Mobile in Japan

Midori: A Japanese-English Dictionary for Your iPhone or iPad

2011-12-14T12:54:40Z

Joseph had covered a few language apps over two posts last year (see part 1 and part 2). Here’s a new one.

Midori is a Japanese/English dictionary useful if you are studying Japanese or if you find yourself lost in translation. This app is especially convenient for students, mainly for the following key features when studying Japanese:

Fast searching for translation terms. Whereas a lack of speed exists in many Japanese dictionaries, this app performs very well;

Kanji details are shown with an animation for the correct strokes drawing order;

A large number of examples using the searched word, which is great for learning purposes;

finally: bookmarks, kanji lists based on JLPT and a translation mode that automatically separates searchable words from particles.

In a nutshell, the strong point of this app is its speed and an easy, clean and minimalistic interface. Added bonus for the translation mode, really helpful to do searches of terms from an article.

Apple Store link

DoCoMo Still Wants the iPhone in Japan

2011-11-16T04:52:00Z

The rumor lingers since 2008. Since times when the iPhone was still not out in Japan and negotiations were under way to introduce it: DoCoMo wants the iPhone.

iPhone on DoCoMo

I’ve been saying it again and again, it’s not just a sea monster type of rumor, one that would only be coming out of pure wishful thinking. Last September, as my au/KDDI iPhone prediction was being confirmed, I wrote:

Let it be written down though, my bet is that DoCoMo will reach an agreement with Apple in 2012.

And the Wall Street Journal is confirming talks are still under way. Apparently, the road blocks are still about the conditions. With the massive power DoCoMo holds in Japan, there’s no wonder its executives want it their way.

In the words of Ryuji Yamada, CEO:

If the introduction of the iPhone results in the mass majority of our products occupied by the iPhone, then that’s a scenario that’s difficult to us to swallow.

How to read this? First, it’s clear that Yamada just knows the iPhone would be massively popular on his network. Surveys have confirmed over and over that a big chunk of its subscribers would switch to the iPhone if given the possibility.

WhosE customers?

Read between the lines though and you understand that DoCoMo wants to mold the iPhone to its strategy. DoCoMo would basically like to pre-install some of its services (via applications), while Apple insists on a clean experience, unobstructed by any carrier.

Apple won’t bulge. This is a given.

DoCoMo wants its i-mode and e-wallet on all its smartphones.

Add the number of iPhone NTT would have to commit to and there’s this fear that its relationship with customers wouldn’t be as tight as it currently is.

It’s not Gunfight at the O.K. Corral yet, but we clearly have a standstill.

DoCoMo’s smartphone future

DoCoMo, with its almost 60m subscribers, holds basically 50% of the cell phone market in Japan —au/KDDI and SoftBank being the two others— and has been very strong with its Android strategy, making the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S huge successes in a country when customer loyalty is still extremely strong, number portability notwithstanding.

It has sold north of 3.6m smartphones in the first half of 2011 with an important rise in ARPU, but also in data consumption. The shift towards smartphones is accelerating at DoCoMo and that above number could reach 9m by the end of the year.

Some analysts are even predicting that those would be the only type of phones by 2015 for all networks in Japan.

If you read the numbers throughly though, you’ll realize that DoCoMo has been losing customers at a slightly higher rate (let’s say 20%) than its two competitors since mid-October. Mid-October? Yes, when both au/KDDI and SoftBank released the iPhone 4S.

No wonder DoCoMo is still interested.

The iPhone 4S Crushes the Competition in Japan Sales Rankings

2011-10-25T21:09:38Z

The iPhone 4S has been out for two weeks in Japan. And sales are riding high, really high.

BCN Rankings has released its well-known figures and they’re quite impressive.

Now, bear in mind that these numbers are to be considered with a disclaimer: the rankings are based on point of sales surveys covering lots of mobile specialty shops and consumer electronics resellers but excluding a very big player: the Apple Stores.

Also note that there are no official numbers from Apple itself or the two carriers who offer the handset, SoftBank and au/KDDI.

