Japanese phones suffer from 'Galapagos Syndrome' -- are too complex to survive abroad
By Tim Stevens 
posted July 20th 2009 10:32AM
posted July 20th 2009 10:32AM
While Americans are pining for smartphones even though they don't have any idea how to use the things, in Japan people not only pocket far more advanced cellys than here, but use them productively. More than twice as many people use smartphones there than do in the States (despite less than half the population), but the companies making those phones have been hopeless when it comes to catering to the international mobile space. The problem is largely design, whether it be clunky user experiences, a complete inability to sync with PCs (fughettabout Macs), or bulky clamshell exteriors enclosing more widgets than that dusty Radio Shack down the road. Companies like NEC and Sharp previously took pride in their quirky mobiles, but, with the JDM handset market shrinking rapidly, most are looking to inject some Western sensibility into their Eastern handsets in the hopes of finding success in foreign lands. Evolve or die is the word, meaning next year we might just find something headed our way from those annual showcase teasers.
this doesn't particularly surprise me..
we're a bit behind the curve in the mobile space here in the great US of A
japanese cellphones are government-subsidised.
they are actually really really expensive and the consumer pays about two thirds of the cost overall. if you want to unlock one you will realise - they make you pay back the extra costs. this is why they have no prominence in the rest of the world.
that, and carrier-exclusive handsets.
Japanese mobile phones seem to do everything except make a phone call.
They actually do better than Motorola.
For example, when you place the phone away from your face,
the proximity sensor will know and
silent the mic.
American phones are always far behind Japanese phones.
I lived in Shinjuku-Ku for a while and back when America's best cellphones were Motorola''s with a "color screen" and a detachable camera, Japanese phones were thin, had brilliant color screens, integrated cameras and even mobile Television over the J-Phone network.
fortunately, we've got iPhone. We don't need their stuff unless you just want smaller, thinner phones.
@Quantumphysics
I'll second that. I was stationed in Yokosuka back when I was in the military and had a really nice phone. Five years later I was assigned to Hawaii and was stunned to hear them trumpeting "the latest innovation in cell phone technology" as something I'd had half a decade prior. And I do like some of the Japanese phone designs both then and now.
Ultimately, it's not a matter of Japanese phones being too advanced as our cell systems being too primitive. We're well behind the curve compared to the rest of the world and the sooner we catch up the sooner we can stop sighing wistfully at all the nice toys they get only overseas.
"Japanese mobile phones seem to do everything except make a phone call."
Sounds like the iPhone...
due to japan's smaller landmass it is much easier to upgrade the cellular networks, and therefore many of the "advanced" features you see on Japanese cellphone are more plausible to implement in a shorter timeline.
There are also less Cellphone companies in japan, making phone sales more of a big deal (here most people will just take the free one with the better service contract). Cellphone companies don't make money off the phones, they make money off the service contracts, so why worry about caring more expensive phones (which cost the company more if they don't sell them) when people are more concerned about who has the best plan.
For awhile people were happy with there phones as long as they could stick enough rhinestones on it.
I think the iPhone is starting to change that mentality (which most people on this website would say as a good thing) and Techy phones are finally saturating the US market.
Personally I would prefer to see a push for more advancement in the infrastructure though, before we continue to strain the crap we currently have by tacking on more and more data hungry features.
Japanese phones make phone calls better than any US phone.
Whenever I've used my in-laws' phones in Japan, or even the cheap NTT DoCoMo rental phones that are usually 4 year old off-brand castoffs, it has been like talking on a land line. No dropouts whatsoever, no echo, no digital delay. These are all problems I have had on every network I've tried in the US.
The Japanese don't make a big deal about their call quality anymore because it's just assumed that it will be good. It would be like JR running ads that say something like "Ride JR! Our trains run on time!" It's Japan, of course they do. Nobody needs to be told that there.
The problem with American consumers is that we are accustomed to mediocrity in everything we buy. Not just phones, but certainly phones are one symptom of the problem. The iPhone is actually falling further behind there, despite the recent upgrade. We need somebody to really push things forward here, not just give us these incremental improvements that are the bare minimum needed to keep people buying.
I'd personally give my left nut just for the *opportunity* to buy some of the more advanced phones - I don't see how it's this foregone conclusion that they wouldn't sell here when none of us have even had the *chance* to buy them.
