on the case of the
phone that allows it to be used as a debit card and train pass.

Last but not least, it does no good for Apple to brag about 3G in Japan
since 3G has been the standard in Japan for several years. There is no
GSM in Japan.

-- Mark --

http://panda.com/mrc
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep deciding what to eat for lunch.
Liberty is a well-armed sheep contesting the vote.

---

› See More: iPhone flops in Japan!

Mark Crispin wrote:
> [2] It lacks many features that are common to Japanese phones selling
> for much less, including a critical feature for the Japanese mobile
> phone market: emoji. It's beyond comprension that any mobile phone
> vendor would try to market in Japan without emoji.


That's great... but what is emoji?

Mark Crispin wrote:

> [2] It lacks many features that are common to Japanese phones selling
> for much less, including a critical feature for the Japanese mobile
> phone market: emoji. It's beyond comprension that any mobile phone
> vendor would try to market in Japan without emoji.

What are you talking about, Apple invented Emoji.

SMS <[email protected]> wrote in news:%SVzk.461$be.119
@nlpi061.nbdc.sbc.com:

> Mark Crispin wrote:
>
>> [2] It lacks many features that are common to Japanese phones selling
>> for much less, including a critical feature for the Japanese mobile
>> phone market: emoji. It's beyond comprension that any mobile phone
>> vendor would try to market in Japan without emoji.
>
> What are you talking about, Apple invented Emoji.
>

What's their patent number? Is it pending?....(c;

Anthony Guzzi wrote:
> Mark Crispin wrote:
>> [2] It lacks many features that are common to Japanese phones selling
>> for much less, including a critical feature for the Japanese mobile
>> phone market: emoji. It's beyond comprension that any mobile phone
>> vendor would try to market in Japan without emoji.
>
>
> That's great... but what is emoji?


Well, I hate to reply to my own post. Thank you to all who gave me the
simple answers. All none of you. I found the answer myself.

Mark Crispin <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:

> emoji



Did that work??....(c;

At 16 Sep 2008 18:20:44 -0700 Anthony Guzzi wrote:

> >> [2] It lacks many features that are common to Japanese phones selling
for much less, including a critical feature for the Japanese mobile phone
market: emoji. It's beyond comprension that any mobile phone vendor would
try to market in Japan without emoji.
> >
> >
> > That's great... but what is emoji?
>
>
> Well, I hate to reply to my own post. Thank you to all who gave me the
simple answers. All none of you. I found the answer myself.


I had no idea what emoji was either. A Google search led me to a Wikipedia
article explaining it all with two mouse clicks and about 30 seconds of my
time.

Sorry we all let you down so badly. Let us know if you need us to Google
anything else for you in the future, and we'll try to make it up to you...

Todd Allcock <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:

> At 16 Sep 2008 18:20:44 -0700 Anthony Guzzi wrote:
>
>> >> [2] It lacks many features that are common to Japanese phones
>> >> selling
> for much less, including a critical feature for the Japanese mobile
> phone market: emoji. It's beyond comprension that any mobile phone
> vendor would try to market in Japan without emoji.
>> >
>> >
>> > That's great... but what is emoji?
>>
>>
>> Well, I hate to reply to my own post. Thank you to all who gave me
>> the
> simple answers. All none of you. I found the answer myself.
>
>
> I had no idea what emoji was either. A Google search led me to a
> Wikipedia article explaining it all with two mouse clicks and about 30
> seconds of my time.
>
> Sorry we all let you down so badly. Let us know if you need us to
> Google anything else for you in the future, and we'll try to make it
> up to you...
>
>
>

I can understand the importance of emoji in a country with Happy Drug
Stores.

http://www.engrish.com/2003/02/happy-drug/

not to mention so many Happy Hotels!

http://www.engrish.com/2008/08/see-ya-in-the-morning/
http://www.engrish.com/2007/09/happy-happy-kiss-kiss/
http://www.engrish.com/2007/03/hard-find/

40 minutes for 5000 Yen + 10% TAX.
http://www.engrish.com/2006/03/where...dirty-old-man/
Let's all meet for an iPhone convention and a quickie here!
(Good think Iphone doesn't have a vibrator!)