Yet, those numbers allow us to witness some trends.

Week 1: the iPhone steals the show

In the first week, the iPhone 4S took the first 6 spots.

1. iPhone 4S 64GB (SoftBank) — 10.4%
2. iPhone 4S 32GB (au/KDDI) — 10.3%
3. iPhone 4S 64GB (au/KDDI) — 9,4%
4. iPhone 4S 32GB (SoftBank) — 9.1%
5. iPhone 4S 16GB (SoftBank) — 8.2%
6. iPhone 4S 16GB (au/KDDI) — 6.3%
7. Samsung Galaxy S II (NTT DoCoMo) — 3.4%
8. Xperia acro (NTT DoCoMo) — 3.3%
9. iPhone 4 16GB (SoftBank) — 2.3%
10. Xperia acro (au/KDDI) — 2.1%
11. iPhone 4 32GB (SoftBank) — 1.7%

BCN did aggregate sales market share of that week, which percentage you see appended above. If we aggregate the 4S-only numbers (the iPhone 4 is not carried by au/KDDI), we’ve got a slightly higher market share for SoftBank at 51.8% —that’s 19.4% for the 64GB, 17% for the 32GB and 15.4% for the 16GB, while au/KDDI has 19.2% for the 64GB, 17.5% for the 32GB and 11.7% for the 16GB.

Again, these numbers are just what they are, trends. The market share is even less relevant for, I repeat it, the Apple Stores are not surveyed, which completely skews numbers when some other phones do not have separate points of sales (the four phones following place #11 are feature phones on NTT DoCoMo, followed by four other Android-powered smartphones all on DoCoMo as well).

Early 2011 sales better than 2010

BCN went further and computed an indicator of the “level of enthusiasm” for the iPhone, by comparing their numbers with historical data from the iPhone 4 in 2010. But, once again, the comparison needs explaining: in 2010, there was only one carrier, SoftBank, while this time, we’ve got two, a big difference. The “enthusiasm” is also blurred in a haze of first-timers that were loyal to au/KDDI (on surplus, did they switch from an Android smartphone for instance or are they smartphone-first-timers?), iPhone-carrier switchers (from SoftBank to au/KDDI), iPhone-upgraders (with a two-year contract on the iPhone 3GS, some didn’t jump for the 4 last year), etc. But still, there seem to have been 2.4 times more sales on the iPhone 4S release day the similar day last year. And if you go through the weekend, a four-day period, this number rises to 5.4x.

Not too shabby. Let’s see if this sustains in the long run, with the influence of stocks hanging in the balance.

Another trend we spot: the 64GB version was the most popular during week #1. Totally expected if you want my two cents. You see, most early adopters rush at that time and look for the higher-end model —the break-down is 36.8% of sales for the 64GB, 36.1% for the 32GB and 27% for the 16GB.

Am I right? Week #2 seems to prove my point.

Week 2: au/KDDI rises

1. iPhone 4S 32GB (au/KDDI)
2. iPhone 4S 16GB (au/KDDI)
3. iPhone 4S 16GB (SoftBank)
4. iPhone 4S 64GB (au/KDDI)
5. iPhone 4S 32GB (SoftBank)
6. iPhone 4S 64GB (SoftBank)
7. iPhone 4 32GB (SoftBank)
8. Samsung Galaxy S II (NTT DoCoMo)
9. Xperia acro (NTT DoCoMo)
10. iPhone 4 16GB (SoftBank)

BCN didn’t rank the market shares this time around.

Two weeks is really limited to be jumping to any conclusion. The higher-priced model took the aforementioned expected hit, but it could also be slightly influenced by stocks hovering low forcing a choice towards the 32 or 16GB versions (see this thread on our forums about current availabilities and note that Apple Stores traditionally get priority, which could explain that some shops have empty shelves).

More interestingly, au/KDDI seems to dominate the sales a bit more. It could be that early adopters who also had the possibility to upgrade from their SoftBank contract did, while the novelty effect is stronger for au/KDDI’s subscribers.

