Asia Lacks iOS Talent

This morning, LINE had a major update.

Their new features are only part of the reason LINE differentiates themselves from the other messaging apps. They are truly, the leader in this space when it comes to long-term product and business strategies. Man, they are so smart.

The one thing that really blows my mind is how the iOS app is so much crappier compared to the Android app.

I only user banner notifications for apps because the little red circles drive me batty. Before, the banner notifications used to tell me who sent a message with a preview.

After the update:

What is ‘MT’? Manual Transmission?? More Text??? Mt. Fuji???? Margaret Thatcher?????
This just makes no sense.

Hoping it was a bug, I switched the notifications to alert style and…

Ummmm same thing. I really wonder what MT means.

Check out the notification for the Android though:

Legit.

I don’t understand the thinking behind the iOS notifications but that’s neither here nor there. This only goes to show the dominance of Android over iOS in Asia, and how more emphasis is placed on developing on the former than latter.

Living in Asia makes me really want to switch to Android.

Smartphone Penetration in Japan: WTF

I know I shouldn’t be surprised. I know I shouldn’t. And I get it, I really do. Feature phones (flip phones) back in the what? the 90’s in Japan had mind-blowing technology. I remember being in awe every time I visited Japan from the states. I couldn’t believe what flip phones could do. How beautiful the large screens were. How colorful everything seemed. Even ringtones, were better on Japanese phones.

Japan always felt like I time warped into the future.

Fast forward to 2007 when Apple introduced the iPhone and the world USA* adopted to smart phones. While Sony and NTT Docomo and Sharp and Panasonic and the rest of the Japanese portable electronic giants looked the other way, iPhones now have the largest market share in Japan.

But still. The rate of smart phone market penetration is just insane. I look at the numbers and can’t help but be awestruck by how behind Japan is…

I mean… really????????? (chart via here)

And I look at most recent figures of people who purchased a smartphone from April to September of 2013. 82%. Of those, 68.5% of people switched from a feature phone (flip phone) to a smart phone. (chart via here)

I have no words…

But the good news is, because Japan is slower to adopt to smart phones than other developed nations, there is massive room for disruption. The Japanese are just now getting accustomed to visually appeasing, gesture friendly user experiences, so think of all the possibilities.

You know? I am so so so glad to be here right now.
This is one of the most exciting times to be in Japan.

*edited — Karl, you are correct indeed :)

Holy Epic FAIL.

Just remembered I never finished my tech predictions for 2010. #fail Maaaaan and my predictions are usually really good or straight on point. But I do know one prediction that was debunked way earlier than I thought: WinMo. Boy was I truly blown away. Microsoft’s WinMo team deserves major props for executing a social centric data driven OS overhaul. Too bad they didn’t make launch at the same time as iPhone (2G at the least.) I hope they are not too late to play catch-up. Also extremely curious as to how the browsing experience is. I would not want to be locked into any of their (sh*tty) products: Office, IE, and Silverlight, specifically.

Latter is the reason I am going Android. I really want to wait for the third iteration of Android but I am sick of my iPhone and most of all, sick of AT&T’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad service.

NexusOne baby, I’m looking at you!
 
 
…why I woke up at 1:20am and felt compelled to punch this out is beyond me.

I Just Have One Question About Nexus One: Do I need a voice plan?

Will it require a voice plan?

Ok, wait, I should back up.

In case you’re living under a rock, Nexus One launched today. Nexus One is the Google phone. Nexus One comes with GoogleVoice pre-installed. Now, Google Voice does everything a regular mobile number does and more, as you can see from this chart:

Android Peeks – Switching Between Applications (YouTube)

Background apps and multi processing ftw!

That channel also has several neat Android app demos. The one that caught my eye was Compare Everywhere. The dev pieced several APIs to efficiently geolocate, shop, and compare products — and it only took him two weeks to write it. HOT. Quick description taken from their site:

CompareEverywhere is a Google Android app that will change the way you shop forever.

• Scan any barcode and instantly search dozens of online and local stores, finding out if that “sale price” really is a good deal.
• Read product reviews, listen to music clips, and watch movie trailers with a single tap.
• Easily connect with stores in your area using driving directions or a phone call.
• Quickly build shopping lists, wish lists, and share them with friends.

Edit: Added Compare Everywhere video after jump.