Tomorrow is the big day in Japan!
The whole world was eagerly waiting for the new iPhone 3G S and tomorrow finally the new iPhone will be released in Japan.
Introduction
One year has passed since the “iPod with internet and phone function” has arrived in the most advanced mobile market in the world. In the following I would like to examine that “year 1 after the landing of the ‘Jesus phone’ on an Asian non-Christian island”.
Has the iPhone finally arrived in Japan?
And will the 3G S bring the breakthrough for Apple in the Japanese mobile market like the iPhone 3G did worldwide?
Turning point
Till 2008, Japan was the most sophisticated phone market in the world. New high-end phones were released in wide ranges every 3-month, subsidization pushed the prizes down (e.g. high-end 1yen or 0yen phones) and the devices’ lifecycles were short. Then in 2008 came the big turning point. The determining fact was that the mobile industry in Japan was sinking. Total unit shipments declined in the past years and went down 18.7% in the last fiscal year to 42 million units (2008: Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association).
The Japanese ministry of internal affairs and communication reacted and forced the carriers to change their way of selling. Phones were no longer subsidized, real costs of phone units had to be displayed in shops, hidden costs in contracts were forbidden and 2year-contracts had been introduced. Japanese users finally realized the real cost of mobile phones, now ranging from 30.000Yen ($300) to 80.000Yen ($800). This political measure had a big impact on the mobile business and mobile lifestyle of the Japanese.
Adoption problems
Then in June 3008 the iPhone was introduced to Japan. Steve Job was about to crack the Japanese market and gain 1%market share worldwide. But as reported in earlier blogs, the wrong marketing strategy, maybe the wrong mobile carrier and unexpected problems led to un-acceptance of the iPhone as a competitive phone in Japan. Just to mention some of these problems:
If you bought an iPhone in Japan you had to fill out and sign several documents that listed standard functions for Japanese phones, like copy and paste, video recording and trimming, Felica RFID chips for mobile payment, powerful carrier menus with all desirable functions, services and shop solutions…
Exclusivity to Softbank, Japans 3rd biggest mobile provider, might also have contributed to the low spread of the iPhone in Japan. The owner of Softbank, Masayoshi Son, is a half Japanese half Korean innovator who took over the mobile section from Vodafone Japan in March 2006. Docomo is Japan’s biggest mobile carrier and many Japanese think still very traditional. Discrimination might have been a point but in fact many Japanese were waiting for an improved Japanese iPhone-like phone on the quite. (Let’s see if Toshibas new T01-A fulfills their expectations and can break the worldwide iPhone hype!)
Market share
A year passed since the introduction of the iPhone 3G, but no official announcement of sales figures were made, and rumors said that the iPhone failed in the Japanese market. But did the iPhone really fail in Japan? How much did it sale? What’s the market share and will the new iPhone 3G S win the hearts of Japanese mobile phone users? Answers to these questions on this blog soon! And while you are waiting for answers you might wanna go to the Softbank shop in Omotesando tonight and check out if there is really a long line of people waiting for the new iPhone?!
honeyee.mag is one of the most exclusive lifestyle magazines in Japan. Hiroshi Fujiwara, the founder of this magazine, gathers around some of the most creative people of metropolis Tokyo and reports about the latest trends in fashion, lifestyle and design. Recently a special edition of his magazine was published focusing on iPhone usage in Japan (‘About the iPhone at Hanimagu’ – Everything You Always Wanted to Know About iPhone – But Were Afraid to Ask). Many famous creatives like the musician Shinichi Osawa (Mondo Grosso), creative director Koichiro Tanaka (e.g. Uniqlo iPhone app producer) and many others designers, photographers, creative directors etc. where interviewed and an iPhone user survey was conducted. The following data is only mirco data but it gives some interesting insights in the interests and user behavior of Japanese iPhone users.
