No doubt anyone in the know will have heard and read all about the most hyped device in history: the Apple iPhone which Steve Jobs unveiled at Macworld on Tuesday. I was going to refrain from commenting about it but I guess I will join the rest of the gadget freakoids out there and spout my thoughts on it whether you like them or not.
The thing is exactly what I imagined it would be and more. Of course we all knew it was going to be an ipod and phone and some kind of communication device combined so that was no surprise. But much of the interface niceties and uber-cool design exceeded everyone’s expectations. Initially, I was on the fence. Yeah, it looks nice, but could I get used to using a phone like that? Is the interface really better? Could they match all the functionality of Japanese keitais? I suppose it was the fact that I was viewing the device as a phone that made me skeptical. For me a mobile phone has to be durable, easy to use without having to look at it i.e. tactile keyboard, speed dial, any-key answer etc not to mention all the iMode, iAppli, FeliCa, GPS, Camera stuff. After seeing Steve demo the thing on the keynote presentation, I was less impressed with the phone in iPhone but completely in awe at what the device represented as a milestone is mobile technology. I think most of you will agree that we witnessed an important step in the evolution of how we’ll be interacting with our devices. The multi-touch screen, the new iPod interface, flick-scrolling, proximity sensor are revolutionary ideas that we’ll be seeing in the future and pretty soon be taking for granted in the same way as the QWERTY keyboard. Whether the iPhone succeeds or not is really not as important as what this device means for other stuff coming after. Don’t buy an iPod now, the click wheel is history. Do we see Tablet Macbooks on the horizon?
Right after the unveiling it seemed like everyone had an opinion about it, me included of course. Some were taking it personally and getting really angry because there was no keyboard or because it was tied to Cingular or whatever. This is a very self-centered reaction, but I can totally understand it. If I had been waiting for 3 years for the next generation roadster and then Mazda released something that was completely not to my liking, I’d be very unhappy.
At any rate, would I buy the iPhone? From the perspective of someone living in Japan, probably not. As it is now, it can’t do half of what my Sony Ericsson SO903i can do. It doesn’t have GPS and it’s not 3G, so no videoconferencing. There’s no FeliCa chip (e-Wallet), can’t run 3rd party apps (Meaning you can’t play Final Fantasy or Dragonquest like you can on Japanese keitais), no One-Seg and we don’t even know if it has all the other standard phone features like vibrator, drive mode, alarm clock, bar-code reader. And of course all the other things already mentioned by others, no removable battery, no external memory slot. Some of the features of the iPhone like visual voicemail or threaded sms, I thought, so what. Having said all that I really like the iPhone and it’s a great achievement for Apple considering it’s just their first attempt at a phone.
But this is Japan and the power of keitais here is not so much in their designs or their functionality, the true power is in the different services and applications that the phones are tied to. iMode, Mobile Suica, DCMX, One-Seg etc. It’s really the carriers that are pushing the envelope here and the handsets manufactureres are merely just towing the line. So I’m curious as to how Apple will fare against the Japanese makers if and when they do release the iPhone here. I don’t think anyone will doubt that the iPhone is a masterpiece, but if it can’t do at least half of the things required by the average Japanese person, only gadget freaks or smart phone enthusiasts will fork over that much cash for it and it will only have limited success (maybe that’s Apple’s target demographic anyway) So far, no foreign mobile phone manufacturer has been able to sell a handset that satisfied the Japanese masses. But I hope Apple does, cause then I can get one!!! Either that or they take out the phone part, add more memory, put in Skype and more widgets to make it a Mac PDA. Oh yeah, I’d buy that in a second.
This phone is more about user-interaction for me than its features. Like you’ve said, it can’t do half the stuff our Japanese keitais can…
I agree with you on numerous points Roy and disagree on none, but yet I wouldn’t say I’m in complete agreement. Having been to Japan and rented cell phones while there, I know just how nifty they are, and the last time I held one was August 2004, so I can only imagine what they do now!
As American cell phones go though…ours suck. They do NOTHING innovative with them! So with that in mind, the iPhone is a HUGE step forward for us. For Japan…not so much.
I totally agree with you though, strip out the phone, add Skype, and make one hell of a kick-ass PDA! Call it iAssist…iPDA…I don’t know, “i” something.
The biggest point I agree with you on is that it is not so much what the iPhone represents, but what it COULD represent. Apple has opened the flood gates to phone innovation here in the USA, at long last, now, will anyone run with it is the question.
Yeah, that’s all true, but remember: this is just the first version. Think how much the iPod has evolved since its introduction. Besides the iPhone will be out in Asia in 2008 (which I guess includes Japan as well), plenty of time to put in those additional features the Japanese need.
Excellent post, Roy. You gave insight into exactly what I was wondering - how will it fare in Japan? I’m with you on all your points.
When I first heard/saw it “Newton v2.0″ came to mind. If someone were to give me one, I’d take it in a second, otherwise I’m saving the money for a Mac laptop
Excellent post. I hadn’t really considered the drawbacks the iPhone as it currently stands would face in Japan. You thought it out very well.
Of course, we won’t get the 1.0 version of this thing. We won’t even get the 1.5 “in asia 2008!” version of the thing, since “asia” really means anywhere other than Japan. So I’d guess late 2008 or early 2009 before there’s a Japan version. Be then they should hopefully be able to add the mininum necessary features (3G, GPS, Felica/Suica), or else it will be totally irrelevent anyhow.