All this is pure speculation from my part. These numbers only tell a partial truth —sorry to have bored you by repeating this to death.

One thing is for sure though: my estimate of 7.5m iPhones sold in Japan will have to be revised soon.

iPhone 4S and the Mobile Industry in Japan on Tokyo Podcast

2011-10-24T10:19:20Z

I had a very nice conversation last week with Anthony Joh, who recently launched a podcast from Tokyo, a city he just moved in after a chapter in Bangkok.

We talked about the hot topic of the month, the release of the iPhone 4S, that I’ve been covering quite extensively in here.

I had a great time with Tony. His experience getting an iPhone for the first time in Japan reminded me of mine in July 2008 —it was actually the reason I started the first version of this blog (see the first post ever here).

Things have changed for the better if you’re a foreigner with limited Japanese skills, though. SoftBank, the first carrier that got the Apple handset here, now does a good job listing all the paperwork needed in advance.

You can listen to the show on iTunes, download the MP3 file or head to Tokyo-Podcast to stream it.

KDDI and SoftBank Release iPhone 4S Pricing

2011-10-08T10:18:54Z

They took their time. It’s only for the first day of pre-ordering that au/KDDI and SoftBank are releasing the price information for their iPhone 4S.

au/KDDI

The newcomer first. au/KDDI is accepting pre-orders at brick and mortar shops from today, even if I’ve gotten a few reports of points of sale being not ready at all for this last-minute release. Take a look at its new iPhone page to learn more.

It offers the iPhone with a two year contract. The basic plan will cost you JPY 780/month.

au/KDDI overview:
Contract: 24 months
16GB: JPY 0 /month*
32GB: JPY 430 /month*
64GB: JPY 860 /month*
Plan: JPY 980/780 /month
Web services: JPY 315 /month
Data: max. JPY 4,980 /month
* after discounts

The accompanying data plan is unlimited and costs up to JPY 4,980 per month (the data packet price is not detailed). An included free wifi plan is announced, but no details are available as of yet.

The iPhone 4S is “free” —as in fully subsidized— for its 16GB version and will respectively cost JPY 10,320 and 20,640 for the 32 and 64GB versions, the cost being accrued during the 24 month period.

A more expensive plan with free calls to other au/KDDI customers from 1am to 9pm and free texts to those same ones without 24/7 will cost you JPY 980/month (outside of the aforementioned period, texts costs JPY 3.15 and a call is priced at JPY 21 per 30 second segment).

au/KDDI is touting the number portability by offering you JPY 10,000 if you become a subscriber until the end of January 2012. That means that the iPhone 4S 32GB would cost only JYP 320 instead of JYP 10,320 overall, and the 64GB would come down to JPY 10,640 only.

This is clearly to lure SoftBank customers, but it also applies if you’re on NTT DoCoMo. We’ll see how that works out.

No word about tethering, I wouldn’t bet anything on it though. Unlocked iPhones 4S from au/KDDI are highly improbable: Apple hints that unlocked 4S will only be the GSM versions —or those activated by a GSM provider. In Japan, Softbank.

It is also uncertain if the pricing will hold or if it’s only part of the launch campaign (the data pricing might rise up to JPY 5,000+/month next February).

Asiajin mentioned earlier that KDDI is planning to expand the iPhone 4S point of sale network from a current 1,200 locations to 5,000 at the end of October.

SoftBank

SoftBank is also accepting pre-orders as of today.

At the time of this writing, the price structure remains the same as before. Two year contract, JPY 980 for its White Plan, to which you have to add the S! Basic Pack at JPY 315 per month (basically the mobile email service). Full run-down on its iPhone page (SoftBank has the pricing in English).

SoftBank overview:
Contract: 24 months
16GB: JPY 0 /month*
32GB: JPY 480 /month*
64GB: JPY 880 /month*
Plan: JPY 980 /month
Web services: JPY 315 /month
Data: max. JPY 4,410 /month
* after discounts

The data plan is still unlimited, with a minimum monthly fee of JPY 1,029 and a max of JPY 4.410 per month —the data packet being priced at JPY 0.084. Remember that tethering is not supported.

