iPhone TV
OK, so it looks like the iPhone is not doing very well in Japan after all. There was a load of hype causing me to beleive the naysayers were wrong but they were probably right. I see iPhones available over here in abundance and it looks like nobody is touching them.
One of the reasons it seems is that that the iPhone does not come with the ability to watch TV - a function that most Japanese phones have.
The carrier and supplier of the iPhone in Japan is Softbank and they have just announced an ingenious (?) device to allow iPhone users to watch TV.
The top photo shows what Softbank are calling the "TV and Battery" attached to the iPhone. The unit receives a One Seg TV signal which is relayed to the iPhone. An App to allow viewing TV on the iPhone will be available for a free download via the App store. As the naming suggests, the unit also provides extra battery life - another thing that iPhone users often complain about.
The description at Impress also mentions that the TV Battery unit can be placed in a separate location and have the TV signal beamed to the iPhone.
The unit is 50×85×16mm and weights about 80g. Cost is expected to be about 10,000 yen.
Releasing a unit like this is probably bad publicity enhancing what the iPhone *cant* do. Would rather have a mouthful of the dried stuff that one may find around a baboons bottom hole.
Via Akihabara News and Impress.
- Akihabara News - Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
- Japan Probe - Japan news and entertainment (Subscribe)
- Kirainet.com - A geek in Japan (Subscribe)