@Quantumphysics:
In terms of specs, yes they are. But in terms of usuability and OS, we dominate. Have you seen how bad those phones UI are compared to Android phones? And I have longly yearned the day Motorola would make an Android dual-hinge clamshell like that phone only shorter/slimmer with full QWERTY....back to the drawing board.
You would be amazed how few people care about the UI unless it's staggeringly awful. The difference beteeen mastering a UI in five minutes or fifty is vaninigshly small if you have an 18 month contract.
@ mark
that's not true people buy the iPhone BECAUSE it's so simple, in a 30 second commercial anyone watching learned how to copy and paste! At least 10% of people in the USA want simplicity with power over complication and lag (Mac's market share)
@Jeff: i believe that the only place where mobile phone companies feel the need to say they have good call quality is the US. The only people i have noticed that ever complain about call quality and dropped calls (what's that even like, the call simply stops in the middle?) are from the US.
In this respect Japan is like almost every other country on the planet.
@murmermer
Actually the Western and Japanese market bases are completely different, so there's no way to make a fair comparison. Specifically, in America almost everyone has their own personal computer, with which their cellphone is a compliment. Since they can already "do everything" on their computer, it's more important that a cellphone be easy and enjoyable to use.
In Japan, the reason why "more than twice as many people use smartphones" is because a lot of people -don't- have their own computers -- more often than not, there's simply one or two family computers. Therefore far more people use their cellphone as their primary communication (internet) device, and are much more willing to use a phone that has a poor UI that lets them do everything they want, than one with a good UI that imposes arbitrary limitations. The fact that SoftBank is giving away iPhones free with 2 year contracts ought to illustrate the lesser demand of the device compared to America.
Don't forget, even though Japanese phone UIs are a real mess, they're virtually all the same across every single phone. Meaning if you've put the extra 45 minutes into learning how to use one phone, you pretty much know how to use every other Japanese phone out there. There's almost no learning curve associated with upgrading/switching phones.
@fh
A good point. This is also true of Nokia phones - the interface is clunky but it's essentially the same one we've been using in Europe and Asia for the last 10 years or so. Once you're familiar with it - as the majority of mobile phone users are - it ceases to be an issue.
Something shiny with all the bells and whistles is useless if it can't even sync with a computer properly...
Your fluffy picture is nice.
Great, all we need is Outlook Sync on a
Sharp or Hitachi phone.
in japan, you can scan nearly everything with just your camera and open a link or buy something. it's amazing. I want that infastructure here.
You have obviously never seen Shopsavvy on the T-Mobile G1...
The technology is there
but the use? I don't see any.
I have an Android app that can scan the cover of any Book, Movie, or Video Game and give you relevant web links to purchase it or look up reviews. If the item has a bar code, searching for it with the camera becomes even easier.
But will it find good deals or just link to the bastard that paid the phonecompany most?
I don't know, it's faster for me to just look product names up on Pricegrabber or Amazon, as opposed to getting my phone out, going to the camera, finding the barcode, taking a picture of it, then have the phone analyze it. It's probably faster than I'm making it sound, but still, how hard is it to type the product name into google?
It's nothing special on a smartphone, it's a real innovation when you can do it on a dumbphone (as the Japanese ones are).
The most stupid thing is
Japanese sync from phone to phone,
they do not rely on computer as Americans.
"Too complex" is being generous. Completely unusable might be more apt.
However, "d" makes a good point that there are MUCH more robust infrastructures designed around cellphones in Japan. You can use them for a lot more than calls - and perhaps that's their downfall. Not to mention that I've yet to see a user interface come out of Japan that didn't look like the living quarters there - every last millimeter "efficiently used" (crammed with stuff) and laid our haphazardly.
WOW are you a moron? Have you used a cellphone in Japan, from Japan? If not please shut up. The voice quality of any NEC/Sharp will out do any IPhone or Blackberry.
@Jamesology
When did he say anything about voice quality?
He wasn't criticizing voice quality. He was criticizing usability.
I like how the caption below the phone says " In real life a guy will not jump out of the screen" haha
I was just going to post the same thing. One of those hilarious corporate disclaimers.
The phones over there are definitely awesome. Clunky UI sucks initially, but if you use it enough you'll get used to it. I don't really care myself, as I'm still happy with the candybar phone that was free w/ service from 2005...
"clunkky UI" is an North American specialty. Looks at our IPhone, Blackberry or Palms; we might as well carry our laptops and use them as a cellphone.
oh ya, thats why iPhones are constantly sold out in the entire country of japan...because they just HATE our clunky UIs
"might as well carry our laptops and use them as a cellphone."
