Recently, there have been a lot of reports about the BlackBerry Bold in Japan experiencing “overheating.” NTT DoCoMo has stopped sales of the device after only 4,000 were sold. After having spent a long time working in South Korea and traveling in Japan, I got a strong feeling of consumer protectionism throughout both cultures. RIM only recently was able to export BlackBerry to South Korea because of isolationist trade policy.
Although Korea and Japan are very different cultures, who share some common foods and social norms due to colonization, their proclivity to purchase local products is obvious to anyone who has lived in either country.
The blogger in me believes that due to the recession and fall of the Japanese economy, NTT DoCoMo may be under pressure to give Japanese handset manufacturers an unfair advantage. Is it possible the Bold scared Japanese officials who want their businessmen using only Japanese-made smartphones? Or is their claim of overheating valid? Keep in mind that Japan is the only country reporting these problems.
What say you BlackBerry Cool readers?
Analysts are saying that region-specific software could be overclocking the device leading to overheating. If this were the case, do you not think we could have isolated said software by now?
If you know of someone in Japan (Japanese, not an expat) who owns a Bold, please comment!
[Via]
