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The I Love Japan BlackBerry theme is a simple way to show some love for Japan. Maybe you taught English there, or maybe you were born there and you want to show off the flag. Either way, this theme is decent and comes with 6 configurable icons. It’s also animated.
Check out more themes from Temas in the BlackBerry Cool Store.
A recent survey of 2,300 Japanese retail stores conducted by the market research company BCN in Japan revealed that the BlackBerry Bold is number 6 on the top 10 smartphones list. The BCN ranking is a weekly top 10 list of bestselling cellphones (not just smartphones) for the June 22 to 28 period.
The iPhone dominated the upper ranks of the list but the survey is a little misleading. The survey was conducted during the launch of the iPhone 3Gs and therefore the hype surrounding the device skews the numbers.
According to TG Daily, Apple has sold 1 million iPhones since July 2008 through Softbank, its exclusive Japanese carrier. Number 3 in the BCN survey is the NTT DoCoMo Aquos SH-04A, designed by Sharp.
[Via]
Recently, I’ve been reporting about Bold’s in Japan overheating. The article caused a lot of people to start commenting about what it’s like owning a BlackBerry in their part of the world. I find RIM’s presence in Japan really interesting because previously, North American smartphones would be considered not powerful enough for the Japanese market. Since there are so many questions, I decided to ask a Japanese BBCool reader what he thinks about his latest BlackBerry Bold purchase.
BlackBerryCool: Why did you buy a BlackBerry?
Makoto Kazuo: I work in an international team and all my American colleagues have one. I thought it was a really cool technology. I’m a research assistant and do lots of fieldwork. I need to access my email while I’m out of my office. Carrying my laptop around for that purpose wasn’t very fun. And the QWERTY keyboard was a big plus. When you have to type long texts (sometimes I write myself a long email as a field note), it’s a must. So when it came out here, I bought it right away.
Continue reading BlackBerry Cool’s interview with a Japanese BlackBerry owner
Although NTT DoCoMo halted sales of the BlackBerry Bold, the carrier is definitely going to continue selling the device to both enterprise and consumers alike. I know this because the carrier sent out an email requesting BlackBerry software providers to contact them about partnerships to sell their software to Japanese BlackBerry users. According to the email:
NTT DOCOMO is a top mobile carrier in Japan and has excusive sales authority for BlackBerry series in Japan.
Although they have attracted a loyal but relatively small core of users to date, the market is expected to expand,
particularly among users who place a priority on secure mobile access to synchronized office email, schedules and files.
Now if they can just figure out their overheating BlackBerry issues.
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]
Word coming straight out of Tokyo is that RIM is looking to release the BlackBerry Bold in Japan by early 2009. While the average Japanese person has smartphones that are lightyears beyond ours, with cold fusion and laser support, RIM’s COO Donald Morrison sees a huge opportunity in the enterprise space:
“The challenge for us is to get our products localised,” he told Reuters on the sidelines of a briefing to introduce the Bold in Japan. “Once they are localised and pass the certification, the opportunity, particularly in the enterprise base, is an essentially still wide open market.”
NTT DoCoMo is already selling BlackBerry in Japan and in addition to the BlackBerry Bold, plans to almost double its smartphone line-up to 10 by next year to tap growing demand for phones with computer-like capabilities. For our friends in the land of the rising sun who just can’t wait, check out our full BlackBerry Bold review below.
The Ultimate BlackBerry Bold Review (with full device specs)
BlackBerry Bolds Around the World map
(via Reuters)
Japan had been struggling with language support issues and BlackBerry, but now that the BlackBerry 8703 will be available on BIS for ¥ 3,045 or about $US 30, it looks like the brand is getting some traction. The BlackBerry Internet Service will be available August 1st. to customers who don’t have a corporate server handy, which opens up the market considerably. While the 8703 has most of the same guts as the newer models, it’s still distinctly lacking their good looks and style. It goes without saying that Japan will have some pretty stiff competition in wireless, so if RIM means business there, they might have to fast track the device catalog to catch up.
(Far East Gizmos via Rimarkable)
Getting felt up on a train isn’t so great, right? Well, depends on the circumstances, but for the sake of conversation, let’s say you weren’t asking for it. Game developer Takahashi released an app two years ago for your mobile called Anti-Groping Appli which has been gaining popularity. The program flashes progressively threatening messages on your mobile to touchy-feely horn-dogs on crowded Japanese trains, starting at “Did you just grope me?” working its way up to “Shall we head to the police?” with each key press. It’s a free download, but searching for sites in Japanese is a bit outside of this blogger’s scope. Leefe has managed to dig up a download link, but it doesn’t look to be compatible with BlackBerrys. If you’re packing anything else, give it a shot!
NTT DoCoMo has announced that their Nanimail application, which facilitates Japanese character recognition, will be compatible with the BlackBerry 8300, 8800, 8820, and 8830 on November 1st, with 8100 and 7100 software coming out December 1st. Oddly, this app was developed by DoCoMo’s American branch; you’d think that when it comes to writing Japanese, you’d want to keep operations at home. In any case, this character input software complements the Japanese language support update to the BlackBerry OS back in July, and should offer our buddies across the pond a full-bodied BlackBerry experience.
Pantech has announced that they’ll be releasing the A1407PT in Japan come November, which conducts sound, both incoming and outgoing, through your skull. Crazy, huh? Conducting conversations this way supposedly cuts down on ambient distortion, and also provides clearer listening for folks with hearing disabilities. The bonephone is a niche-y technology, but innovative nonetheless. If a mobile just partially used the technology to clean up call quality, it would certainly see more widespread use.
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