So Apple released an updated range of iPods, including the new iPod touch. Quite interesting really, because as far as I can see, the Touch is just an iPhone-without-the-phone.

Now, even though the Apple event was on during the evening in the UK, and wee hours in Japan, it seems they managed to get some gear out to Japan pretty quickly. (Apple’s marketing department in Japan were pretty efficient here), and it was on the early morning Japanese news.

As well as being pretty funky to watch, it did get me thinking.
Apple is yet to release the iPhone in Japan. Now, when it was released in the US the reaction seemed to be ‘ehh, that looks pretty, but can’t we do all this Internet stuff, etc etc already on our Japanese Domestic market phones’.
There were right of course. A lot of the functionality in the iPhone has been available on Japanese phones for a while.
However, what the Japanese phones lack is ease of use, which the iPhone has in spades.

The thing is though, despite this, the most Japanese consumers tend to forget about usability (because it seems all the local manufacturers ALL don’t do it) and tend to think ‘it’s just the way things are’.
So, it wouldn’t have surprised me if the iPhone would have faired quite badly out there.

However, the iPod touch may just be a cracking bit of planning? Although Apple has not cornered the portable music player market to quite the same extent in Japan, it’s still a very strong brand. So, I suspect a fair few people out there will end up getting the iPod touch. Then, perhaps they’ll start to get used to the interface and end up liking it. Later along the line, out comes iPhone… and get guess what. It works in the same way as your iPod. Voila!

… then again, I could just be talking out of my arse.