Japan is Apple country. It (iPhone) was positioned as a cool gadget to have, not because of its advanced features - it doesn't have a lot of things feature phones have, no e-Wallet, no digital TV tune

I'm not an Apple booster (don't have an iPhone) , but it's interesting how all the Japanese keitai experts predicted the iPhone would never be successful in Japan. And maybe it seems from this quote they are still in denial.

he misses the point. "features" nowadays come in the form of apps, which are limitless, and are not hardwired, Japanese makers took the hardwired route and failed.

Apple's ecosystem is dozens of time better than Android. The quality of software on iOS is extremely high, and Japanese are attuned to that.

I'm not sure why PaulInJapan had a "BAD" vote. News from the "experts" when it first came out was TOTALLY about how the iPhone wouldn't sell in Japan. He's exactly right on this guy (Serkan Toto) too.

JeffLee too. The companies in Japan have all tried to control the market in every form of electronics the last 15 years instead of focusing on innovation. Something that Apple risks doing too if they don't start adding more features and just relying on their clever marketing.

"Apple's ecosystem is dozens of time better than Android."

At a party recently, and we played a game testing the accuracy of voice commands of an Android (Google) and Apple (Sirius) handset, basically shouting into both handsets and seeing which is more accurate. The Android/Google scored 9 out of 10 against the Apple/Sirius. Not sure why people think the Apple "eco system" is so much superior.

My GPS maps navigation tends to work a lot better than my Apple-using friends, too, I've noticed. The 4.7 in. screen certainly helps out.

Smartphones now are getting so good tech-wise that it's mainly all about the apps now - and much of the great apps are available in many platforms. That's what people typically use their smartphones - for example, they won't care how they access their fav app like Facebook as long as they get there quick.

If all you're considering is the iPhone itself, it's more or less meaningless.

If you take into account the MacOS, iTunes, iCloud and the whole integration, PLUS the new iPads and continued development there is no contest.

Japan knows this.