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Also because of a tendency for them to release their best products as Japan-only. "Galapagos phones" are a good example. When I visited in 2009, they were still
by jbay808 5y ago
Also because of a tendency for them to release their best products as Japan-only. "Galapagos phones" are a good example. When I visited in 2009, they were still much more capable devices than the then-available iPhone. But by being unavailable outside Japan, they had no hope of winning global market share.
- emteycz 5y agoIn what ways was it better than a Sony Ericsson?
- jbay808 5y agoIt's hard to describe; there were so many of them and I can't find much if anything left on the English internet that describes them. They were very diverse; some would have large screens that unfold or rotate after flipping open to create a widescreen-on-a-keyboard-stick, for example. They were high enough resolution to support two simultaneous side-by-side channels of streaming video, which people would watch on the train. Sounds normal today but it was bizarre to see back then. The manufacturers thought the domestic market was big enough for them. In a way that protected foreign markets and allowed less mature smartphones to develop internationally until they were good enough and "cool" enough to take over Japan too. Oops. I see this happen again and again, too, not only with phones.