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Study: 91% of Japanese don't want iPhone 3G

Butthead

Butthead

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jan 10, 2006
440
19
http://www.electronista.com/articles/08/06/18/japan.iphone.3g.study/


Japan has been historically resistant to adopting non-native phones both due to network limitations and for technological preferences. Japanese networks require 3G cellular service both for calls and data, excluding many 2G-only phones altogether; most media-intensive phones in the country also focus on services such as the Japan-only 1Seg digital TV standard as well as very high resolution (800x480) displays, neither of which will be available with first-run iPhone 3G models.
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Wondering, would nationwide network speed of on 3G in the US markets, make the next revision of the iPhone 3G, capable of these features? (firmware specific to each country, and would you be able to switch, or auto detect from country to country?).

Would higher res displays be practical on the iPhone, higher than 800x480?
 
Butthead said:
http://www.electronista.com/articles/08/06/18/japan.iphone.3g.study/




Wondering, would nationwide network speed of on 3G in the US markets, make the next revision of the iPhone 3G, capable of these features? (firmware specific to each country, and would you be able to switch, or auto detect from country to country?).

Would higher res displays be practical on the iPhone, higher than 800x480?
Click to expand...

I think Apple will take 9% of the Japanese adult population owning an Iphone...for now :)
 
I don't know, since Sprint announced the Samsung Instinct is going to cost 129 with a 100 mail in rebate the IPhone will definitely have some competition.. not so much from a performance factor as much as a cost factor, not to take anything away from the Instinct, the reviews and demos I've had the chance to watch do make it look like an incredible phone, not to mention it has voice dialing.

But you have to take into consideration that Sprint's plans are a tad bit cheaper since they include SMS..


Sprint: Samsung Instinct Will Be Cheap $129

06.18.08

Sprint 's iPhone competitor, the Samsung Instinct, will be a mere $129.99 with a two-year contract and $100 mail-in rebate when it goes on sale on June 20.

The Instinct was originally rumored to cost $299.99; the price was then said to have been lowered to $199.99 when Apple announced the iPhone 3G would be $199. Making the Instinct $129 is a shot right at Apple. As we say in our full review on PCMag.com, the Instinct looks a lot like the iPhone and does a lot of the things the iPhone does. It just now does them cheaper.

Sprint's service plans are also slightly cheaper, because they include unlimited text messaging. Both Sprint's 450 minute plan for the Instinct and AT&T's 450 minute plan for the iPhone cost $69.99. But unlimited SMS costs another $20 on top of that for AT&T, while Sprint's plan includes SMS.
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Just going to throw this out there:

How many Japanese people are there?
What's 9% of that number?
Does any other cellphone out on the market garner that sort of concentrated interest?

9% is still quite a bit, since we're only talking about the iPhone 3G.

Remember... "There are lies, damn lies, and statistics." --Mark Twain
;)
 
Anyone that honestly thinks the Instinct competes with the post 2.0 iPhone completely misses the concept of what makes the iPhone so special.

It isn't the feature list, it isn't the external hardware. It is the user experience and the power of the platform. Yes, platform. The Instinct is nothing more than another feature phone running a typical feature phone mobile "OS." It has no potential, and it will never go far beyond the realm of its features.

The same can't be said about the iPhone, and I will gladly trade 2-3 "features" for it.
 
Considering Japanese phones have front-facing cameras, video calls, and more, if this statistic is true it's not a surprise.
 
CrazEtooN said:
Anyone that honestly thinks the Instinct competes with the post 2.0 iPhone completely misses the concept of what makes the iPhone so special.

It isn't the feature list, it isn't the external hardware. It is the user experience and the power of the platform. Yes, platform. The Instinct is nothing more than another feature phone running a typical feature phone mobile "OS." It has no potential, and it will never go far beyond the realm of its features.

The same can't be said about the iPhone, and I will gladly trade 2-3 "features" for it.
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I'm with you on this one, I have a samsung slider phone now and although the specs sounded great when I first got it, a lot of the functionality is lost by poor UI and implementation. When Steve Jobs talked about the high percentage of iPhone users that use ten features or more, during the keynote, it made me think of how many features I used on my phone, I counted about 7-8 that I had used in the past, but since I got the iPod Touch (to hold me over until the iPhone 3G was released) I only use the phone to make calls.
 
bah. japan. a sudoku game or other brain game using acelerators and these statistics will jump to an 50%
 
Well, Japan's Population: 127,433,494 (July 2007 est.), so that would mean about: 11,469,014 want the iPhone x $199 = $2,282,333,078.00 just for the 3G 8GB iPhone, not including tax, voice/data plan, text message plan, or AppStore purchases. Can someone check my math, it's been awhile since I ran numbers on my iPhone calculator. :eek:
 
The fact is, Apple has a lot of catching up to do if they want to iPhone to appeal to the world market. The US cell phone system is one of the worst out there. No really, it is. As pointed out, Japan is 3G-only. Old news to them. Here, we're drooling over 3G and most people don't even have 3G coverage. Also many countries in eastern europe, middle east, and africa have absolutely horrible land-line phone systems, so they use cell phones almost exclusively there. A much bigger deal to them than it is to us.
 
Dr Lu 2010 said:
agreed. iphone is too obsolete for the Japanese..laff at 2 MP back facing camera! :D
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It's true. This may be as good as it gets in the US, but the phones and networks in Japan always seem to be leading technologically by at least 2-3 years.

I imagine only the hardcore Apple fans in Japan are interested in the iPhone.
 
Wasn't there a news article recently about how most Japanese phones are far advanced from those in the US but they use a fraction of the abilities because they're either half baked or don't know how to find said abilities?

If you're buying a tech spec sheet then yeah, the iPhone loses.
 
the iPhone is pretty much a yawner over there.

It has a lame camera, no MMS, people in Japan don't use iTunes much, and the real turn off...NO hook for charm attachment.
 
skubish said:
the iPhone is pretty much a yawner over there.

It has a lame camera, no MMS, people in Japan don't use iTunes much, and the real turn off...NO hook for charm attachment.
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I was going to say the number one turn-off was the lack of three different fold-out keyboards, the ability to automate your home, four different sized blades, a corkscrew, magnifying glass and no hook for the charm attachment/lanyard/flashing LED dongle.

My mate lived for ages in Japan and man do they have some amazing phones there, hell some of our are approaching that sort of level of ludicrous yet useless functionality.

I want a phone that works - the rest are details.
 
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