> True. Japanese suffer unfortunate high prices compared to high tunes
> (which is also high-priced if you consider
> you only get data and no physical support nor additional goods). They
> also pay higher prices for contact lenses
> and cinema, among other things.
Often Japanese consumers pay higher prices because they have no choice (cinema etc) or because its a special brand. If the same product is offered cheap at one place and expensive at another, why should they not choose the cheaper one like everybody else?
I would be interested to see what happens if iTunes would be available in Japan. Currently you cannot buy songs via iTunes if you are a Japanese resident and there are no Japanese songs I believe. Nevertheless, the iPod as a device is very popular here.
If iTunes would sell in Japan, Japanese consumers could compare the price for songs via keitai with songs via iTunes/iPod, and they then may choose the latter. In the end, 3 times higher prices are a lot for the convenience of downloading songs via keitai. And downloading via PC/iTunes has its advantages too. Of course a Japanese catalogue of songs on iTunes would be necessary in this scenario, since most consumers will buy Japanese and not foreign music.
By the way, Apple did announce at some point that 50% of tracks are purchased as albums on iTunes. This should be good news for the music industry. I am not sure that the same will be true for keitai downloads, at least initially.
As mentioned in the article from the Register, it would be awsome if the iPod could be wirelessly connected allowing to download music via WLAN, and to "zoom" into the music other people around you are currently listening to.
Just some thoughts,
Andrea
Received on Thu Oct 21 09:08:40 2004