Well, I told ya so. The iPhone isn’t doing so well in Japan, and has an uphill climb ahead of it. As reported in a poll conducted by the Nikkei Business, 59% of respondents had “no intention to buy”, and another 26% had “no interest.” That left 2.5% who intend to buy, and another 13% who may think about it.
Apple just doesn’t have the juice in Tokyo– almost everything there is either clearly wabi-sabi and traditional, or slick-plastic-wonderland-emotive. This goes for cars, buildings, magazines, shows, and even the girls in Harajuku. The iPhone’s sex appeal that is so compelling to clunky plaid-shirted Americans is just another plastometallic toy to the Japanese. Even at that, the iPhone comes up short in functionality– no terrestrial TV, poor kanji anticipation, and an underdeveloped app market. Japan, like Europe, has fierce competition amongst calling plans and contracts; they don’t have the Faustian vendor plans like in the United States, so iPhone’s lock in with Softbank is a big turn off.
I don’t have an iPhone. I think I want one, but at the same time, I find myself using a cellphone less and less.
Meh.
(thanks to Gen Kanai and Joi Ito for the photo)