

IPhone commands 60% of Japan's Smartphone Market - anderzole
http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2010/10/28/report-iphone-commands-60-of-japans-smartphone-market-7-overall/

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masklinn
I don't think this chart makes much sense: if you compare them to the phones
generally sold in the west, the dumbest japanese keitai is already a
smartphone much more than a "feature phone": it can surf the web (iMode &
such, including Flash movies), playback movies, watch TV, send and receive
mail, serve as wallet, mass transport pass and identity card, video call, do
GPS navigation, handle calendars, address books, memo pads, etc...

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aphexairlines
Japanese phones can surf hacker news maybe (after printing out all of the
javascript source to screen) but the rest of the web is sort of illegible on
those browsers.

Video calls work, sure. For 75.6 yen (US$0.93) per minute:

[http://www.nttdocomo.co.jp/english/charge/bill_plan/plan/val...](http://www.nttdocomo.co.jp/english/charge/bill_plan/plan/value/index.html)

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baby
Maybe most of japanese websites have a mobile version ?

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aphexairlines
It's hit or miss. Looking for venue information when you're out and trying to
get somewhere is frustrating -- most venue sites are designed for full
browsers.

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phamilton
Can the world somehow figure out how to sync up their "smartphone market
share" reports? I feel like every week there's a new article about it from a
different source. Things can't have changed much in a week.

Someone should figure out a way to group things like these together. A mashup
of articles reporting essentially the same thing. Then some can produce a
mashup of these mashups in an RSS feed.

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aphexairlines
It helps that Softbank (the only carrier that Apple's supporting) is eating
the entire cost of the phone.

Hmm, an HTC Desire HD for 30,720 yen (US$378) on a 2-year contract:

[https://onlineshop.mb.softbank.jp/ols/mobile/WOS001Control/W...](https://onlineshop.mb.softbank.jp/ols/mobile/WOS001Control/WOS001003/TE001?applType=&srvcFlg=&modelId=1143&subId=0)

or an iPhone for free on a 2-year contract:

[https://onlineshop.mb.softbank.jp/ols/mobile/WOS001Control/W...](https://onlineshop.mb.softbank.jp/ols/mobile/WOS001Control/WOS001003/TE001?applType=&srvcFlg=&modelId=1127&subId=0&agncyId=iphone4_sbm)

And that's not even mentioning the other carriers, whose data and voice plans
are much more expensive. And the Galaxy S that docomo's selling (for the low
price of your firstborn child) doesn't even have a front camera.

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edkennedy
Perhaps there's an opportunity in translating apps over to Japanese.

