Amazon to Sell Prepaid Internet Access in Japan
From PC Magazine:
In the tech industry it’s a well-established fact that major U.S. companies will sometimes test a service in other, international markets before introducing it to domestic customers. That’s why the news that Amazon will begin offering prepaid Internet access for smartphones and tablet computers in Japan is so intriguing.
According to Japanese business journal the Nikkei, Amazon will begin selling the prepaid cards sometime this month. The company will sell subscriber identity module (SIM) cards for 1,980 yen (about $25), which will allow up to 500MB of data usage. The report also notes that Amazon is the first foreign company to ever offer such a service in Japan’s highly competitive Internet access market.
. . . .
Nevertheless, the most interesting wrinkle to the story is that the prepaid SIM cards will work with unlocked iPhones and other smartphone and tablet devices, in addition to the Kindle. So while this prepaid data service would certainly help Amazon deliver its e-book service in Japan, it could also serve as a significant test of a new prepaid access model for U.S. Amazon customers in the near future.
Link to the rest at PC Magazine
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95% of tablets and all android phones are through mobile service providers and electronics stores* in Japan and come with wifi Internet. A rare exception is if you buy an iPad from the Apple store. Plus jailbreakers usually use MyWi and other tethering products. There is usually no opt out for wireless subscription either (the iPad is famous for this with Softbank).
My question is who, except foreigners/visitors with non-Japanese phones/tablets from home, is going to buy this? This might be a set up for a Kindle release in Japan, but if there’s any other use, I don’t see it.
*It’s nearly impossible to buy from a non-phone provider as they have shops in the big stores. Online purchase is possible, but they often have subscription too (mostly its hidden in the fine print.)
Ps. The kindle will live or die by its content here. Japanese phones are out of this world and very unique to Japan. The Kindle Fire does not measure up in my opinion (the rest wouldn’t make it) and will have to fight to prove itself better than a tablet, note or android phone/iPhone. Also, as most people read on the train, it is probably too big. Most Japanese would want super small and light weight, my iPad is nearly impossible to read on a busy train – sardine level and below. The Kindle is not much smaller.
(That’s aside from paper domination, publishers in control in a big way, a huge bookstore industry, a monolingual japanese reading market, a industry loaded with Manga and light novels, ultra small size mass market books and publishers having learnt from the US struggles. Welcome to Mt. Everest. The USA was just a hill.)
(On the otherhand, I’d love to see the option come about for Japanese authors to go Indie. They deserve that just as much as other countries’ authors did/do. So do their potential readers as well.)
I wondered the same thing. My impression is that Japanese tend to be ultra-connected to the internet nearly everywhere in urban areas where most reside.
A friend took his iPad into Canada last week and is finding it impossible to get a pre-paid SIM without being a Canadian resident. So Japan is just the beginning.
Heh, my boyfriend took his iPad into the US last year and had a hell of a timet trying to get a pre-paid SIM because he wasn’t American.