I think she had trouble with the gestures because of the odd angles she was trying to perform them.

Not like the US, but wait until a 3G model arrives. At least there are Europeans that can now get the iPhone and Apple will have sold an extra .5-1M extra iPhones it wouldnt’ have sold had it waited until a 3G model was perfected.

The recent statement by Jobs, apparently, stating that they didn’t add 3G to the Air as to lock a customer into one vendor sounds like rubbish. There are already 2M+ customers using the Air on AT&T’s network. The lack of 3G on the Air, for me, is the only thing it is lacking. Everything else is a welcome dismissal.

I am disappointed that the recent journalist reviews of the Air are claiming considerably less time than 5 hours. And I hope there is an external battery w/ power pass-through to be released soon. Otherwise I won’t be buying one.

I wouldn’t doubt the validity of the source, Jake has some pretty good sources.

Having also had the New Zealand 3G experience with an N70 and followed by Vodafone UK 3G followed by iPhone on the EDGE network I’m definately inclined to think that 3G for mobile phones is mostly marketing blag.

My real life experiences in both countries were shoddy and expensive on 3G using rubbish 3rd party software. The network was so slow I would connect to my POP mail and download only the headers. More than that and it would just timeout.

My iPhone on EDGE on the other hand just works. And then only really needs to work when Im travelling between wifi spots. No, its not the fastest for sure, but the difference between grabbing my phone from my pocket to find an email has been recieved as opposed getting much faster “error messages” cannot be understated if people want to talk about speed.

I was surprised that the MacBook Air is not the first 3G (or greater) capable device given that its requirements for transferring files that need throughput rather than low latency would probably have made it a much better candidate for the type of connection of 3G.

You can tell I’m no tech head – Im just a user that having had real world experience trying to use mobile devices on various cellular network – and Im bemused by the “3G is king” commentary.

@Sapporo Guy: Thanks for your comments WRT the J market as well. I think that Apple could indeed do well there as the whole Apple ethic seems to be more in tune with the Japanese than, say M$ with its obvious clunk.

1: That’s partly true, although Xbox360 in Japan has had a stronger push for Japanese development, it still isn’t selling compared to the Wii or PS3 even. There’s probably a couple of reasons for that other than the lack of games. Reliability is a factor, as we all know there is a huge lack of reliability for earlier models of Xbox360. That, you’re more likely to get the same games on a cheaper system anyway. It also isn’t home to the big names, like Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, Nintendo in general… The list goes on. Not even Hironobu Sakaguchi can save the system in Japan.

2: Part true. The original Xbox was a monster compared to the more compact and applicable to a home entertainment setup PS2. Xbox didn’t even do DVD out of the box, and that was at a time when DVD players were more expensive over there(well video prices in general are expensive in Japan.) But, they had a totally redesigned controller for the Japanese launch that became the base for the USA’s Controller S.

3: I don’t think fervent nationalism is a good excuse for it failing. It failed because it really couldn’t compete and Microsoft really failed at marketting to the Japanese(Japanese people don’t like playing FPS games in general) and turned off the niche western gaming culture over there by trying to Japanify game titles. It seemed more like a confused product, possibly. Again it also wasn’t the home of any real system selling big name titles for the Japanese market.

It’s a bit more complicated than it seems. Wii and DS are doing really great in the Japanese market right now because they offer games that are easy to get into, but the DS over there is a cultural phenomenon. Not only does the DS offer the games a typical Japanese gamer might enjoy, but it also offers titles a Japanese girl, businessman, house wife or grandma and grandpa would enjoy with the Touch Generations titles. Not to mention, DS is getting Dragon Quest IX, and already has Pokemon.

The Wii is another issue altogether, it’s small and sleek. But, it also offers something new for a family to enjoy.

Don’t take this the wrong way, I own all 3 systems now with the 360 the console I own the most games for in this current gen. But, Microsoft didn’t exactly offer anything new or interesting to the Japanese market.

As far as I know, Apple does well in Japan with their computers and iPods. But, the Macbook Air could be something that everyone would want because Japan is a pretty mobile culture. Although, iPhone would have to offer something new to Japan that the service providers haven’t already offered. Because of the structure of the mobile networks in Japan, they do offer features that would seem new to us if introduced tomorrow(mobile phone game business over there, compared to America, is a bigger business.)

Japanese TV coo’s over everything.

This was shown in the morning so that means a lot of business men, retired folks, and maybe some housewives that weren’t too busy with their kids will have seen this. This program has a large view audience.

From the start I had figured that the air was aimed more likely at the J market than the US. I love how they used pictures instead of something else. The marketing gurus got their stuff right on this one!

Motorola and Docomo make worldwide phones. I have the razor (whatever) and brought it back to the US with me recently. No problems jumping the puddle and having service with my Docomo carrier. So what is the deal with Apple?

The key to the J market will be: cost, cost, cost and then keyboard input.
My Softbank (aka vodaphone) phone now offers free calling to yahooBB landlines. My current plan is US$10 for unlimited calling to other softbank phones, unlimited SMS (text messaging) and fair rates to other carriers.

The service has been dependable and at times better recpetion than my Docomo FOMA.

Cost — have to figure in the biggest user block. High school kids ~ University kids. They grew up with phones in their hands. So, outrageous rates will spread like wildfire.

keyboard — so many people have grown accustomed to one thumb input that this is going to be a huge hurdle. Character recognition is pretty decent now and typing in Japanese can be quite fast. lolo, sometimes faster than in English!

One last comment: high school kids are not talking about the iphone….

Can they assault Japan with the iPhone?
Not with this model.

So, what? Develop a new model? Maybe.

But Apple also has the iPod touch, and now the Air…
Full wifi connectors to the world! What they needed? A connection to the mail!

I think they said: “What opportunities do we have with what we have?”

“Think Different” all the way arround!