I don't even know what that means....i wish my laptop had a touch screen.
@James
You have to be the most mis-informed numbskull on this site, please do do a favor and stop talking. PLEASE
@ dan2600
While the Iphone did sell out in Japan initially, it hasn’t sold that well in Japan. There are several reason for this related specifically to the Japanese cell phone market such as lack of TV over phone( I forget the service name at the moment) , lack of Japanese specific apps, and more important than anything else, the iphone sucks for text messaging in Japanese. No it really does. It might be a step up for English, but in Japan, they have had predictive text for a very long time. More over a telephone pad works really well with the Japanese alphabet. Texting on my iphone in Japanese is really slow and cumbersome because you often hit incorrect letters where as with a regular phone I can ride my bike and text without looking at the phone. For all the things the Japanese cellphone does, the most important has always and will always be text messaging. (phone calls just cost too damn much. (10-80 cents a minute depending on plan). Comparing cellphone usage in japan with the US is really like comparing apples to oranges because the use model in Japan is vastly different.
The problem with Japan principally is that there were sooooo ahead of the game. Making decisions first does not necessary always mean that they will be the right decisions in the fullness of time. Also, culturally what a Japanese consumer wants is not necessarily the same as a European or American consumer. The result being that they are right at the end of that distribution curve at the bleeding edge. I guess the success of the iphone will make them take breath as they have more advanced tech which is not selling as well.
Lol , i'd rather not have that guy come out WOOOOing !!!!
He is, the caption above his head clearly says "WOOO HOO1"
Nevermind, I missed that "never".
I'm worthless.
The "smartness" of the phones here is one of the reasons why the iPhone is not particularly popular here in Japan. There is so much content available, either built-in, or over the web, for Japanese cellphones, that the apps from app store are not that appealing. Plus, people here watch TV a lot on their phone, and the iPhone can't pick up local casts...
In terms of syncing, the Japanese like to change their gear, and as long as photos and contacts are transferable, syncing's not a big deal. Believe it or not, many people here use paper diaries!
Complexity is also a non-issue. Again, most of what they do with their phones is based online. The phones may be hard to use, but they don't really need to use them, as it were. They work out how to use whatever feature they need, if and when they need it. Simple!
People will always want what they don't have, or cant keep.
The fundamental problem is that the Japanese' patterns of cell phone use differ radically from that of Americans (I don't know about Europe and elsewhere). Many, if not most, Japanese work long hours and spend almost all their "free time" commuting to and from work on the train or bus, going home only to eat a quick dinner, watch some TV and sleep. In this environment, the cell phone has become the primary computing platform, able to send and receive mail, browse the internet, download music, play games, watch and record TV, write blogs and even novels: almost anything you can imagine using a computer for in non-business applications. I know many people who don't even have a computer at home. They have an office computer, provided by the company, and at least one cell phone that they use for everything else. Thus they spend a lot of time learning all the ins and outs of their phones, while making functions that Americans feel compulsory, like syncing with Outlook, irrelevant. Americans want a smart phone, but they don't want to spend the time to learn to use them effectively; thus the race for the ultimate dumb interface for the smart phone (which the iPhone is currently winning handily).
In truth, I would say that most Americans don't need most of the features their phones already have. When you need GPS, you have it in your car in a dedicated unit. You have an iPod or other device for music. You have a laptop with a cellular network card for full internet browsing. You have a camera for when you want to take pictures. And you can carry all these around with you because you drive almost everywhere you go. You also spend a lot more time at home in front of the computer, a computer that you use for both work and leisure.
If we were ever allowed to have the download speed they have, maybe we could catch up.
As far as I know, most of Japan runs on a 3G network. The biggest difference, I would say, is that there is a huge network of content specifically designed for cell phone browsing. These aren't just "optimized" versions of major sites, but sites purpose-built for cell phones. It's arguable whether the sites exist because cell phone browsing is popular or vice versa, but it's definitely the case that a different web exists that can be easily accessed and provide almost all the functions of full-browser counterpart.
Agreed.
Best comment I've read in awhile.
is it jsut me or is this article saying "japanese phones need to get dumber to survive"
cuz that would be quite a step back. if americans (or anyone else) cant use them, dont buy them, theres a reason why simple dirt cheap phones are still produced
Not really, dirt cheap cellphones are still produced because they are (sic) dirt cheap.
Personally, i use my cellphone for phone calls and occasionally for pictures and email.