I shared your view completely. Not to mention the Japanese cellphones, the iPhone can’t even match with my O2 Stealth Windows Mobile phone. My phone just lacks the fancy interfaces. I have to say that the interfaces are very nice. The other thing is it lacks PDA functions which I reply on so much. Being a loyal Apple Newton user many years ago, I still hope that someday Steve Jobs will release the new Newton. I still think that Newton is a very good PDA, despite of its size. There will be no Palm, no Windows Mobile and no Symbian OS when the Newton comes.
The interface might be enough to grab many Japanese. Do all Japanese really want or need video conferencing or video games? Many people probably do not use most of the features on their phones–and when it comes down to it, appearance and interface can mean a lot more to a lot of people.
I showed the demos on Apple’s web site to two of my classes yesterday, and they were, for the most part, floored by them, particularly the visual interface (flick-scrolling, changing orientation, zooming in on photos and web pages, and entering text, as a few examples of times when the whole class went “Eeeeeehh!!!”).
And for me, usually a tech-oriented person, I don’t use most of those features you mentioned. I do depend a lot on the interface, and as a Mac person, the ability to seamlessly sync so much is a huge plus. Even without the last point, I think there are a lot of people in Japan as well as elsewhere who will be swayed by the interface a lot more than by 3G features.
As an aside: a Japanese friend here at my college who pays attention to this stuff is speculating that SoftBank will be the carrier for the iPhone in Japan. Apparently the head of SoftBank was at the keynote, and SoftBank has been dealing in Apple goods (iPods from what I hear), so the relationship might be there.
I don’t think Japan will get the swappable cards, or anyone else for that matter, if they use the iPhone; the machine is locked–not even the battery is swappable without sending it in to Apple–and I very much doubt that Apple will break up their smooth casing for any one market.
I think we all live a small demographic and read blogs and websites written by people who care about Macs and keitai interfaces and stuff.
But the rest of the world don’t really care so much about how revolutionary it is. If they did most people would be using Macs. However, when it comes to keitais, almost all Japanese I know are dependent daily on some kind of content that comes via iMode or EZWeb. True that there’s a full web browser in the iPhone but we all know how non existent free WiFi is in Japan. Also when I watch most Japanese choosing a phone the first thing they try is typing an email. Since for most people their keitai is their main mailer, the ease of input and kanji conversion etc are very important. Kanji prediction/conversion on the current Macs are mediocre at best so I think Apple will have quite a challenge to make something good. I wonder how they will achieve this with a touch screen.
Personally, I can’t live without FeliCa and I use my GPS all the time. If I could get a decent One-Seg phone that would be another service that I could use.
Realistically, the iPhone will have success in the US but in Japan it’ll become one of those fringe phones that has a limited run. I think Apple would be better off releasing those interface features on an iPod here and leaving the phone part out.
Great minds think alike :-)
http://acurrie.wordpress.com/2007/01/10/iphone-not-quite/
Me, I’m quite happy with my new HTC TyTN; I just got back from Korea, and though it doesn’t have full-screen broadcast video like the crazy DMB phones do there, at least I could check my email on it!
It certainly will be interesting to see how this does it finally hits Japan. The last time I wandered thru Akiba Yodobashi Camera I saw lots and lots of great phones and all with tons of features. I would have expected these phones to be much higher in price but to mu surprise they were affordable. I wonder how the price point of the iPhone is going to go over in Japan.
Roy: I think that the iPhone is not just WiFi-dependent for Internet access; isn’t that what EDGE is for? Slow as it may be, the iPhone would be a big step up for mobile Internet access.
Is the Mac Kotoeri interface really that lacking relative to Japanese keitais? I don’t use the Japanese iknput on my PHS so I don’t know. Perhaps Apple will adopt the more successful system, whatever it is–maybe that’s another reason it’s taking 6+ months more to come to Asia…
The Japanese handsets are massively over-rated. I have been using them since continuously since 1995. Yes, they have a lot of features. Yes, they are more ‘advanced’ than their counterparts in US/EU. Those reporting handset success based upon the checkbox availability of functions are missing the point completely. The feature-set checklist of the iPhone versus other cell phones is about as relevant as the feature-set checklist of Microsoft glass versus Apple aqua. It is not about the checklist, it is about the quality of design and the quality of implementation. A phone with a full feature-set implemented poorly is no competition to a phone with a limited feature-set implemented well. The interface-quality of most Japanese cell phones is apalling. The strong and powerful draw of the iPhone is the interface qualitfy and the design quality. The draw of a handset with a well-implemented but limited feature-set is way stronger than the draw of the full but badly implemented feature-set checklist of Japanese handsets. I would vote with my wallet and my connection contract. I will pay retail for quality. The first Japanese carrier to support the iPhone will win my custom.
Thank you for this post! I had not bothered to compare this newly hyped Apple toy versus current Japanese keitai’s. If it gets close to a keitai, then I can certainly understand that it is a huge leap forward for people in the USA and Europe. But I would not bother to go and buy one here in Japan.
Luis: My perspective is completely from the using the iPhone in Japan and as you know there’s no equivalent to EDGE here (actually I may be completely wrong here, I don’t know much about the PHS data network) and while having WiFi is something that I would personally like, it’s not really that useful except in freespots, which are rare, or hotspots which you have to pay for. As for the Mac (OSX) handling of Japanese, my criticism was when you typed in a Japanese word and wanted to convert to the kanji, the prediction of the kanji was mediocre. It’s varied on keitais, I found the SONY and NEC systems have good prediction capabilities.
As most Japanese use their keitais for text input I think this is the biggest challenge Apple will have. But since the interface is software I think they might be able to do it.
Yea but your japanese cell phones interface sux like a piece of shit!