1. Fast buyers – Japanese wanna have it first!
When the iPhone was first introduced to Japan in July 2008, long lines waited for days in front of the Softbank shop in Omotesando. As reported in the “iPhone Sales in Japan” article on March 3rd, sales and interest in iPhone as a mobile phone decreased drastically after the first month. The survey from honeyee.mag confirms that situation clearly: 84% of iPhone users bought their iPhone in the first month after its release; only 16% purchased it in the following 7month.
2. Burdens: Carrier or Email change required
“Mobile Number Portability” was introduced in October 2006 and allows to keep the same number when changing mobile carriers. In case of the iPhone only 33% used that possibility. Different to other mobile phones the iPhone didn’t support address book and data synchronization with Japanese phones. Also a new iPhone-only email address, that was different to normal Japanese email addresses had to be taken. Many problems occurred, messages couldn’t get send or received, were broken or blocked by other carriers. Knowing of the different nature of the phone you can say that those who purchased the iPhone were mostly Apple fans or gadget geeks, who bought it also they had ongoing contracts with other carriers.
3. In Japan the iPhone is ‘only’ a second phone
Japan is the most advanced mobile society in the world and Japanese handsets are still world leading. Due to the fast development of new phones and the fast changing rate of handsets, usability, content and service improved very much over the years. The iPhone was a big revolution in the West and enhanced mobile communication on 3G networks worldwide. But in Japan the iPhone was technically no revolution at all. At the time of its introduction about 90 million of 103million mobile phone users in Japan already surfed on 3G networks for years, had high-end handsets for several generations and were used to many features the iPhone doesn’t have (QR-code reader, “osaifu keita” [mobile payment], free mobile TV [1seg] etc.). Especially the carrier menu and rich Japanese content, Japanese were used to have for many years, are missing. “It’s a nice gadget to brows PC websites and play games but it can’t be compared to a Japanese phone”, was a common statement. Therefore Japanese use the iPhone as a second device, more like a PDA than a mobile phone. For Japanese the iPhone is “hard to use as a mobile phone”. Only 55% of iPhone users in Japan use it as a main phone.
4. Japanese like special colors
Another point the survey reveals is that 72% of Japanese iPhone users possess a “black iPhone”. That is not surprising because only the 16gb model is available in white and the price for the 16gb version was very high (80.520yen = 823$). Considering that, you can say that Japanese tend to buy a special colored white phone when they purchase a 16gb version. Japanese like to have a variety of designs and colors to choose from. In Japan all carriers introduce 3 times a year 10 to 20 new phones in a huge variety of colors. So Japanese are spoilt to chooses an individual color and design for each phone they purchase. Never the less there are also a lot of Apple fans (Macintosh, iPod etc.) in Japan. Many Japanese like the simple design of the iPhone but would like to have more color and design variations like the aluminium body of the new Macbook or the color ranges of the iPod nano series.
5. iPhone = ‘Expensive gadget’
The above mentioned high purchasing cost of the iPhone (till the “iPhone for everybody” campaign) and the expensive flat rate plans for PC site browsing, compared to other Japanese phones, gave the Japanese an image of the iPhones as an expensive gadget. Additionally 45% of iPhone users think that the monthly charges are high. Those who felt that the prices are high also pointed out, that especially the 3G package prices increase extremely when they travel abroad. 33% of the questioned people use the iPhone abroad. Also the Japanese iPhone contracts by Softbank have special price plans for international usage, some users have additional contracts in other countries. Those who don’t have additional contracts and didn’t inform themselves about the costs, report that they were shocked about the extrem high prices for data transfer. When abroad, map applications like Google Maps are one of the most used features.
6. iPhone users are Mac users
81% of iPhone users in Japan are using Macintosh computers. Of course the conducted survey specialized on creative people who are more likely to use Macintosh computers for work or at home. But if you are used to the Mac OS it’s very easy to adapt to the interface of the iPhone and you are more likely to have interest in the Mac OS-based iPhone. For the average Japanese mobile phone user, who mostly don’t even have a computer at home it’s difficult to use the computer-depending iPhone. Contrary most people in the “hanikamu” community (creatives featured or working in fields touched by the honeyee.mag) are usually very busy creative people. The usage of MobileMe, that very useful service to sync different devices over the air, is very high in this work field. Although the charges for MobileMe are seen as too expensive, 62% are active users and will keep on using this service also if the price doesn’t change.
