<<Well, I had extensive relationships with Japan when I published my software and I had the impression that the Mac was widely used. Fududa suggests the people were unable to use it? Several Mac magazines were supported, many distributors of software were successful, I had a lot of registered users and was in communication all the time with my user base there.
What's the truth?>>
Well, both yours and his are true depending on which groups you are
talking with. Japan is a large country with about 120m people. Not
everybody in that country has capability to understand English as well
as computer. I estimate at least one half of population who owned
Mac or PC just do the routine work, such as internet surfing, simple
word processing in English or Japanese. Another half may have more
knowledge about Mac or PC, but still are doing routine jobs, such as
running applications, COTS products. You are talking about one half
who could use Mac efficiently, while Mr. Fukuda was talking another
half who barely touch Mac or PC but still owned it. You cannot
assume that everybody understand Mac/English like us, particularly in the foreign
countries, such as Japan. People in Japan have their own prides who
have right to insist on their language. We should also understand
this physchological difference. Luckily, internet contains all
different kinds of info in various languages which perfectly fit into
various countries. However, English is the most popular one in the
whole world. Apple has focused on the impact on various cultures and
languages, and has localized for a long time. I understand Japanese
pretty well since I used to work in the Japanese company. They pretty
emphasize on quality products, such as Apple and IBM (#4 & #3
respectively). Apple is an exampe of excellent quality product which
is the reason why it could stand firm in Japanese market.
Phil |