SoftBank will still sell the iPhone 4. For “free”. As will the iPhone 4S 16GB. Free with the discount: you pay the device JPY 1,920 per month (1,680 for the 4) but get a similar discount for the 24 months of the contract.

Only if you buy the 4S 32GB will you get a discount of JPY 1,920/month while having to pay for it JPY 2,400 month —or an actual monthly payment of JPY 480. Same discount for the 64GB version, but a monthly JPY 2,800 —a difference of 880.

Complicated enough? Basically, all in all, without the extra services you can get, the iPhone 4 and the 4S 16GB will cost you JPY 5,705/month, the 32GB JPY 6,185 and the 32GB JPY 6,585. None of those are unlocked.

Something eludes me in this strategy: why on Earth would you take the iPhone 4 8GB instead of the iPhone 4S 16GB?

Maybe it’s that SoftBank just had to price the 4S like au/KDDI.

If you’re a 3G or 3GS owner with SoftBank, you’re eligible for free upgrade plans during the launch campaign that runs from October 14 to November 30.

In the same blitz against au/KDDI, SoftBank is promoting a limited offer for all current or new iPhone subscribers: a “free” iPad 3G data plan. It allows you to get data for your Apple tablet at the low price of JPY 315/month, no subscription fee. First 100MB are free and then you get charged JPY 0.0525 per data packet to a maximum of JPY 4,980/month.

The comparison

Gigazine has made the comparison for us (thankfully since it’s a bit tricky). It’s all in the graph below. It doesn’t include the promotions I’ve mentioned here (like that JPY 10,000 cash back from au/KDDI), assumes you’re going to reach the upper threshold of the data plan (remember that we don’t know how much KDDI charges per packet of data) and it only compares the similar plans for convenience: Simple Plan Z from KDDI (at JPY 980/month that includes free calls/texts) and SoftBank’s White Plan (also at JPY 980/month with some free calls/texts too) but gives an interesting overview. According to it, au/KDDI is actually more expensive. I’ll let you be the judge of it.

The real difference is in the data plan. I can bet SoftBank will react shortly.

One thing is for sure, competition is good. Let the price war begin —because, really, it hasn’t started yet.

UPDATE: excellent au/KDDI price chart translation on SBS’s website (thanks to @serkantoto), I also totally agree about the theoretical data speeds comparison —as I had stated earlier.
Steve Nagata has more details on SoftBank’s iPad offer (thanks @hirokotabuchi).
Steve also argues that the SoftBank iPhone 4 could be directed at people who could be ineligible for a 2 year contract. Makes sense.
Note that Apple Stores are not taking pre-orders, they will start to sell the handsets on October 14, 8 am on a first-come first-serve basis.

Tokyo Pays Its Respects to Steve Jobs

2011-10-07T07:23:35Z

I have no words. I’m just sad. As are Joseph, Pietro and Steve.

Mr. Jobs. Thank you.

KDDI v. SoftBank, the iPhone War Is Starting in Japan

2011-10-05T08:51:21Z

We know since last night that au/KDDI is officially the second carrier to get the iPhone in Japan.

While no release date has been publicly announced, we learnt that KDDI decided not to wait until 2012 and the upgrade of its mobile email service to start selling the device.

What we know for sure is that SoftBank will start selling the iPhone 4S on October 14.

What we also know is that SoftBank CEO, Masason, has decided to fight back the competition.

MASASON THROWS THE GAUNTLET

Look at that tweet he sent an hour ago:

What is Masason saying yes to? SoftBank has download speeds of 14.4Mbps —the same touted by Apple yesterday, dissing the 4G talks— and 5.7Mbps uplink , while au/KDDI only offers a maximum of 3.1Mbps downlink with a 1.8Mbps uplink.

It’s interesting to note that the original tweet was meant as a question, asking the CEO if the difference was due to SoftBank using W-CDMA, aka HSDPA, while au/KDDI relies on CDMA EV-DO Rev. A standard.

