What do people in Japan think of Sony Clies?

[prozak]

I know people around here complain a lot about certaint things, but do the people in Japan complain about the same things as well? Just wondering if Sony maybe is catering to them, maybe they sell more PDA's over there? Just wondering

[Prozak]

That was me^

[tonyreynolds]

According to one article I read, Clie's are the hottest selling PDA's in Japan...

Tony

[MythoFactory]

I'm not Japanese, but I live in Japan; Here's my opinion, for what it's worth ;)=

Sony is the only JAPANESE PalmOS maker present in Japan. They had from the start a policy of supporting the Japanese input (first by including ATOK, a popular input software, and then introducing Decuma), and by making a double density screen, allowing a clear display of Kanjis (Kanjis on a 160*160 display are near to unreadable, and completely UGLY). So yes, Sony sells a lot, by lack of a serious competitor in the PalmOS devices sector. If you include in the stats Sharp Zaurus ( they've been developing their devices Japanese-only for quite a long time) and the Windows based handhelds, maybe the results will be a bit mitigated ( it's only a guess)

[BMEngineer]

I am quite surprise that Sony is the only PalmOS maker. So is PPC penetration in Japan is high?

[MythoFactory]

Originally posted by BMEngineer
I am quite surprise that Sony is the only PalmOS maker. So is PPC penetration in Japan is high?

I believe the Japanese PDA market is tiny. The mobile phones are taking the bigger part of the "casual users" market. With a mobile phone in Japan, you can receive and send mails, manage your address book by 'syncing' with a PC (you need to buy a soft and a cable of about 50$, but the most sophisticated mobiles are around 250$), take photos (up to 1200*1600), browse the mobile internet, play games, and if you're the hardcore type, even managing your schedule is not out of question (MP3 playing had a kind of tiny boom 2 years ago, but it disappeared quite quickly... MD players are the rule, and the Apple iPod is selling like lemonade)... There's not much market left for PDA makers...., and 3G phones are starting to be seen here and there, with streaming, teleconference,.....


here's the last ranking for PDA sales in Japan : http://pcweb.mycom.co.jp/news/2003/11/20/05.html

5 devices out of ten in the ranking are CLIEs, and 4 are PPCs made by Toshiba (2), DoCoMo(1) and Casio (1), one Zaurus. The Zaurus and the CLIEs are over all the PPC devices except the Sigmarion, which has a special status, being the PDA of the main mobile operator in Japan...

[MythoFactory]

Originally posted by prozak
I know people around here complain a lot about certaint things, but do the people in Japan complain about the same things as well? Just wondering if Sony maybe is catering to them, maybe they sell more PDA's over there? Just wondering

I can only tell of the feeling of the CLIE forums in Japan, but I personally almost got banned when I said I didn't like the UX-50 :) The Sony Fanaticism is a plague here. I was told to 'buy it first, then comment' :rolleyes:
Anyway, yes, people complain, but not on fundamentals (concepts, etc...) They will complain on dead pixels, scratches, bad finish and other details...
some complain of Sony's after service, also...
But the majority will write their consumer experience in a forum only if it's positive... very difficult to make one's opinion based on this....

[cliener]

Mythofactory, in your comparison how do the other PDAs actually perform? When I was in Japan, many, many years ago there was a standard. If Sony was rated as best, then it was and everyone had to have one regardless of performance. Do you find that still to be so?

[MythoFactory]

Originally posted by cliener
Mythofactory, in your comparison how do the other PDAs actually perform? When I was in Japan, many, many years ago there was a standard. If Sony was rated as best, then it was and everyone had to have one regardless of performance. Do you find that still to be so?

In the tiny PDA market, maybe it's still so, but not by the rule of an abstract "standard" (you only see CLIE TV ads late at night), but more by "contamination" (at work, your colleague will ask you what you're doing with your "electronic agenda" -that's what they call it- , you show him, and he may buy the same or a better one) But as I said, it's really a niche phenomenon, most of the people that would have use of a PDA are about 35-45 years old, and they are proud to consider themselves 'analogic' -meaning they're technologically incompetent- :)

But I'm in Osaka, not Tokyo, maybe it's different up there...

[cliener]

k, Thanks for the reply. Yeah, the two cities are quite different. Really enjoyed it though and hope to get back some day soon.

