nikkei

A measure of Apple's success: Oppenheimer cites Japan

Apple Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer took a minute during Tuesday's earnings conference call to cite Apple's success in Japan -- an important metric in a country where national brands were once invincible.

"In Japan, IDC Japan announced that iPhone gained the number one position for all of calendar year 2012, as well as for calendar Q4 2012 in both handsets and smartphones," Oppenheimer said.

He continued. "This is also the first time a non-Japanese company has achieved the No. 1 spot for an entire year...In addition, Apple was ranked No. 1 in Nikkei'… Read more

Report: New Nintendo DS to offer onboard camera, music playback

Japanese business news outlet Nikkei Net is reporting that Nintendo will release a successor to the DS Lite by the end of this calendar year. Highlights of the updated feature set include improved wireless functionality (probably for extra-curricular use--not necessary for gaming), an onboard camera, and music playback.

The report goes on to suggest that the internal camera could be used by certain titles, with pictures taken with it somehow incorporated into gameplay. While there are no specifics on pricing, Nikkei Net says the new handheld should go for less than 20,000 yen (approximately $189).

Like with the DS … Read more

Japanese engineers trash MacBook Air

Japanese engineers were quick to pour scorn on the MacBook Air. This critique comes courtesy of Nikkei Electronics, a major Japanese electronics monthly, which did a teardown of the Air.

Here's the seeming challenge: The Japanese PC industry must come up with a reason why their own PC suppliers--NEC, Toshiba, Sony, Fujitsu--don't have a riveting 0.75-inch-thin notebook design on the market in the U.S. The answer, for them, is simple: a Japanese company would never approve of the design.

(Actually Mitsubishi did design an Air-thin notebook called the Pedion back in 1997, but the shallow keyboard … Read more