Apple's iPhone in Japan - Has Apple Given Up on the iPhone for Japan?

As more time passes without any official word from Steve Jobs about Japan and the iPhone, one cannot help wondering if Apple is just going to give up on Japan as a serious market and instead just try to palm off a minimally-localized US version.

I have previously talked at length about the strengths and weaknesses of the device in relation to the Japan market, and what strategy Apple should adopt for selling the iPhone in Japan, but the latest news from Cupertino suggests that they are losing their focus, and losing their customers, despite having just about the most technically impressive music player (the iPhod Touch) and mobile phone (the iPhone) on the market today.

First, the iPhone, despite being adored by Europeans, is not selling very well over there as consumers are used to getting subsidised handsets and short-term contracts, so a preium-priced and locked phone is not an attractive purchase. These sentiments may be repeated when, or if, Apple try to sell the iPhone in Japan. Indeed, one market analyst at Banc of America, Scott Craig, has lowered his iPhone sales estimates; remember Steve Jobs promised 10 million sales by the end of the year. Other analysts are urging Apple to produce a 3G phone; it would be market suicide if Apple did not have 3G support for the iPhone in Japan. There also seems to be signs of the iPod Touch and other iPods dropping off in sales, but considering Apple have managed to just about dominate and saturate the market, the only way is down.

One of Apple's latest announcements was that the email component of the software is being rejigged to appeal to the mobile warrior wielding a BlackBerry by adding support for Microsoft Exchange; this is a great move to address the US CrackBerry addicts, but in Japan the sales of this device can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Mobile samurais are a rare breed indeed, so this move will do absolutely nothing for those awaiting the appearance of the iPhone in Japan.

The other big announcement they had was of the iPhone SDK and App Store, which is a plus, as it is an official way for people to develop specific applications that can address the Japanese iPhone market. There will be serious shortcomings with the device when it eventually appears in Japan, so there is now a way for the gaps to be filled. However, given that the applications will more than likely not be free, it becomes a harder sell if people realize they have to spend another 10,000 yen buying assorted tools to plug the gaps left by Apple.

This recent spate of annoucements could have been a perfect time for Apple to announce a Japanese iPhone, but once again they have not addressed this market, and as time passes and passions cool, it becomes harder and harder for Apple to sell Japan the iPhone. Perhaps there are problems that they cannot talk about; for instance, are there problems upgrading the hardware to handle the 3G network? Remember that 3G was also not mentioned in the press releases. One can easily imagine that supporting this would require a physically larger chipset and more power consumption, so are there serious engineering problems to get a 3G iPhone to meeting Apple's exacting requirements?

Apple now have a perfect platform and perfect technology, but no perfect use for the iPhone in Japan. Use cases like mobile payment and mobile 1-seg digital television are what sells Japanese customers phones (although most users leave these features idle) so to the Japanese the iPhone looks just like an iPod Touch with an expensive phone contract that ties them to last century's email functionality for two more years. Why buy?

Given these factors above, it is little wonder that people are beginning to wonder if they will ever see Apple do the work required to make the iPhone in Japan a success. You can follow further developments in this saga and other breaking news from Japan on the iPhone at http://whatjapanthinks.com/tag/iphone/

Ken Yasumoto-Nicolson researches Japanese surveys and opinion polls on his blog, covering topics as diverse as Apple's iPhone and Japanese emoticons, with most of the material exclusively translated and provided for free.

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iPhone in Japan - Which Carrier Will Carry Apple's iPhone In Japan?

With Apple's iPhone due to launch soon in Japan, and much hot air on the blogs and in the press on why the iPhone will or will not be a hit in Japan, it is timely to take a look at which mobile phone carrier may carry Apple's iPhone in Japan. The four main players in the Japanese market in order of size are NTT DoCoMo, au by KDDI, SoftBank, and EMobile. Which will win the bidding war?

1. Will NTT DoCoMo carry Apple's iPhone in Japan? NTT DoCoMo have been reported to have been in talks with Apple recently, but let us look at their portfolio to see what sort of company they are and whether the iPhone would fit into their range of offerings. As part of the formally state-owned communications network, they are seen as the most trustworthy carrier, but also the most staid. They already offer smartphones from Motorola and BlackBerry but they bury them in the back of their catalogues. DoCoMo have the money to offer Apple a good deal, but given their past record, would they bury Apple's iPhone in Japan? They are currently weak in the music support field, so beefing things up with a Japanese iTunes would help, but I cannot see them having the skills or the desire to help make the iPhone a success in Japan.

2. Will au by KDDI carry Apple's iPhone in Japan? They have the image of being the most leading edge of all the mobile phone service providers in Japan, and they were the first company to embrace msic-playing cell phones with their LISMO product. They are the company that are most able to support the iPhone and most likely to promote it properly, but unfortunately the strength of their LISMO brand is the spanner in the works that will prevent them supporting iTunes too, so KDDI will not carry Apple's iPhone in Japan. This will be a disappointment to many people, but trying to promote two competing and incompatible offerings makes no financial sense.

3. Will SoftBank carry Apple's iPhone in Japan? SoftBank are the reborn and hungry VodaFone, resurgent now with innovative billing schemes, recovering from their bad reputation for coverage. Masayoshi Son, SoftBank's CEO, will no doubt be ready to provide Steve Jobs with as many wheelbarrows full of cash as it takes to get Apple's iPhone for SoftBank. Their current line-up is technologically far behind the other two big carriers and they have no real music product to speak of, so a Yahoo! co-branded iTunes supported by a SoftBank iPhone makes a lot of sense in Japan. Although sales in Europe have been disappointing, and even if Japan sales fail to live up to predictions, SoftBank's boost in image from being the iPhone carrier in Japan will help them in the marketplace when it comes to competing for the more traditional customer base.

4. Will EMobile carry Apple's iPhone in Japan? Sadly, EMobile is such a small, nice provider that they cannot afford to enter the bidding war, so their will definitely not be an EMobile-branded iPhone in Japan.

These are of course just predictions based on observations of the cell phone market in Japan. There is yet to be an official announcement on Apple's iPhone in Japan, but all opinion polls and other surveys of consumer interests show the Japanese chomping at the bit desparate to get their hands on this new device.

Ken Yasumoto-Nicolson researches Japanese surveys and opinion polls on his blog, covering topics as diverse as Apple's iPhone and Japanese emoticons, with most of the material exclusively translated and provided for free.

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.