
Why the Japanese Hate the iPhone  - peter123
http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2009/02/why-the-iphone.html
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gustowind
Created accounted just to say this:

Titles like this are not only terrible generalizations, but they are
completely misinformed (the 2 not being mutually exclusive).

I live in Tokyo, and I can tell you, more than a few people have an iPhone.
It's popular to the point that its ridiculous. Now you may wonder why are the
sales are so poor. A casual walk into a mobile shop will show you. It's
variety. There are too many phones to choose from. While the iPhone still wins
hands down in sleekness, there are a host of other decent phones (with greater
capabilities) to choose from.

So there is no 'hate' involved, it just boils down to market saturation of
comparable phones. Apple took a piss in the sea...no surprises on the results.

~~~
patio11
Indeed.

Plus, any "Japanese hate American products because they're cultural elitists"
meme needs to minimally pretend that the freaking _iPod_ doesn't exist. iPod
had something like a 60% share within months of being launched while competing
against like likes of Sony on their home turf.

~~~
RK
Is it true that Korean brands like Samsung don't sell at all?

~~~
patio11
Samsung's problem is not that they are Korean, it is that they are Samsung.

I'm looking at the top selling MP3 players on Amazon.co.jp right now. There
are products in the top 10 from Transcend (India?!), Creative(Singapore),
Cowon (Korea), Apple (USA), and Toshiba(Japan).

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GHFigs
Linkbait article title about an Apple product at wired.com? I'm guessing it's
another Brian Chen troll.

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baddox
This makes me wonder: what are the most popular phones (especially "hip"
smartphones) in Japan?

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vladimir
The question is: should we adapt technology according to national
characteristics, Technology seems to make cultural borders disappear, but
sometimes these borders are very strong.

~~~
jherdman
> Technology seems to make cultural borders disappear, [...]

Can you expand on this? I'm uncertain as to what you mean.

~~~
Zev
I think the gist of what he's saying is that no matter where you go (caveat:
cities or suburbs), you can find a cell phone with reception, electricity,
television and so on. The products may be made by a local company, but they're
clearly identifiable and not limited to one particular civilization.

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cubix
I find the minimalist lines of the iPhone much more pleasing than the
Panasonic P905i, which except for the colour perhaps, looks pretty
commonplace:
[http://www.feelphones.com/2008/01/02/panasonic-p905i-picture...](http://www.feelphones.com/2008/01/02/panasonic-p905i-pictures/)

