Why Japan’s Cellphones Haven’t Gone Global

Yeah, the features in the Japanese market are mostly due to the ease of expanding infrastructure. I remember getting a plan with Au that only had the good features in the Tokyo metro area. That was fine, as I never left that area. Millions of other people were in the same boat. Maybe they left the Tokyo area once or twice a year, but other than that, never.

In the US, that would never fly. The people that are willing to pay for the features need them to work in all the "large metro areas", which doesn't mean "Manhattan" but rather "suburbs of Phoenix" and so on. This makes infrastructure roll-outs very expensive, and it's why they never happen.

(Incidentally, people in the US and Japan have similar commute times, but the population density in the US goes down a lot faster as you move away from the city center. In Tokyo, it's densely packed until you get to the mountains.)

Population density has its advantages; look at everything Japan has that the US doesn't (100Mbps internet for $20/month, interesting cell-phone features, amazing rail systems), and population density explains it all. But then, they don't have 5 bedroom houses for $150,000, either.

I have to agree with the "equally shitty to use" statement. One of the other problems is that it is hard to get the features you want in a phone that you want. It's along the lines of "GPS, Bluetooth and good Camera: pick any 2." Yu do, however, get a bunch of features that you never need. That, and they seem to have used their mailroom staff to design the UI. People always think they are so advanced. Maybe they were ten years ago, but now not so much.

>I'd say that if Japanese phones ever become a hit in the west, it's because of the cool and different designs rather than features.

And that is, according to this article, exactly their problem: the Japanese are just too focussed on features.

The Internet browsing is real enough to do gmail, NYT, and my admin interface without a line of modification from this bog standard flip phone. Oh, obviously, hn works too.

Sounds like a feature to me...

What would you do with HD video on a 480x320 screen?

Anyway, it'd need an extra chip to work, which would make the phone bigger, and then it'd kill your battery when you used it (receiving signal, decoding video, playing sound and keeping the screen lit), so it would be useless in all but a few scenarios, like riding the bus to work (but is there anything worthwhile on at that time...).

I used to have a TV-tuner for my Game Gear. Used it maybe three times. It's a useless gimmick 95% of the time.

Other than live sporting events, can you think of anything that broadcast TV would provide that can't be served by the download/sync model? Given the additional chipsets and battery drain from heavy network use I can't see how Apple would view this particular desire as anything more than a need to break the populace from this idea that you watch video programs when some TV network thinks that you should watch them. If the content producers offered Apple access to their content at the same per-subscriber price point that they offer the content to the cable networks then your desires would be met in a much more interesting and appealing fashion.

Flash support?

Actually, I hear Slingbox has a pretty decent app for it (WiFi only though).

There is no actual technical need for certification, though. Only the GSM modem needs to be certified for technical reasons, the rest is just so AT&T can get its advertising all over the phone.

But honestly, Japanese phones are not that amazing. They have pretty cases and nice incremental features, but they are not that different from US / European cell-phones. The "internet access" is not the real Internet in many cases. Japanese phones can also avoid ugly and big QWERTY keyboards because Japanese, in general, has shorter words than English (and therefore multi-press input works better).

You seem to indicate that Japan's carriers has less strict certification process than AT&T's.

My personal experience with NTT DoCoMo (one of the largest carriers in Japan) has been exactly the opposite. Certificaiton has been a very difficult and long process.