7. Case protection is low
Worldwide most of smart phone users protect their phone with a case. For Japanese mobile phones have already a unique design and color and should be build sold. Phone stripes (“keitai straipu”), photo stickers (“purikura”) and attachable glitter (“kirakira shiru”) are used to personalize the device. The idea of putting a phone in a case is very new in Japan. About 40% of Japanese don’t like the idea of hiding the beautiful design of the iPhone. That’s a very high ratio compared to other countries.
8. QWERTY-Keyboard stays unused
For foreigners in Japan it’s a pain in the ass to write English on a Japanese phone or to search net web. There is nothing like a T9 text input method and also the latest touch screen phones don’t have a software qwerty-keyboard. In Japan 62% of the creatives prefer the Japanese “ten key pad” instead of the full keyboard (Probably the ratio at normal users is much higher). Japanese are used to the “ten key pad” from previous phones and the buttons of the full keyboard are seen as too small. It normally takes some time to get used to the touch keyboards of the iPhone, but Japanese who try it out only once, experience many key misses and are frustrated very quickly. For that reason the rumor spread quickly that the iPhone is hard to use for Japanese.
9. iPhone = iPod with internet and phone functions
The appeal of the iPhone is that it’s “an iPod that can also be used as a phone”. It is very usefull to download songs directly over wifi or puchase them in the mobile iTunes on the go! 84% of Japanese iPhone users use the iPhone to listen to music on a regular base. But some complain that the screen freezes sometimes when listening to music while browsing the net on safari.
10. ‘BlackBerry No!’ – ‘G1 Yes!’
When you talk about smart phones a year ago you primarily talked about the BlackBerry first. The high interest in the iPhone in Japan should implement also a high interest in the latest Black Berry Storm, just released abroad, which is now also equipped with a touch screen. But actually 62% of Japanese iPhone users conducted in the survey don’t show any interest in the BlackBerry. Contrary to the relative low interest in the Black Berry there is a high awareness in the Android based G1 from T-mobile, that just came out in America. 62% are interested in the new Google Phone G1. The G1 seems to be a better value due its additional hard keyboard, touch screen functionality – no multitouch function like the iPhone – and the support of MobileMe. But concerning about the design the iPhone is much more attractive to Japanese users than the G1.
11. 100% Satisfaction
The Japanese users are totally satisfied with their iPhone. As an entertainment tool for music, video and games, as a business tool for company mails and data transfer, the iPhone is a gadget with the perfect balance between work and play for Japanese. Also the many available applications, rich content and different ways to play around, Japanese creatives love the way of usage of the iPhone. It hasn’t been long since the iPhone was introduced to the Japanese market. Now everybody is keen on seeing the next developments of the iPhone. Quit all of iPhone users are happy with it and want to keep on using the same kind of device. 95% of iPhone users will defintely buy the new edition of the iphone as soon as it comes out. Also the current iPhone is enough for most of the users, they wish to have a bigger memory, a copy and paste function and a higher resolution camera in a new iPhone.
The Japanese cell phone market is hard to crack for western telecommunication companies. That’s something that also Nokia, the biggest mobile carrier in the world, had to experience and finally pull out of Japan completely in late November 2008.
Japan is the most advanced mobile phone market in the world and the Japanese customers are used to be provided with the latest technology handsets and innovative content on a regular basis. Functionality and usability are on the highest level and every season Japanese can choose out of a huge range of newly designed phones, fulfilling all needs of very specific user groups. The times are long gone when cell phones where mainly communication devices. Most Japanese rarely even use their mobile phones for calling.
Japanese “Keitai” (cell phone) are every day lifestyle items that represent the user’s personality. Japanese literally live with their mobile phones. They wake up in the morning by their phone’s timer, pay their bus or train ticket to school or work with their phone, write SNS and blogs in the train, watch TV in their break times, pay for their lunches or do mobile shopping. On the way home they play mobile games, download music or videos, read the news or surf the mobile internet. Many Japanese even sleep with their phones in their hands.
