We read lots of reports saying iPhone is a big failure in Japan. The underlying reason is the iPhone does not provide those functions that are already available in many Japanese phones. Wired has a recent article saying Japanese hate the iPhone. iPhone is bad, outdated and not that trendy. Those similar articles appeared after Japanese carrier, SoftBank, has launched the iPhone 3G.
So, you believe iPhone is that bad and not welcomed by Japanese? Not really. Source have analyzed deeply, and discovered that it’s all about bad journalists. These bad journalists just want to create reader’s attention. The interviewee in Wired articles pointed out that the journalist “misrepresented”. Interviewee claims he didn’t say “iPhone is lame”.
Some market research company pointed out iPhone performs badly in Japan. The main reason why they said that is also to create attention. Source pointed out the market research company had said “iPod Users may choose Zune” during the time Microsoft Zune launched their first MP3 Player. It’s pretty stupid, isn’t it?
No doubt Japan has lots of great feature phones. They support live digital TV. They also can be used as train pass. Great camera for over 5.1 mega pixels are basics in Japanese phones, too. But source pointed out that those phones are actually pretty difficult to use. They handled international words badly. (even it’s English). They are not user-friendly like the iPhone.
Actual performance of iPhone 3G in Japan is pretty well. Source writes, “SoftBank grabbing up 215,400 new activations, more than half of the 391,500 new activations made in Japan, during its launch in July.” It helps SoftBank a lot. Japanese owned more than one mobile phone, and they love the iPhone actually. iPhone delivers the friendly user interface and multi-touch capbility that cannot be found in exisiting mobile phones. Some people keep on playing iPhone even on their meal. One Japanese wrote “I will answer I feel iPhone is very fashionable and many Japanese too. And I love the internet so I love iPhone.” in his blog.
Journalists want readers (nowadays). If they wrote the articles saying “iPhone is good with lots of great features”, will it catch your attention? Since iPhone has created a large wave in mobile industry, it’s normal for journalists to make a sensational article and get popular.
[via AppleInsider]
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