The good news is that the long awaited Japanese online Apple Store has opened its doors. It may open to a slow start however as a Japanese Observer says there is little choice available at the Store. According to Apple:
"Open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, The Apple Store stocks a full lineup of products including: iMac; Power Macintosh G3; PowerBook G3; Macintosh Server G3; and Apple Studio Displays, as well as Mac OS system software; networking products; and Apple software applications. Powered by WebObjects, Apple's market-leading application server software, The Apple Store is easy to navigate and use, offering customers a well designed and simple online shopping experience."
Carlos, the Japanese Observer who felt that the rural areas of Japan had not seen the Mac revolution tells us that there are few options available online. According to Carlos:
Hello, me again from Japan. I would guess the reason why Jobs was so angry was because of Jet Lag. It really hits you when you go from one-side of the world to another. It's not easy. And then to give a speech.
Anyway...I looked at the new Apple store.."It sucks. You can't configure the machines in any way. Just add things like Apple share, Chinese Language Kit. i thought "How come I can't do what the US store does..like order more RAM, or HDs, or cards, etc.." Maybe they think we don't want choice in Japan?
I will go to the show tomorrow.
Carlos
Japan
Thanks for the report Carlos!
The Mac Observer Spin: The same situation existed when the US Apple Store went online over a year ago. There were almost no configuration options and few features that could be added. Since then Apple has added a wealth of configuration options and it is our educated guess that this will be the same case in Japan. In addition, there could be many many mitigating factors involving Japanese regulations, contractual obligations with distributors and retailers, or even manufacturing limitations.
And while it could be argued that it would be better to not go online until everything was perfect, the counter argument that something is better than nothing is just as compelling.
Apple - Apple Store Japan
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