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mbarkerOne of the news shows yesterday here in Japan talked about the coming of the iPhones. It was a bit ambivalent -- they talked with a few people who are really looking forward to the iPhone, but they also had a list of five services, such as wanseg (one seg? the ability to watch TV shows) that are typical cell phone services in Japan but apparently are NOT available on the iphone.
They also had an odd highlight, with the host of the show getting out the iphone that he had been given and showing how it worked for him. If I understood correctly, he had it for a week or so ahead of the show, along with a tech advisor to help him learn to use it quickly. And while he had some functions down, he also seemed to stumble and get lost a bit too often.
One feature they showed that everyone seemed to think might be very helpful is a new arrangement for handling the Japanese phonemes (hiragana). Basically, they took the ten numbers of the standard telephone pad and put the 10 groups on them (a, ka, sa, ta, na, ha, ma, ya, ra, wa). So far, not so surprising, and apparently a tap on one key will put that character up. But hold down the key, and a little four-petalled flower opens up, with the other four characters available just by sliding that way. So hold "ka" and you get "ki, ku, ke, ko." Simpler than the multiple taps that most cell phones use, and a nice demonstration of a touch panel graphic interaction.
As for the stumbling -- the worst case was the final "let me show you the web access. Here's the google page, and here's the name of our show." Press search . . . and it fails. He repeated this several times, and then the tech guy came out, did it again, and then suddenly checked the WiFi interface and realized that it needed to be told which service to use. Then it all started working -- but that fumbling and need for a tech to help figure out what was wrong does not bode well.
It really is interesting, but my impression from the news coverage was that the iPhone is going to have to work harder to crack the Japanese markets. There is already an existing high level of cell phone service and expectations, and the inconsistencies with those services are not going to be acceptable.
They also had an odd highlight, with the host of the show getting out the iphone that he had been given and showing how it worked for him. If I understood correctly, he had it for a week or so ahead of the show, along with a tech advisor to help him learn to use it quickly. And while he had some functions down, he also seemed to stumble and get lost a bit too often.
One feature they showed that everyone seemed to think might be very helpful is a new arrangement for handling the Japanese phonemes (hiragana). Basically, they took the ten numbers of the standard telephone pad and put the 10 groups on them (a, ka, sa, ta, na, ha, ma, ya, ra, wa). So far, not so surprising, and apparently a tap on one key will put that character up. But hold down the key, and a little four-petalled flower opens up, with the other four characters available just by sliding that way. So hold "ka" and you get "ki, ku, ke, ko." Simpler than the multiple taps that most cell phones use, and a nice demonstration of a touch panel graphic interaction.
As for the stumbling -- the worst case was the final "let me show you the web access. Here's the google page, and here's the name of our show." Press search . . . and it fails. He repeated this several times, and then the tech guy came out, did it again, and then suddenly checked the WiFi interface and realized that it needed to be told which service to use. Then it all started working -- but that fumbling and need for a tech to help figure out what was wrong does not bode well.
It really is interesting, but my impression from the news coverage was that the iPhone is going to have to work harder to crack the Japanese markets. There is already an existing high level of cell phone service and expectations, and the inconsistencies with those services are not going to be acceptable.
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Date: 2008-07-11 03:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-12 12:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-12 12:43 am (UTC)