Yes, the Japanese Do Like the iPhone, After All
A lot of it is explained here, but the short story is that the iPhone has had a successful launch here, allowing 3rd-place SoftBank to grab the lion’s share of new activations this quarter in Japan, many of them stolen from other carriers.
I’ve observed this on a small scale at my school, where students have invariably reacted to the iPhone with intense interest, many asking to see it because they’d heard that I got one, and more than a few saying they planned to buy one. This from a population which is made up almost completely of DoCoMo and Au (KDDi) users–I know because I asked two of my classes, nearly 30 students, and not a single one had a SoftBank account. But now several are planning to change, once they can find a store that has iPhones in stock.
All this despite no handstrap, no emoji (color graphic emoticons), so electronic wallet, and (as yet) no QR Code reader. Go figure.
and no IR:( cant trade my info with potential dates…
pretend a lot of your readers aren’t in Japan, and explain what a QR code reader is and how an electronic wallet works!
Paul:
Sorry, I sometimes forget. QR Codes are 2D barcodes. This is one which reads off my own URL:
Electronic wallets I don’t know well myself, but from what I gather they work with sensors at many businesses; pass the cell phone over the sensor and it’s like using a debit card.