Check out the glass spiral staircase in Apple’s renovated Shibuya store in Japan
Apple will reopen its third major Japanese store to feature modern styling alongside the iPhone XR release this Friday—check out the impressive spiral staircase.
Japan
Apple previews its first Kyoto store with multi-level atrium ahead of Saturday’s grand opening
Located on the Shijō Dori street, the city’s main shopping corridor since the 1600s, Kyoto’s first Apple retail store is surrounded by many of the famous shrines and temples.
Japan is forcing carriers to end smartphone bundling in a move that could hurt Apple
Even though a customer in Japan is not charged upfront for their device, they still pay for it in installments attached to monthly service fees in fixed-term contracts.
Apple Japan offers free repairs of gear damaged by torrential rain and landslides
Apple will repair devices like iPhone and Apple Watch that were damaged by heavy rains in southwestern Japan earlier this month, as long as they are still repairable.
Apple’s latest retail design comes to Japan
Apple today shared photos of its new store outlet in Tokyo’s Shinjuku district ahead of grand opening Saturday, bringing its next-generation retail design to Japan for the first time.
iPhone screen supplier Japan Display needs cash injection to switch to OLEDs
One of Apple’s iPhone screen suppliers, Japan Display, may need an outside investor to help finance its shift to OLED tech.
Western Digital held talks with Apple regarding acquiring Toshiba’s chip business
Toshiba has narrowed the list of bidders for its memory chip business to Western Digital’s rivals. Unhappy with the outcome, Western Digital has complained to Toshiba.
Apple’s 2017 Back to School promo launches in Australia, New Zealand & Japan
Apple today kicked off its annual Back to School promotion across Australia, New Zealand and Japan. Advertised under the “Back to Uni” tagline, these deals offer students, teachers and university staff members an Apple Store credit in exchange for a qualified iMac, Mac Pro, MacBook/Air/Pro or iPad Pro purchase made from February 7 to March 16.
The promotion is combinable with educational pricing discounts on Macs, iPads and AppleCare products. Built-to-order Mac models qualify for these deals as well, but refurbished devices and lower-cost computers like Mac mini do not.
Google Translate’s augmented reality feature, Word Lens, now works with Japanese
In addition to updating the Popular Times feature in Google Maps for iPhone and iPad with real-time data, the search giant also issued another noteworthy update, this one concerning its dedicated Translate app on App Store. Bumped to version 5.5, the free download can now translate photos of signs, menus and similar items from Japanese to English, and vice versa. That’s because its augmented reality feature, called Word Lens, has been updated to recognize Japanese content on photos and video.
iPhone 7 and Apple Watch Series 2 support QZSS, Japanese GPS-like positioning system
Apple has refreshed technical specifications for iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus on its Japanese website to reflect that the latest handsets support Quasi Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), a Japanese GPS-like satellite positioning service nicknamed “Michibiki,” as first reported by the Japanese blog Mac Otakara.
Apple’s new Japanese ad shows off FeliCa support on iPhone 7
Apple today published a new commercial on its Japanese YouTube channel, titled ”Race”.
The 30-second television spot is all about iPhone 7, which in Japan comes with a special chip supporting Sony-developed FeliCa mobile payments technology.
With FeliCa support, folk in Japan can buy tickets via Apple Pay at terminals supporting Suica, QUICPay or iD. Apple Pay launched in Japan at the end of October 2016.
Apple screen supplier Japan Display could receive government bailout
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Apple supplier Japan Display could receive a bailout of around ¥75 billion ($703 million) from the government-backed fund Innovation Network Corp. of Japan (INCJ), which is its largest shareholder with a 36 percent share.
People familiar with the matter said that the display maker might receive new financing from INCJ through an issuance of subordinated bonds and may possibly get “additional support” from the fund.