Japanese have a high brand awareness and interest in quality design and lifestyle products from overseas. Exactly these factors made Apple’s iPod a top seller in Japan. When in July 2008 the iPhone finally arrived to Japan, people build long lines and waited for days in front of the Softbank shops, just to be one of the first to posses an iPhone. In spite of high handset and data plan prices, sales were good for some weeks and people rumored that the iPhone could make it in the Japanese market. Also there is no offical data available, it is said that Softbank sold about 400.000 iPhones in the first 3 weeks. But then, after just some weeks the euphoria was gone and therefore the sales went low. Very low!
The iPhone lacked too much of the standard features of Japanese phones. Beginning with the hardware, the iPhone’s camera has only 2 mega pixels, doesn’t have auto focus and macro functionality, necessary for QR code scanning and the positioning of the camera makes it difficult to make pictures of yourself. Also the screen resolution is way behind the time in Japan, battery life is low and movies can’t be taken. Also incompatibility with flash, which is preinstalled on 90% of Japanese phones (flashlite), the lack of applications in Japanese language, no Emoji (emoticons) support and the missing copy & paste function didn’t appeal to the Japanese customer. Besides false marketing, rumors about broken handsets, guarantee issues and bad service took the rest to make Japanese think the iPhone is no use for the Japanese.
Then Softbank put a lot of effort and money in commercials, increasing the awareness of the iPhone in Japan. Firmware updates fixed some software issues and with the external 1seg adapter lacking hardware features were tried to be fixed. Also iPhone commercials are seen anywhere, nor Softbank nor Apple released any figures or information on iPhone sales in Japan. And that can’t be seen as a sign that the iPhone sells well here. Then on Feb 25th Softbank announced a new campaign called “iPhone for everybody” to increase iPhone Sales in Japan. Starting on Feb 27th, lasting till may 31st, subscribers for a new 2 years contract will get the 8gb iPhone completely for “free”. The 16gb model will be extremely reduced to one eights of the former price of 80.520yen (823$) to 11.520yen (115$). In addition Softbank reduces the prices for flat rate data plans from 5.985yen (62$) to 4.410yen (45$) per month. If this drastic price reductions doesn’t help the iPhone sell in Japan, nothing will. In economic times like these also Japanese consumers, who keep showing a high consumption rate through the long time of recession in Japan, might be finally convinced, attracted by that cheap offer and help the iPhone survive or even boost in Japan. Let’s see what the next month bring.
APPLIYA株式会社は『赤ちゃんカメラ』というのiPhoneアプリを公開しました。『赤ちゃんカメラ』は赤ちゃんの注意を引いて笑顔を引き出す革新的なアップリケーションです。写真を撮る前にスマイルバタンを押すと、赤ちゃんが喜ぶ、鈴、玩具や動物の音をはじめ、「メリーさんの羊」や「キラキラ星」などの 身近なメロディーが15種類が流れるようになっています。
APPLIYAが実際に保育園でこのアプリケーションを赤ちゃんに対して結果、ほとんどの赤ちゃんはこれらの音に反応し、笑い出すという結果が得られました。
[video:youtube:m-ZO4igO7-8&eurl=http://appliya-inc.com/ja/catalog/babycam/]
『赤ちゃんカメラ』は日本のアップルストアにて115円で発売されており、国際版を発売予定しています。
APPLIYA株式会社は日本で唯一iPhoneのアプリを販売しているソフトバンクとの共同でiPhoneの良質のモバイルコンテンツを開発しています。APPLIYA株式会社は「居合Phone」の様に、iPhoneのモーションセンサーを用いて侍が刀を操る「居合Phone」や、iPhoneで写真を撮ると幽霊がランダムで 現れる『Ghost Camera Lite』などの面白い日本風なアプリを幅広く開発しています。
面白いアプリが増えることで、日本でのiPhoneの普及率も高まるでしょう！iPhoneの影響で日本の携帯市場は漸く変わっていくのでしょうか！？
