iPhone controls 46% of Japanese smartphone market

I am not really sure this is true. I spend a lot of time in Japan and I don't see THAT many iPhones. Plus, the Japanese market relies heavily on video calling and the iPhone strikes out in that regard.

Who cares whether the iPhone is selling well in Japan or not? It shouldn't impress anyone. If the Japanese like the iPhone, all well and good. If they don't, too bad for them. The Japanese market isn't even that large and is probably made up of people who are merely interested in the latest fad cellphones. If they had a handset with almost no features, but had Hello Kitty whiskers on it, it would probably be the most popular handset in Japan for a month.

Some bloggers are always trying to make the iPhone bigger than it is. So what if it doesn't appeal to everyone. RIM is selling way more BlackBerrys than Apple is selling iPhones but it isn't really anything to crow about. Apple tried to build a handset that is useful to people but I'm sure it's not useful to everyone. It's OK if Apple wants to put a FeLiCa chip inside an iPhone, but screw 1Seg. If the Japanese think that power hog technology is so great, then that's their problem. There are plenty of other ways to get video to a handset.

I was studying that popular Willcom W-ZERO3es and that thing has plenty of features, but it's merely an outdated WinMo 6, stylus pushing, soon-to-be-gone slider that would give the average person a headache to use. If that's the sort of crap the Japanese cellphone user aspires to, then they're just moving in the opposite direction of the rest of the industry/world. A scroll wheel for navigation in this day and age is very unusual, to say the least. If a W-ZERO3es is what they prefer instead of an iPhone, then they are very unusual people, indeed, and they may enjoy the curse of WinMo.

I had a Japanese phone last year but wasn't able to use it fully since I'm not fluent in Japanese. Even if I was I'd still pick the iPhone. Why? Because it's a great gaming device, iPod, and GPS. I see a lot Japanese people carry their phones, PSP, or DS and having to switch back and forth.

Most people use them for text messaging. There's not of actual talking being done since there isn't a great voice plan. As far as service, the only time when I couldn't get a signal is when I'm on a subway train. :)

For the iPhone to do this well in Japan is remarkable. Unlike American phone users, who have put up with crappy, crippled phones for so long that even Windows Mobile on a Palm was a viable product, Japan has had really impressive phones for years. They're demanding customers, and for the iPhone to become so popular means that Apple is doing something very right.

You said "took a lot of slack" but maybe you mean "took a lot of flak"?

Otherwise great article!!! :)

What is a half hour of data? Not being shitty, just wondering what their network download speeds are. :D

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