[bigyabai]

I think you're extrapolating America's materialism to other cultures that don't necessarily care so much. There's not really any feature of the iPhone that can't be replaced by another product. It's only Americans that feel the need to slake brand loyalty with army-of-one boycotts.

[Alupis]

That's totally why 68.75% of Japanese smartphone users own an iPhone[1]...

[1] https://magmatranslation.com/stats/en/mobile-usage-trends-in...

[bigyabai]

I stand by what I said. Apple used to be the leading smartphone manufacturer in China, now they aren't even in the top 5. Sometimes things change, and I doubt China's in shambles because Airdrop isn't ubiquitous. I see no reason why Japan would be different.

The notion that American tech companies are invincible is really only a view held by Americans. The overwhelming majority of people I speak to internationally don't care that much about computer brand loyalty.

[Alupis]

Maybe not brand loyalty... but people, universally, want the best product available. Today, for a large portion of the world, that is perceived to be the iPhone.

The iPhone being banned in Japan because of some policy dispute with the government is going to go over like a bag of wet cement. People may not care that it's "Apple", but they do care the "Best" is being banned for reasons the population doesn't care about.

[bb86754]

"people, universally, want the best product available"

Maybe I'm not a person, but I almost always pick one of the cheaper if not cheapest option. Rarely, if ever, do I care enough to get the best of anything...

[6510]

Look at Nubia, you can have a cheap phone that is also better and more performant.

[makeitdouble]

Japan has such a high share of iPhones because it's a winner takes it all market. People prefer to be in the majority by default, and it will take a lot more than just being good to dethrone the major platform.

Reminds me that I still don't know why Samsung is chained so hard to docomo. It can't just be a marketing thing.

[j_maffe]

Who told you that these are reasons the population doesn't care about? I know at least in Europe there has been wide support for initiatives such as the DMA, even knowing what it would entail. You're running on conjecture here.

[Alupis]

You think the population of Japan will be ok with banning iPhones because their governments thinks other web browsers should run on the devices too?

How many iPhone users, outside of a small group of "techies" are even aware there are other mobile browsers?

Think about your parents or grandparents - not you, someone who has vastly more knowledge in this area. How many "normals" really care... I'd wager near zero.

[owebmaster]

Apple stop selling iphones won't take the iphones away, not many people care about their next one. The impact would be negligible and every other country would notice they can demand compliance.

[bigyabai]

> You think the population of Japan will be ok with banning iPhones

Why wouldn't they? Japan has no codified Apple-specific lock-in. Their citizens won't miss a criminally illegal iPhone any more than they demand to import the gold Escobar phone, Huawei handsets or the FBI's ANOM. It would be effortless from a legislation perspective and harm Apple far more than it harms Japanese people.

Japan isn't part of FIVE-EYES, their government doesn't rely on Apple for surveillance purposes. There's no real potential for political blowback unless America's politicians take it personally. Japanese citizens would just buy different phones, no different from what China has already done (without any pushback). If America demands that they give Apple market access, they can embargo the iPhone under security pretenses instead.

[rpdillon]

> but people, universally, want the best product available

I fear you've been overly influenced by Apple's marketing. They are in no way the best product, but they certainly have the best advertisements!

[mvdtnz]

Which has absolutely zero bearing on what he said.