????美國消費者用手機來看電視、進行GPS導航、下載音樂、制作視頻、支付賬單和查看郵件，但好幾年前日本人就在這么做了。日本在iPhone誕生前8年就已經有了觸摸屏手機——Pioneer J-PE01。然而，蘋果（Apple）iPhone去年成為日本最暢銷的手機并不是什么令人驚訝的事。極其著名的日本手機在外觀和性能上領先外國手機10多年后，終于讓位給了外國機型。

????以NEC為例。它曾是世界上最大的IT和通信公司之一，它的命運代表了其他7家日本手機制造商。這家公司已經連續兩年出現虧損，股價在10年間下跌逾90%，于是出售了旗下手機銷售部門，裁減了10,000個手機相關崗位。分析人士稱，這家公司已經無力再與蘋果和韓國三星（Samsung）競爭。

????原因何在？日本手機專家林信行認為，日本消費者拋棄本國手機制造商有三個主要原因。首先，他說必須要明白iPhone對日本女性產生了多么巨大和意想不到的吸引力?！癷Phone從一開始就獲得了女性的青睞。最初采用圓角設計和塑料外殼的iPhone 3G系列手機很快就變成了日本女性的時尚物品，她們喜歡那種多變的外殼和簡潔的裝飾。其次是日本女性的品牌忠誠度?！?/p>

????日本也有和iPhone同樣靚麗的手機。風靡一時的Infobar直板手機因為靚麗的外觀而贏得了國際設計大獎。盡管iPhone缺乏日本電信業高管認為必不可少的浮華裝飾，但事實證明，iPhone引發的熱潮勢不可擋。

????市場調研公司IDC日本的數據顯示，iPhone是2012年日本最暢銷的手機及智能手機。這是個巨大的成就，而日本手機觀察人士和業內領袖起初曾說iPhone會在日本一敗涂地。IDC的資料顯示，蘋果現在占到日本市場15%的份額，領先于日本的夏普（Sharp）和富士通（Fujitsu），后二者的市場份額均為14%。日本頂尖的移動運營商NTT Docomo沒有推出iPhone，而是主要推廣三星Galaxy等其他的外國智能手機，以此來抗衡iPhone。

????但林信行表示，這些對打敗蘋果起不到什么作用。他說，日本手機行業的運營方式導致了低劣的產品。他說：“手機運營商生產了在日本出售的幾乎每部手機。就連諾基亞（Nokia）和三星的手機也被手機運營商加以改造，以滿足特定的需求。運營商添加了他們認為重要的功能，比如電子錢包、One-Seg TV接收器以及運營商的各種特別服務?！?/p>

????The Japanese were using their cellphones to watch TV, navigate with GPS, download music, make movies, pay bills, and check their emails years before American consumers were doing the same. Japan also had touchscreen phones eight years earlier than iPhone -- the Pioneer J-PE01. And yet it is no surprise that Apple's iPhone was the best-selling phone in Japan last year. After over a decade of trouncing any foreign handset looks and talent-wise, Japan's legendary ketai are been given the heave-ho in favor of foreign models.

????Take NEC, once one of the world's biggest IT and telecoms firms. Its fortunes have been typical of the other seven Japanese handset makers. After two years of losses and a stock value that has fallen over 90% in a decade, it is selling off its mobile phone sales unit and cutting 10,000 mobile related jobs. Analysts say the firm can't compete anymore with Apple (AAPL) and Korea's Samsung.

????What happened? Japanese mobile phone guru Nobuyuki Hayashi believes there are three main reasons Japan has fallen out of love with its own handset makers. First, he says, you have to understand what a colossal and unexpected hit the iPhone was with Japanese women. "The iPhone has been very strong among women from very early on. The original round plastic iPhone 3G series soon become a fashion item for Japanese women who also enjoyed the huge variation of cases and ease of decoration. Then there is the brand loyalty of Japanese women."

????Japan had phones just as good-looking as the iPhone. The once popular Infobar candy bar phone even won international design prizes. But the craze for the iPhone, despite lacking all the bells and whistles Japanese telecoms executives thought were indispensable (e-wallet, TV, etc) proved overwhelming.

????According to IDC Japan, the iPhone was the No. 1 best-seller for 2012 in both handsets and smartphones. Quite a feat for a phone that the country's ketai-watchers and industry leaders said would fail at the start. Apple now has 15% market share putting it ahead of Japan's Sharp and Fujitsu, which both enjoy 14% of the market according to IDC. Japan's top mobile provider, NTT Docomo (DCM), which does not carry the iPhone, hit back by promoting mostly foreign-made smartphones like Samsung's Galaxy.

????But this won't help the attempts to defeat Apple according to Mr. Hayashi who says that the way the phone industry operates here leads to an inferior product. "The phone operators produce almost each and every mobile phones sold in Japan. Even the phones by Nokia (NOK) or Samsung are modified to match the special requirement by the operators to include features that operators believe are important such as e-wallet, One-Seg TV receiver and wide range of special services by the operators," he says.