Softbank iPhone 4S Sales Holding Firm Against au/KDDI Assault
From Asiajin:
BCN Ranking counted the carriers share only within iPhone 4S [J], Softbank took 51.7%, whilst KDDI au gained 48.3%.
BCN Ranking collected the number of sold units from shops, which it claims to cover 40% of Japanese retails. The retail shops do not include Apple Stores and carriers stores.
The metrics could surely use a little more accuracy, considering a great deal of phone purchases are done at carrier stores here in Japan.
Either way, this is an interesting picture being painted. au/KDDI did not have run-away sales like some thought they would. SoftBank does appear to be holding its own until the au/KDDI assault - for now.
I wonder how the landscape will change throughout year. SoftBank’s network, for better or worse, is already proven with the iPhone. The au/KDDI network, while offering far better coverage throughout Japan, has not had to deal with a huge amount of smartphone-based traffic. It will be important for au/KDDI’s network to withstand the exponential resource utilization they will see from iPhone users if the company expects to remain a player in the smartphone arena.
iPhone 4S Carrier Shootout: AU/KDDI vs. SoftBank Mobile
From SoftBank Sucks:
At best, in a residential area of Tokyo, SBM delivered a 2700 kbps download speed, which is less than 20% of the advertised 14.4 Mbps. At the same location, AU clocked in at only 1300 kbps. However, this is 40% of AU’s theoretical 3.1 Mbps maximum, which is actually quite good. Furthermore, at Shinjuku station, where the SBM iPhone averaged a usable but frustratingly slow 200 kbps, AU provided about 1350 kbps.
Lastly, he mentions two issues I immediately noticed, especially since my wife complained about emoji not working properly on her AU iPhone:
Basically, if you can’t live without emoji, you’ll need softbank until AU’s mail system catches up. the @ezweb.ne.jp mail address can be used but it will be an imap system that gets checked every 15 minutes, instead of being pushed to the phone instantly.
I expect AU will fix the emoji issue but doubt they will offer push email to the iPhone in the near future, if ever.
Peculiar Perspective on iMessage vs SMS
drdrang on iMessage, a new feature of iOS 5:
Here’s the thing. I already have an unlimited texting plan from AT&T that covers everyone in my family. I don’t, however, have an unlimited data plan, so this looks like something that will eat away at my monthly data allotment while giving me virtually nothing in return.
That sure is an interesting perspective on iMessage compared to SMS texting. I find it hard to believe that even 10000 texts a month will have a significant impact on a monthly data plan. This is just a misguided rant against a feature the author misunderstands.
In the end, after an update to his essay, the author does seem to realize that maybe he is in the minority:
My point—possibly not as clear as it would have been had I not written this post late on a Saturday after a couple of Harp Lagers—was not so much that iMessage would add a huge load to my family’s data usage, but that whatever increase in 3G use it creates would come with virtually no benefit to us. Your mileage, as they say, may vary, and I’m not suggesting iMessage is a mistake.
SoftBank Computer Glitch Halts iPhone 4S Sales and MNP
The Next Web Asia reporting on opening day iPhone 4S sales in Japan:The opening day of iPhone 4S sales in Japan did not start well for Softbank. According to the Wall Street Journal, the operator was forced to suspend the sale of all smartphones, including the new device from Apple, at 0200 GMT this morning after a computer glitch affected customer registrations.
The issue was fixed three hours later with the operator optimistic that it did not cause any loss of sales.
I was at au/KDDI from 0300 GMT to approximately 0700 GMT and I assure you the supposed computer glitch was not fixed three hours later. We left empty handed and were asked to wait for a call. We received that call at 8:30pm - four hours after leaving au/KDDI - and were asked to come back the following morning at 1000 when the shop opens.
When we arrived at au/KDDI we first had trouble obtaining a mobile number portability (MNP) reservation number from SoftBank’s automated system due to high demand. This took roughly 45 minutes before we were finally off and running. It was at this point that everything fell apart.
The au/KDDI shop clerk, who was very helpful, was having trouble with the MNP process. This part of the purchase requires au/KDDI to touch SoftBank’s computer systems, to validate the MNP reservation number and account holder’s name and number for accuracy. This entire process kept repeatedly failing. Unfortunately, the clerk was uncertain of the specific reason.
It was at this point that I decided to walk three blocks down the street to the SoftBank shop to find out what was going on. As usual, the SoftBank clerks were somewhat clueless. All the one clerk could tell me was that their system was down so she was unable to print my account information. As I was about to walk away, another clerk mentioned to a customer that their systems were down and she would not be able to deliver pre-ordered iPhone 4’s until tomorrow, when system restoration was expected.
Are you kidding me?
I walked back to au/KDDI and told the clerk. She decided to try a few more times just to see if she would be able to deliver our phone that day. While I was waiting I called SoftBank customer service and asked them what was happening. The kind lady on the other end of the phone told me the same thing - SoftBank was experiencing a catastrophic systems failure so new sales and MNP would be impossible until the next day.
I spent a little over four hours in au/KDDI trying to secure my wife’s iPhone 4S to no avail, all thanks to SoftBank and their not being prepared for the exodus to their rival.
I am unsure where TNW got their information but it sure does not match my experience. It is worth pointing out that existing au/KDDI customers upgrading their existing handsets to an iPhone 4S were unaffected. The only customers affected were existing SoftBank customers who were upgrading or trying to port their number to a different mobile carrier.