[BMEngineer]

Originally posted by MythoFactory


I believe the Japanese PDA market is tiny. The mobile phones are taking the bigger part of the "casual users" market. With a mobile phone in Japan, you can receive and send mails, manage your address book by 'syncing' with a PC (you need to buy a soft and a cable of about 50$, but the most sophisticated mobiles are around 250$), take photos (up to 1200*1600), browse the mobile internet, play games, and if you're the hardcore type, even managing your schedule is not out of question (MP3 playing had a kind of tiny boom 2 years ago, but it disappeared quite quickly... MD players are the rule, and the Apple iPod is selling like lemonade)... There's not much market left for PDA makers...., and 3G phones are starting to be seen here and there, with streaming, teleconference,.....


here's the last ranking for PDA sales in Japan : http://pcweb.mycom.co.jp/news/2003/11/20/05.html





























5 devices out of ten in the ranking are CLIEs, and 4 are PPCs made by Toshiba (2), DoCoMo(1) and Casio (1), one Zaurus. The Zaurus and the CLIEs are over all the PPC devices except the Sigmarion, which has a special status, being the PDA of the main mobile operator in Japan...



I see. In my opinion, the Clie market in Japan has to be strong, ohterwise it will directly affect us if we will be able to see any new CLIES coming out,right?

[kkrays]

While I live in the US now for studies, my home is in Tokyo and I make it a point to go back at least twice a year.

I agree with Mythofactory in that the Japanese pda market is not nearly as large as it is here in the US. This is due to the mobile phone market and their advanced capabilities.

I'm a bit sleepy to go through the specs, but suffice it to say, whatever you think is advanced here in the USA for mobile phones, people in Japan will probably wonder why you're using a three year old phone. Japanese cell phones stomp all over the phones available in the US, which is an unfortunate thing for me, since I live here now and I'm such a tech whore hehe. That being as such, most people get along fine with the mobile phone as their pda.

[tonyreynolds]

I miss Tokyo and all its neat goodies :(

Though probably not the high cost of living???

Tony

[ugokanain]

If you want an informal survey, just stand in any subway station and count the pdas and the phones (which people are frantically pushing buttons). On a recent trip don't recall seeing anyone with a pda, but certainly everyone had a phone (do these work within the subway, or they are doing email and games?).
Within stores the spaces reserved for pdas, is probably not even half that of the phones. Though pdas have their adequate space, and most sales people know something or other about it (but when I was shopping for a CF, they kept refering to their little notebooks. Guess they get brief every now and then).

[MythoFactory]

Originally posted by ugokanain
If you want an informal survey, just stand in any subway station and count the pdas and the phones (which people are frantically pushing buttons). On a recent trip don't recall seeing anyone with a pda, but certainly everyone had a phone (do these work within the subway, or they are doing email and games?).

It depends on the mobile operator you uses and the station you're in; but in the middle sized stations you can use your cell phone. most of the people you saw "frantically pushing buttons" were probably writing emails (it's easier to type in japanese than in english, and some recent cell phones have "learning" auto-completion, so it's even easier...


Within stores the spaces reserved for pdas, is probably not even half that of the phones. Though pdas have their adequate space, and most sales people know something or other about it (but when I was shopping for a CF, they kept refering to their little notebooks. Guess they get brief every now and then).

"not even half" would be a big area. I'd estimate that the average PDA space is about 10% of the cell phone space. You have a cell phone shop at every street corner, but to buy a PDA you have to go to the big "electronic towns" (Akihabara in Tokyo, Nihonbashi in Osaka) You may find electronic dictionaries (those are selling pretty well, seemingly) in the suburbs, and one or two dusty Zaurus (the b&w ones, before they switch to Linux)
There was an "Apple & PDA" shop near my place, but the sales were so poor they changed their lineup to "Printing Cartridges and CD media" :rolleyes:

[MythoFactory]

Originally posted by BMEngineer


I see. In my opinion, the Clie market in Japan has to be strong, ohterwise it will directly affect us if we will be able to see any new CLIES coming out,right?

Not necessary, IMO. Sony is a worldwide company after all. As a maker, they would certainly like to make a hit at home, but they can live on the international sales. They from the start pampered the US market (including mp3 playing in their machines when it was an option in Japan, releasing the NZ90 in US before Japan, etc...) and they now concentrate on the European Market, with a bluetooth NX73. You have the UX-40 (even if it is considered an useless model :))

[ugokanain]

Thought the mac did sell rather well in Japan, since they had more than 10% of the market over there ;)

[MythoFactory]

Originally posted by ugokanain
Thought the mac did sell rather well in Japan, since they had more than 10% of the market over there ;)

Well it didn't sell very well in my little city 20kms from Osaka. ;)
People (myself included) prefer to go to the Electronic towns to buy their PC: cheaper, and the shop attendants know -relatively- their business.

[BMEngineer]

I saw the actor using a mac in japanese drama everytime and I also have this thinking that mac sells quite well in japan........so I was rite.

[Kyoushi]

I live just south of Osaka. For me my Clie is a part of my hand. Many people think it is a big cell phone. The term PDA is greek to most people. When i start to describe what my Clie does they often point out that i can not call people with it. Cell Phones do everything the normal user wants. The market is small.

[ugokanain]

It does draw some attention when you use it as a dictionary. Most people crowded around to see what the gaijin was doing with that electronic gadget :) Most often it broke the ice and people usually smiled.