Apple has just announced that iOS 5.1 is coming to everyone today, after months of speculation.
And no surprise: as rumored, Siri is coming to Japan!
We’ll have download links available for iOS 5.1 as soon as it becomes available. Stay tuned.
[image via Engadget]
Get your catapults ready: Angry Birds Seasons is back, and this time the 15 new levels are set in Japan. But not the Japan that you or I might visit. This is a Japan populated with pigs wearing rope headbands, nestled amongst giant maki rolls and set in the shadow of the giant Mount Fuji.
Like its Black Friday shopping event held for those in the U.S. and other Western territories back in November, Apple is set to celebrate the Year of the Dragon with a shopping event on January 6 for customers in China/Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines.
The company promises the one-day sale will provide “amazing iPad, iPod, and Mac gifts for everyone.”
The world of iOS was set alight when it was realized anybody can utilize Emoji–full colour emoticons, popular mostly in Japan. Suddenly SMS got a lot more interesting! However, with OS X Lion you can also utilize them on your Mac, making for everything from better emails to more colorful documents.
Apple has a tendency to make businesses nervous — just ask the CD folks assimilated into the iTunes universe, or the companies swept aside by the iPhone in 2007. A similar nervous tick is growing in the television set manufacturing business, already skating on razor-thin margins. TV makers reportedly are snooping around for details on an Apple-designed iTV that could start production in February, but is it too late for them to do anything besides be bulldozed by Apple like so many industries before them?
Fotopedia Japan is a lovely photographic tour of modern Japan, available for free right now on the iOS App Store.
For Apple, the iPhone’s clean desktop is simply an extension of its overall minimalist design. While keeping control of what apps appear on the smartphone makes fans of users, forbidding so-called carrier ‘junkware’ could be a deal-breaker for NTT DoCoMo, Japan’s largest wireless provider.
It’s a downer of a day, but here’s something we can all get a little chuck at: in Japan, Apple might need to change the name of iOS 5’s incredible new Siri voice control assistant. Why? Because in Japanese, Siri sounds an awful lot like a bottom.
After the Fukushima disaster, bogus radiation testing apps abounded – now Scosche has launched what it’s calling a true pocket radiation tester for your iPhone or iPod Touch.
The portable radiation sniffer called RDTX-PRO, priced at $350, might cost more than your device, but it looks like it’s a hit. Launched yesterday, at this writing it’s already out of stock on the company website.
We’re all excited about Notification Center, Twitter integration, iMessage, and all the other wonderful features that will come with iOS 5 later this year. But for Japanese users there’s one feature that may be far more useful than tweeting a picture of your cat directly from your camera roll: quake alert warnings.
Apple is offering free repairs to those with Macs and iOS devices who had their equipment damaged in the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan back in March.
A new report from Nikkei Shimbun – the Japanese newspaper behind the iPhone 6 LCD rumors – claims the iPad 2 will finally launch in Japan on Thursday, April 28th. The second-generation tablet was delayed for over a month due to the earthquake and tsunami that recently devastated vast parts of the country.
Apple announced that it would be delaying the launch of the iPad 2 in Japan in the middle of March – stating its teams were focusing on recovering from the recent disaster – and the company is yet to release an update on the delay.
The iPad 2 was scheduled to launch in Japan on March 25th – the same day it hit 25 other countries, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Mexico, Norway and the U.K.
If Nikkei’s claims are accurate, the iPad 2 will launch in Japan just a day after the white iPhone 4 is released worldwide; a busy week for Apple, it seems.
[via MacRumors]
Here’s an astonishing post from Kevin Rose, publishing an (anoymized) email from a friend of his who works for Apple in Japan.
Apple is under fire in Japan today after a group of the nation’s top publishers have claimed that Apple is approving apps for sale on the App Store when they violate the copyrights of many famous Japanese authors.
As a gamer, I’ve slowly gotten used to the virtual D-pads and buttons in iOS games, but in all honesty, I still miss the tactility of real buttons underneath my thumb pads.
That said, I can’t imagine who would go in for this: the Tactile+Plus is a transparent overlay you put over your iPhone or iPod Touch’s screen to lend tactile feedback to a virtual D-pad.
The iPhone’s been big in Japan for awhile: back in 2009, it commanded an amazing 72.2% market share of the nation’s smartphone segment. That’s a huge chunk of the pie, but because most Japanese customers were gravitating towards featurephones over smartphones back in 2009, that 72.2% market share only actually translated to 4.9% of the entire Japanese cell phone market.
Not to worry, though: smartphone sales in Japan have continued to grow over the last year, and the iPhone is still the best selling smartphone in all of Nippon.
Never letting a good opportunity go to waste, Scoopertino reveals that Steve Jobs’ recent incident at Japan’s Kansai International Airport was actually a field test of Apple’s newest product:
“iPod ninja fits into that sweet spot between the iPod touch and a small handgun,” says Apple spokesperson Ted Wetmore. “It gives you peace of mind. You can either enjoy your music on the device — or you can fling it at anyone who looks at you funny. With a little practice, you can take down a foe at 50 feet.”
However, there is a dark side to the new iPod. As iPod ninja sales boom, some blogs are already reporting a “death grip” problem even worse than the one that plagued iPhone 4. If you hold iPod ninja in a certain way, you may require immediate medical care.
“There is a learning curve,” admits Mr. Berry, “and Apple does recommend the use of a protective case.” [Scoopertino]
Credit card, photo ID and criminal background check required for purchase. This could have the potential to be a real killer product….
[via iPhoneSavior]
It is natural to be confused by the image above, but before I explain what exactly is going on here, I’d like to give you a moment to come up with your own possible narrative. It’s clear that the Japanese man on the right is doing something with the iPad on the left through the wires hooked up directly to his brain, but what, exactly?
I look forward to hearing your first thoughts in the comments, but my immediate guess was that the Japanese man was using his iPad as some sort of extreme constipation-relieving device, during the usage of which he spontaneously had a quadruple heart attack that simultaneously struck each and every chamber of his heart. What other explanation could explain that man’s facial contortions?
The true explanation is just about as weird, though. As you can see in the video below, this is an iPad game that was demonstrated at last week’s Tokyo Game Show.
According to the most recent edition of SPA! magazine, Apple CEO Steve Jobs doesn’t intend to revisit Japan anymore. Also, he’s a secret ninja.
As reported and translated by F’ed Gaijan, the temperamental Apple founder apparently became furious when passing through security at the Kansai Airport on his way out of the country after a quiet vacation near Kyoto with his family.
The problem? Japanese security found shuriken, or ninja throwing stars, in his carry-on luggage, and insisted upon confiscating them. Since Kansai Airport does not have any procedures in place for dealing with private jets and other VIPs, so Jobs was going through security the same as anyone else.
According to SPA!, a red-faced Job tantrumed: “I’m hardly planning to hijack my own private jet! What a country! I’m never coming back!” Then, calling upon his incredible kuji-kiri ninja abilities, Jobs melted into the shadows, never to be seen in Japan again.
Every New Year’s Day, Japanese consumers line up to take place in the annual tradition of the fukubukuro, in which merchants sell sealed bags of mystery gifts at huge discounts.
For example, if you go into your local video game store, you might pick up a bag of game discs for $100. Walk into the local butcher’s, and you might take your pick of any number of dripping canvas sacks of mystery meat for a nominal fee.
Apple’s Japan Stores have been taking part in the fukubukuro celebration since 2005, and starting Saturday, customers have been lining up to buy a limited number of Lucky Bags for about $380.
