Tokyo — Some reaction from attendees of Macworld Expo Tokyo 2002directly from the show floor.
H. Sato, a businessman, was looking forward to purchasing thenew iMac. “The iMac price increase is real unfortunate. I was hoping tobuy more RAM and I may have to put that off. The new 10GB iPod is nicealthough I want to buy something for less than 50,000 yen so I thinkI’ll get the 5GB model. The new Contacts feature is nice but I have allof my phone numbers on my cell phone so that feature isn’t necessary atall. I look forward to using OS X but I don’t think I can afford toupgrade all of my apps to OS X like the new Photoshop and Office MacX.”
M. Kusunoki, a freelancer, states “the new iMac was tooexpensive and now with the price increase, forget it!”
Mr. G. Van Horn, a language teacher, was expecting to see moresmall business oriented software on OS X. “I was hoping for a G4 iBookannouncement. The Japanese market is a prosumer market for mobilelaptops. Seeing salarymen and students carrying their 12 inch iBooks inbags and commuting with them on the train, I thought that Apple wouldbe showing some new mobile device at this Expo, although this is myfirst Mac trade show I’m attending.”
H. Ichimaru, a businessman, noticed that the Mac Expos weregetting smaller every year. “I’m a Windows user now but I used to usethe Mac. But recently I noticed that Apple was coming out with someneat looking products so I came out to take a look. The new iMac is agreat design! The price increase is unfortunate but understandable.Component prices are increasing everywhere and the price increase isnot that drastic. The iPod is neat but I think that the design is notall that impressive. I have a lot of products that tried to use mainlyone button or dial and they all failed.”
Y. Taniguchi, a sales promoter, loves the 12″ iBook. Shementioned that the price increase for the iMac is okay as long as Appleproperly supports its users. “Apple has done a fantastic job with theirbrand image and I love their ads!”
A. Iijima, a businessman, attended the keynote and thought thatthe Bluetooth announcement was the best part. “But Apple didn’t mentionanything about the Bluetooth-Airport conflict. Bluetooth will take overin the same environment. When Sony came out with their Bluetooth Vaio,they specifically stated that Bluetooth and Wireless LANs willconflict. Apple should make this clear. I don’t want to see usersgetting a bad impression of Airport and Bluetooth.” “The laserengraving service is great for iPods as gifts for birthdays or specialoccasions! This service means that the iPod is selling well and that’sgood! I wish in the future that they would come out with a Network iPodaccessory that lets you listen to Internet Radio via an Airport typeaccessory that pops into the FW port! I don’t need the Contacts featureof the iPod as I already have everything in my cell phone or PDA. The14 inch iBooks are too big for most users in Japan. That’s why the oldiBooks didn’t do too well here. The 12 inch iBook is great and I’m sureApple will sell a lot here. But lastly, the price increase of the newiMacs is just ridiculous! And why $100 in the U.S and 20,000 yen here?Why not just 15,000 yen if at all?”
N. Hayashi, a businessman, also attended the keynote. “I wasmost disappointed that there was no announcement of QuickTime 6 andMPEG 4. Not even a mention! Apple made an announcement I believe backat NAMM in Los Angeles months ago. Apple has to address new marketsfaster. There’s a great market for content producing on mobile phonesas well as for broadband use here. And Bluetooth now? Too little toolate!”
Y. Takimoto, a graphic designer, loves the new Cinema HDDisplay. “Wow, look at that thing! I can use all of my major apps atthat resolution! And I love that silver logo!” He’s also a Palm userbut mentions “Bluetooth is neat but I can’t justify the cost. Getting aMemory Stick Bluetooth module is 19,800 yen and Apple’s USB module is6,000 yen. That’s a lot of money to spend just getting your Palm tosync! Until many more devices support Bluetooth like my TV I’m notbuying anything!”