On Wednesday, January 9, 2002, at 02:03 , Oliver Brose wrote:
> Same for Europe.
> WAP just sucks, it is absolutely pityful. Why waste ten minutes
> searching
> for a book while loosing money for the connection? GPRS won't be much
> better, but an improvement regarding the time&cost factors.
WAP = Wait And Pay ;-)
> The Japanese show us. You have UMTS in Japan *now*,
Correct
> not "maybe second
> quarter 2003", with great services, using color cellphones one cannot
> dream
> of here, and people buy and consume those things at addiction-level.
Incorrect.
We've got UMTS here, yes, well kind of ... but DoCoMo has only attracted
some 4000 users most of them are the folks that have been on the trial
since May.
FOMA (as the 3G service is called here) isn't all that popular. People
do not consume it "at addiction-level" because nobody can see the point
of it.
Coverage is only in Tokyo, the handsets are in the order of a thousand
dollars, and there isn't really much you could do with FOMA that you
couldn't do with the other cellphone services. PHS for example has got
64kbps and 128kbps is about to be launched or has been launched, so why
3G ?
Sure, there are some FOMA phones that have a camera built-in and you can
do video telephony, but most people who have used it say that it is cool
for a giggle once or twice but after that seems pretty useless.
> You couldn't even sell a phone without colour, as I have read, because
> people would just laugh at you.
Depends on what you mean by "without colour".
Yes, all mobile phones on sale in Japan have some colour by now, but
most of them have colour background or a colour flashing antenna, but
not necessarily a colour display.
My phone for example has orange or green backlight, but monochrome
display and I bought it new only last May. I bought it because it was
the only one that didn't look like a toy. What do you need a colour
display for on a phone anyway ?
Most phones have rather silly features such as a screen on the back of
the phone that displays a thumbnail picture of the person you are
talking to (if it has been stored in the phonebook that is).
Or there are those where the entire phone starts flashing in different
colours depending on who is calling.
Most of the oh-so advanced features of those phones are designed for
teenagers to be able to show-off.
User friendliness is a foreign word. My Sanyo came with three books of
instructions and one of them has almost 800 pages of instructions. Even
the Sanyo support people can't cope with the many features their phones
have got.
It has got so many features in its UI that most of the time you can't
even replicate something you have done before. And despite all the
sophisticated software in there it doesn't have a SPACE character even
not when in Roman character input mode.
And you get plenty of SPAM on these phones from telephone clubs that
want to entice you to call an anonymous switchboard where you are
connected to under age teens who are eager to earn a little extra by
becoming a mistress of a probably married salary man who could be their
father or even grandfather.
The Japanese even have a word for that. It's called Enjohkohsai.
That is one of the reasons why these phones are so popular with teenage
girls. For many girls those phones are a tool to generate extra pocket
money without their parents knowing what is going on.
Japanese TV has done a survey asking teenage girls on the street or at
school what they think of it, and most of them reacted very positive and
said it was cool and they would do it in an instant if some guy asked
them. They even stated a price and that was on national television.
Oh, yes, one more thing about the new FOMA phones with built-in video.
They had to be designed such that they constantly beep when video is on
in order to ensure that no women are molested without their knowing that
they or more precisely their underwear is being caught on video for
example while in a crowded train.
The Japanese have a word for that too. It's called Chikan.
So, if you hear those wonderful tales about the Japanese consumer
paradise, may I suggest you ask someone who has been living in Japan to
give you some background on it because as they say: Not all that shines
is gold.
> I guess this behaviour and its results are a matter of attitude, but I
> do
> not know for sure of whom.
> Is it the western consumers who do not want to have the best available
> technology *today*, and who are dumb and ignorant, not even knowing
> about
> and asking for the best, or is it the western companys who fail to keep
> up
> with the japanese, fail to create and market new devices and services,
> and,
> as nobody asks for anything else, happily keep on selling crapphones
> (now
> with 32MB for endless MP3 fun, WOW!) and low level unified messaging as
> new
> and cool?
I tell you one thing. I prefer my GSM Nokia 8110 over any Japanese phone
anytime and so does my Japanese wife who has her own 8110 for when we
are travelling abroad ...
because Japan is the only industrialised country in the world which does
not have adopted any telephone standard that would allow any Japanese to
roam or use their Japanese phone abroad with a foreign SIM card. In fact
they don't even have SIM cards.
And 3G roaming will be a long way before it becomes available. For now
the Japanese UMTS is still incompatible with European UMTS anyway.
Although, convergence is expected some time in the future.
So, next year for the world cup many people will have a big surprise
when they find out that they can't use their phone in oh-so advanced
Japan.
Just in case you wondered, Japanese CDMA is incompatible with
rest-of-the-world CDMA and prepaid is only available to residents with a
resident card.
At least in Korea they have standard CDMA and prepaid is available for
tourists.
Also it may be of interest to you that phones in Japan have a lifetime
of a few months only, they are therefore not designed to last. It's all
very cheap - almost like throwaway items and in a way they are. And
until recently changing to a new phone meant a new phone number unless
one wanted to send in the old phone and wait a week (being without a
phone).
Speaking of arrogant Westerners ... you ain't seen nothing yet.
Ask the Japanese, they will tell you that Japan is different and special
and Japanese people are different and special. Of course they will also
apologise for being different and special but that is just a matter of
etiquette. In their hearts and minds they feel good to be different and
special most of the time.
> Macintosh: for Productivity
> Newton: for Thought
> Windows: for making you appreciate Macintosh and Newton.
I like that one ;-)
rgds
bk
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