3 ms·

If you want to see the future of mobile you should not look at the USA but Japan, Malaysia, Europe, etc. The iPhone has been a good catch up for the USA but eve

by dazzla 18y ago

If you want to see the future of mobile you should not look at the USA but Japan, Malaysia, Europe, etc. The iPhone has been a good catch up for the USA but even that is less restricted outside the USA.

mattmaroon 18y ago
Japan has a lot of stuff that we don't and that never really works here because our cultures are so different. They'll buy a device so laden with features that they don't even know how to use 3/4 of them, because they value that. We'll buy a device that looks better and is simple to operate. The iPhone is a much better model of what Americans want now (and possibly what the Japanese will want in 5 years) than the feature packed phones they have.
- axod 18y ago
  It's not just that though. Look at the mobile operators etc. In the UK, I get an iPhone 3g with excellent edge/3g coverage, free wifi from thousands of wifi spots, and unlimited data. I don't think I would have bought the iPhone without the unlimited data and free wifi, as I use it mainly as a portable browser. The US seriously needs to catch up in terms of pricing plans, data, etc.
  - mattmaroon 18y ago
    Well, I think we all agree on that.
- menloparkbum 18y ago
  I lived in Japan for a year. The reports about how advanced the Japanese mobile phone situation are a bit overblown. The most popular service was still i-Mode, which is old, proprietary and severely limited. It is kind of like if "Prodigy" ran on mobile phones. According to wikipedia: Even i-mode's creator, Takeshi Natsuno, has stated "I believe the iPhone is closer to the mobile phone of the future, compared with the latest Japanese mobile phones."
  - mattmaroon 18y ago
    Interesting. All of my knowledge of Japanese patterns comes from mobile sites and articles I read, so admittedly it all has a filter and could be somewhat inaccurate.

3 ms·

If you want to see the future of mobile you should not look at the USA but Japan, Malaysia, Europe, etc. The iPhone has been a good catch up for the USA but eve

by dazzla 18y ago

mattmaroon 18y ago
Japan has a lot of stuff that we don't and that never really works here because our cultures are so different. They'll buy a device so laden with features that they don't even know how to use 3/4 of them, because they value that. We'll buy a device that looks better and is simple to operate. The iPhone is a much better model of what Americans want now (and possibly what the Japanese will want in 5 years) than the feature packed phones they have.
- axod 18y ago
  It's not just that though. Look at the mobile operators etc. In the UK, I get an iPhone 3g with excellent edge/3g coverage, free wifi from thousands of wifi spots, and unlimited data. I don't think I would have bought the iPhone without the unlimited data and free wifi, as I use it mainly as a portable browser. The US seriously needs to catch up in terms of pricing plans, data, etc.
  - mattmaroon 18y ago
    Well, I think we all agree on that.
- menloparkbum 18y ago
  I lived in Japan for a year. The reports about how advanced the Japanese mobile phone situation are a bit overblown. The most popular service was still i-Mode, which is old, proprietary and severely limited. It is kind of like if "Prodigy" ran on mobile phones. According to wikipedia: Even i-mode's creator, Takeshi Natsuno, has stated "I believe the iPhone is closer to the mobile phone of the future, compared with the latest Japanese mobile phones."
  - mattmaroon 18y ago
    Interesting. All of my knowledge of Japanese patterns comes from mobile sites and articles I read, so admittedly it all has a filter and could be somewhat inaccurate.