Brilliant! (via Shit That Siri Says)
iPhone 4S Review
This is the easiest product review I’ve ever written. The iPhone 4S is exactly what Apple says it is: just like the iPhone 4, but noticeably faster, with a significantly improved camera, and an impressive new voice-driven feature called Siri.
Need anything else be said?
Of course you should. The iPhone 5 is an improvement on what is already the best mobile phone ever created. So why wouldn’t you jump at the chance?
Why Wait? The World’s First iPhone 5* Review by Sam Biddle.
Only at Gizmodo.
The Clock icon — “The hands of the clock are pointing at both the number 10 and the number 12. Actually, the second hand is also pointing at the number 12. Add those numbers up — 12 + 12 + 10 — and you get the number 34. This is very telling … Steve Jobs’ birth mother Joanne Simpson was remarried to George Simpson when she was 34 years old, which proves that the government is covering up everything that happened at Area 51 in 1966. But I digress. There’s a progression there. 3 … 4 … 5! Yes! The iPhone 5 will be announced!
The secret numerology behind the iPhone event invitation by Steven Sande at TUAW.
The entire article is filled with similar gimmicky, yet potentially valid, predictions. I get the feeling the article is supposed to be somewhat tongue-in-cheek - at least I hope so - but I am not so sure I agree with the assertions.
Based on how I translate what is seen in this invitation, I get the impression we may only be seeing a moderately upgraded iPhone 4 released. Hopefully I am wrong.
Nikkei Business scooped the news on Thursday, September 22 that AU by KDDI, a Japanese mobile phone carrier, will carry the new iPhone 5 in November 2011.
AU by KDDI to carry iPhone 5 in Japan.
If true, this is outstanding news, especially with recent concerns that Softbank is considering getting rid of their unlimited data plan.
Glassboard
Glassboard is an app for sharing privately with groups. It is tantamount to Facebook but completely private and focused around groups. While using Glassboard you create ‘boards’ - groups of people around a common interest, and you can share messages, comments, photos, videos and even your location.
In the app, each board is similar to a silo. If you have a board for sharing dog pictures and another board for discussing classic cars, neither group will ever know about the other. Your dog pics will only be seen be the people in dog pics board and talk about classic cars will only be shared with the classic cars board members.
If you want private sharing then Glassboard is a pretty cool way to make it happen. With clients available for iOS, Android and WP7 (coming soon), just about every mobile use case is covered.
Glassboard is the first offering made available from Sepia Labs, a company comprised of former employees of NewsGator Technologies, including Brent Simmons (NetNewsWire, TapLynx) and Nick Bradbury (FeedDemon, TopStyle, HomeSite).
I planning on playing with the app, assuming I can get some of my friends to play along.
Mark Gurman of 9 to 5 Mac writes about a new iOS 5 earthquake warning feature available to Japanese iPhone users:
Following the devestating earthquake in Japan earlier this year, Apple has added a new early earthquake warning notification option to iOS 5. iOS 5 users in Japan can turn on early earthquake notifications at the very bottom of the iOS 5 Notification Center settings pane.
I have been using the iOS 5 betas since they were released and have yet to see this toggle appear in the notifications configuration section of iOS. It is possible the feature has been introduced in iOS 5 beta 6, which I have yet to install.
A better theory is that Softbank is toying with the idea of offering this feature, not Apple and not automatically included in iOS 5. I imagine this setting is being displayed similar to the provisioning configuration Softbank uses to “hide” the wifi personal hotspot option that was introduced in iOS 4.3. This feature is unavailable on Softbank here in Japan because their network is not prepared to handle the increased traffic offered by this feature.
Standard keitai’s have had the earthquake warning system available as an option for quite some time now. My son’s keitai regularly screams at us when an earthquake is imminent. That Softbank - or Apple - is just now considering introducing such a feature should be telling about the importance of being prepared for the next big one.
Those of us in Japan are living in constant fear of the next big earthquake. It is about time the iPhone has such an important feature “built-in.” (via Steve Nagata)
Funnel
See what’s happening in the world in an instance! Funnel is an intuitive interface for Google News, that helps you filter out the most important news items for you to read. Filtering is done based on the number of related articles found for each headline. The bigger the headline, the more important the news.
Funnel is not currently available in the US App Store but is expected to be at some point in the near future.
This Kick Ass Retro Toaster has got to be one of the coolest designed toasters I have ever seen. The retro look simply rocks. However, the price tag - $180 - is way out there simply for a toaster. Nonetheless, this is one of the coolest gadgets I’ve seen in a while.
Android vs. iPhone. Does this mean Android is better than iOS?
Oh well. I figured, at this point, I should try to get an actual app loaded on to the simulator. So I head back to the docs to learn how. First up, I have to put the simulator into development mode, which makes total sense because of those times when you don’t want to use the simulator for development. For instance, sometimes you’re obviously gonna want to load up the simulator on your laptop and use it like a Playbook, right? RIM? Bueller? But before I can do that, you tell me that I need to set a password, which is obviously very important, because if someone steals my laptop, that last thing I would want them to do is be able to put my Playbook simulator into development mode without my permission. Good thinking RIM! Next, I need to get the IP address of the simulator, because it’s running in a VM, and as far as my OS is concerned it’s an entirely separate device. Good design RIM! Making things easy and integrated (like Apple and Google have) only encourages those “artsy” types to try to develop software, which clearly should be left only to unix loving neck beards (I use that term endearingly).
