I’ve had another Japan gadget spasm. Ask people who love electronics and live in Japan why they live in Japan, and a good number of us will reply that this being gadget heaven is a deciding factor.
If you like homegrown gadgets, that is. Today’s case will bring back painful memories to Nokia fans who had to fight to get hold of one of their favorite mobile phone units years ago simply because no carrier wanted them to sell well here.
I bought this brand spanking new HTC Desire, the first one on the market in Japan. Reserved it two weeks before delivery. Couldn’t wait to get it going. It’s just different enough from the iPod touch, which I have been using for months, to be frustrating in many little ways. But it works just fine and is so much more customizable. I’m in love.
Then, today, I left the special USB cable you need to charge the battery in the office. Fine. Well, I would need a second cable anyway to avoid carrying the original one around all the time.
I went to the big retail electronics shop where I bought the thing, found a salesperson who did not turn away to avoid having to deal with a foreigner, and pulled out my new phone.
Him: “What is that?”
Me: “It’s an HTC Desire. New Smartphone. I bought it on this floor just a week ago.”
Note: If you bring a product back to a Japanese electronics megastore, and you don’t want to be kept waiting hours while the origin of said product is tracked down, it is vital to let the salespeople know the floor, better yet to show them the aisle and shelf, from which you made your acquisition. This is inventory micro-management at its most nightmarish. If you can manage to get a business card from your “concierge” (silly new term), hold onto it. It is worth more than gold. It attaches a name and responsibility to your well spent money and greatly ups the chances of efficient service if you ever need that.
Anyway, him: “Hm? Oh, right. The new HTC Desire. And what is it you need, sir?”
His look begged me not to tell him it was broken.
Me: “I’m just looking for a spare USB cable to charge it up.”
Him: “Oh, well, that’s a ‘micro pin’ USB cable you have there, sir. HTC’s phone is the only one to use that size, so we don’t have any in stock.”
Me: “Nothing? Not even a third-party charger [severely over priced]?”
Him: “No, no. Sorry, sir. You’ll have to go to a Softbank (that’s the carrier) Shop and order one.”
Me: “I can’t even order one here?”
Him: “You would likely get it several days earlier by going through the Softbank Shop, sir.”
Me: “Fine. Thanks.”
End of discussion. I have repeated this scene 46 (ish) times with different foreign electronics products through the years. This guy was not even worth a heavy sigh of frustration.
Now, Sony Ericsson’s Xperia (sounds like the name of a B grade horror film from the 1960s) has been selling like hotcakes, breaking records and making the news everywhere. The next revolution! The true harbinger of the age of the Smartphone in Japan! (Sorry, Apple, but whatever your success, you didn’t know you really were just a door opener.)
In the same shop in which I acquired my HTC, I saw various accessories for that Xperia on the shelf. The home field advantage strikes again.
The good news is that the Desire seems to be doing well. It will sell enough to merit accessories people won’t have to special order. But right now, right at the start, that’s the hard time. When you are buying non-Japanese electronics brands in Japan, the road to realizing your gadget dreams can be a long one.
Down to about two months to a Significant Announcement. More later.
日本は島国じゃん
“Because of the unique properties of their language, the Japanese people have brain patterns that differ from those of most other people in the world.” – Tadanobu Tsunoda (The Japanese Brain).