Masason just went for the affirmative on those numbers. If that’s not called opening the hostilities… “KDDI, raise to the challenge!”

KDDI Data Standard

It’s certainly true that specs for this latter standard would need to be upgraded to the Rev. B to reach the 14+Mbps range.

Now, KDDI had actually announced some time ago it would upgrade to a subset of the aforementioned Rev. B standard to allow for some channel bundling, leading to a theoretical downlink of 9Mbps. I must admit that I would need to verify if those plans came to fruition and whether the entire network is —or will be— concerned.

And those numbers would have to be tested for both SoftBank and KDDI to not remain purely theoretical.

The fact of the matter remains: SoftBank is feeling the heat from the competition and Masason will not throw the towel. I can’t say that I don’t admire his fighting spirit.

Ready to rumble?

UPDATE: I’ve corrected the download and upload speeds, thanks to Andrew Wright.

KDDI and Apple Confirm the iPhone 4S for October

2011-10-05T09:51:34Z

au/KDDI, Japan’s second biggest cell phone carrier, has just confirmed it will carry the iPhone 4S. I predicted that right.

It will go ahead with the sale of this new handset irrespective if its mobile email service —a key element for Japanese users— is made compatible in time.

KDDI had 2012 in mind

Earlier plans had KDDI releasing the iPhone in January 2012, in order to upgrade its EZweb email conduit first. It seems however that the possibility of reaping nice profits at the launch of the new iPhone 4S in two weeks made the company change its mind.

Yes, you read that right, iPhone 4S could be sold from au/KDDI this month already.

The official release date for the iPhone 4S in Japan is October 14.

Apple makes it official

Apple Japan has updated its “where I can buy” page with the new au/KDDI option (and it seems the website is getting hammered by requests already, showing amazing interest: it’s 4am in Tokyo now)

The iPhone hasn’t appeared on au/KDDI’s website yet, either because it’s very late in the night or for a specific date hasn’t been set by KDDI yet.

SoftBank is feeling the heat. It’s releasing no less than 11 Android-powered handset for its fall collection. The iPhone 4S will arrive in SoftBank’s store on October 14 for sure.

UPDATE, October 5 2011, 6.45pm JST: au/KDDI’s website was briefly updated with the iPhone 4S before removal, confirming the impending launch. However, the mobile site still features the handset, with a direct link to Apple Japan:

Credits: iSummit Ustream channel, Nikkei

Apple Japan Spills the Beans: iPhone 4S Out on October 14

2011-10-04T19:43:09Z

I kinda felt it. I was wrong. By a week.

The official Apple Ginza Store page on Apple Japan has indadvertedly updated its website. The iPhone 4S will be out in Japan on October 14. In black and white. With the same form factor than the current iPhone 4.

It means that it’s part of the first roll-out and that the US will get it at the same date.

The website mentions a new possibility to chose the carrier. As Akky rightfully says it on Asiajin, it could only be a straight traduction from the US text. I’ll have to wait if I had the other prediction right last March, i.e. that: SoftBank has no competition in Japan from au/KDDI.

It seems a new iPod Nano will make its debut too.

UPDATE: Apple Japan restores pre-updated page (thanks to fellow Mobile in Japan editor Joseph Tame)

UPDATE: it’s official, it’s the iPhone 4S that will be released on October 14, both by SoftBank and au/KDDI.

Credits: Netafull for the original story

Let’s Talk iPhone — Live From Japan

2011-10-04T19:14:28Z

Let’s talk iPhone.

In my last two articles, I have made a series of bets. First, as I had written last March, I suspect that the iPhone is coming to au/KDDI. Exclusive deals between Apple and carriers are gone and the rumors are very strong.
Yesterday, I went a bit further and imagined the new iPhone would released on October 21 in Japan. And on KDDI as well. This might turn out wrong. The handset might arrive on SoftBank only and on October 14. KDDI might have to wait.

As official Apple events are often US-centric, there’s not much we might learn there. I’m going to live blog it anyway here with my thoughts on the implications for Japan.

Note that you will also be able to follow these updates on the live account of Mobile in Japan: @MijLive.

All times are JST (Japan Standard Time).

03.42

Thanks for tuning in! @papadimitriou out.

03.42

KDDI will go ahead with the release of the iPhone even if its mobile email service is not ready. Guess I’m up for another blog post.

03.40

And as the event wraps up, KDDI formally announces the iPhone! I. Was. Right.

03.38

No word about the international roll-out of the 4S. As expected, US-centric event.

03.37

iPhone 4 remains in the line-up as a cheaper option. 3GS will be a free phone with US carriers. No word about Japan.

03.37

Launch confirmed for October 14th in the US.

03.35

iPhone 4S will have the same price as iPhone 4 in the US. Let’s see if SoftBank maintains its plans (and if KDDI enters the fray).

03.34

May I ask Siri whether au/KDDI will get the iPhone 4S? (answer: 42)

03.31

Siri is in beta. More languages will be coming. Betting Japanese must be high on Apple’s list.

03.30

iPhone 4S demo video is on. Wondering if any other announcement will be made today.

03.29

Siri works on 3G and Wi-Fi. No Japanese. Only English, French and German.

03.28

Siri works wherever there’s a keyboard (even the “Send” key, though? — will have to test this).

03.27

“I’m a humble personal assistant” answers Siri when you ask it.

03.26

Here’s gdgt iPhone 4S page: http://gdgt.com/apple/iphone/4s/ Yeah right, 4 have it.

03.25

Geofence reminders. We’re talking SkyNet stuff here.

03.24

Here’s what @tamegoeswild just wrote: “Will be great to have Siri read tweets to me. But – can it read Japanese?” Yup.

03.23

Will Siri be available to apps outside of the basic Apple ones? @tamegoeswild could sure do with voice-to-tweet.

03.22

The voice assistant can set the alarm for you. Or tell you what time it is in Paris. The “Do I need a raincoat today?” blew my mind.

03.21

Talking to a computer will ever remind me of this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9kTVZiJ3Uc

03.20

Honestly, this voice thing looks amazing. Not sure I will ever get used to talk to my phone though.

03.19

Did Scott just ask if Greeks were awesome? Of course we are (@papadimitriou here)

03.17

Will I be able to ask my iPhone “Where’s my iPhone”? #meta

03.16

Talking about the weather with your phone is certainly the end of the road to technology.

03.16

The big question: will Assistant (or whatever it will be called) be available in other languages than English? Japanese for instance?

03.15

Why Siri? Just ask. (for those old school enough to remember the campaign).

03.15

The dream that we can talk to technology. That’s the Siri acquisition coming to fruition for Apple.

03.14

Voice. Voice. Voice. The iPhone 4S is about to talk like Darth Vader.

03.13

Real-time image stabilization, temporal noise reduction.

03.12

1080p video (@tamegoeswild are you reading?!)

03.11

And food can move fast, good they have that f2.4 camera now.

03.10

Does the 4S recognize food with its face detection system?

03.10

I can already see the updated food blogs. More yummy food with 73% more light.

03.09

1.1 seconds to the first photo. 0.5 sec to the second. 1.1 from when? From when we chose the Camera application?

03.08

My biggest complaint: iPhone 4 takes too long to boot camera. Apparently much faster on 4S. I’ll wait and see.

03.07

The camera is thus a wide f2.4. Not too bad, really. Eager to see that.

03.07

Backside illumination. 73% more light thanks to new sensor. And something called Hybrid IR filter.

03.06

60% more pixels than on iPhone 4. 3264 x 2448.

03.06

8 megapixel for the 4S camera. Expected. iPhone 4 camera #1 on Flickr already.

03.05

I know au/KDDI is technically not exactly on CDMA. Let’s see if Apple thought about that. I would guess it did.

03.04

It’s a world phone: no more versions for CDMA or GSM. Means au/KDDI can have it. I predicted that right.

03.04

Meaning: it’s just as fast as 4G. Also meaning Apple is not committing to 4G/LTE just yet.

03.03

Download speeds better. In HSDPA, 14.4 Mbps download. Compared to 7.2 for the iPhone 4.

03.03

The antenna is now intelligent. It switches along the sides of the phone to get best reception quality.

03.02

6 hours in 3G browsing. 9 hours in wi-fi browsing. 10 hours for video.

03.01

The battery should get 8hrs talk time in 3G.

03.01

That Infinity Blade 2 game will only be available for the iPhone 4S. It’s a spec game now.

02.59

The iPhone 4S looks exactly the same as the 4. Like I —and many others— had thought.

02.58

The iPhone 4S will be 7x faster in terms of graphics. 2x faster in CPU. Pretty good.

02.57

Gamers will be happy with such specs, I’m sure (disclaimer: I’m not a gamer, besides a a few Angry Birds attempts).

02.56

A5 chip inside, as strongly expected. Dual-core CPU, dual-core graphics. 7x faster graphics. Holy… wow.

02.55

“How do you follow up with a hit product?” You add an S. Spec-bumps, I got that right.

02.55

It’s the iPhone 4S.

02.54

The iPod touch has now iOS5 and iCloud. Black and white. Low pricing. Basically an iPhone without the phone.

02.52

iPod touch is the “most popular portable game player” in the world. Wow.

02.51

7 colors for the new iPod nano. Apple Ginza Store: you can now update that part of your website.

02.50

16 new clock faces. People really must like wearing the nano as a watch

02.50

There doesn’t seem to be iPod UI changes. Bigger icons for easier touch experience.

02.48

Phil Shiller on stage. Talking iPod. Apple Japan revealed there was a new nano in stores. http://mobileinjapan.com/2011/10/05/apple-japan-spills-the-beans-iphone-4s-out-on-october-14/

02.46

iTunes Match: scanning and matching users’ songs with iTunes 20m tracks library. We know it already, I know.

02.45

Is it called Find My Friends? Think so.

02.44

The simple privacy controls Apple is touting on Family and Friends could be a selling point for the Japanese audience. Let’s see how users will receive it.

02.43

Family and Friends. That’s some Foursquare competition here. Interesting.

02.42

Photo Stream, iTunes in iCloud, docs in the cloud. All stuff we already know. Good that we’ll get them soon though.

02.40

To follow the Japan iPhone live chat on Twitter, see #LetstalkiPhoneJP

02.38

Eddie Cue is talking about iCloud now. With 2 iPhones and 1 iPad, I’m expecting better sync indeed.

02.37

iOS5 will be available October 12th!

02.33

67m users have signed up to Game Center. What about active users?

02.31

Twitter integration. We also knew about this one. Wondering if any deep integration with Japanese services like Mixi or Gree will happen one day.

02.27

The well-known announcement: iOS 5. 200 new user features. Hope it comes sooner than later.

02.27

Pilots replacing flight bags with iPad. I’ve seen it first hand. There were rumors about ANA going there. I should check if that’s the case.

02.26

Some incredible numbers. 80% of hospitals in the US testing the iPad? Wow. Anyone knows if Japan’s hospitals have tried such tech?

02.25

Tim now talks iPad. My estimate: 1m iPads sold in Japan. Again no official number.

02.24

And as he’s pointing out “the market is an enormous opportunity”. Adding a second carrier in Japan would clearly boost sales a lot. Softbank was the #1 gainer in subscriptions for a very long time just because of the iPhone.

02.23

Tim Cook mentions that the iPhone has a 5% market share worldwide. Such numbers are harder to get by for Japan. I’d say 7.5m iPhones have been sold here.

02.22

Tim Cook is on stage. “It is a pleasure to host you today. I love Apple.”

02.21

You can follow these lives updates on Twitter: @MijLive

02.20

Reason I’m late? Apple Japan already has leaked it: it’s called iPhone 4S and will be out on October 14. http://mobileinjapan.com/2011/10/05/apple-japan-spills-the-beans-iphone-4s-out-on-october-14/

02.19

Well, I’m late to the live blogging. No announcement yet. Whew.