Touch Japanese Launch not going well

murg · 07-25-2012, 04:17 AM

It looks like the Japanese launch is not going well.

And for exactly the same reasons that we're all (well, most of us) having: problems with the 2.0 software like Desktop not working, device not working and poor customer service.

Rakuten has removed ALL of the reviews of the Touch from their site. This is generally the action of an unhappy company.

http://www.the-digital-reader.com/20...ws/#more-36884

The cached Google page, translated: http://www.microsofttranslator.com/b...&hl=en&ct=clnk

MisterMax · 07-25-2012, 02:52 PM

That's sad...

volpo · 07-25-2012, 03:00 PM

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" and nobody at Kobo can say they didn't know that there were problems with their method.

Danger · 07-25-2012, 07:28 PM

I love this review...

Quote:

...Unfortunately reading revolution seems only to fail. Mastermind of the revolution would be beheaded or imprisoned?

murg · 07-25-2012, 08:12 PM

Yeah, reading the pages translated from Japanese is really weird.

GvilleBridge · 07-25-2012, 08:49 PM

I examined some of the complaints of first Japanese buyers of the KT, but it is very difficult to tell exactly what the problems were and what Rakuten is planning, largely because of the strangeness of the Microsoft and Google translations from Japanese.

For example, from the Rakuten official's statement translated from http://www.itmedia.co.jp/news/articl...5/news106.html (apparently includes some user complaints): "...Executive officer in charge of apology is 'not sorry'...Field review of the site to the terminal direct criticism of Rakuten been flooded, the state had burst into flames...A series of problems is why what happened...Welcome to you also who has been challenged many times activation, had been a waste of time without work..."

From user complaints translated at http://www.microsofttranslator.com/b...&hl=en&ct=clnk

--"I don't know this is a defective product or specification, missing the pretty face turned off for now other than profit."

--"Price and assortment of stores, poor poor aching mackerel, no site making themselves too hard to use, can be admired there. Unfortunately reading revolution seems only to fail. Mastermind of the revolution would be beheaded or imprisoned?"

--"Buy first stumble stumbled of opening the box. EBook hard to isolate a box too good in this opening is?...Also many glitches (and fix the future of thing) but seems there obviates the Rakuten charm just the kobo home present such glitches need things that with courage, sincerity... The outspoken amazlet hoping to go to ripen in the farm UP in the future."

--"Grubbed I tried to read a watch (laughs) after starting the body, pre-installation of Aozora Bunko and flip through...Can be recommended for those seeking support to Rakuten, tulips."

--"Arrived on the first day, and certainly is to review for you guys to use eh was thought at first, a few days later, so-so like Hmong? 'as I've conveniently. Or content to enhance how long after that that is all. I hope thank you. He expected more of the Kindle better but, honestly."

But all was not bizarre and negative:

--"Well, try a little more."

There were several pages of comments at the Rakuten site but the company has taken them down (one will see the notice attached here).

Basically, I don't now know whether to laugh or weep. Well, Rakuten and Kobo, try a little more!

nila · 07-26-2012, 07:19 PM

Launching when they know they are in the middle of having serious firmware issues just seems like an incredibly stupid move to me.

Despite all the bugs reported on this site, I LOVE my Kobo Touch and am SOOO glad I bought it.
I really think this site at the moment is making the Touch sound FAR worse than it is. Everyone is complaining about everything whereas in actual fact, its a good, simple, stable reader overall that is just going through a rough patch right now.

hidari · 07-26-2012, 07:35 PM

Well hopefully it will do well in Japan, as an avid eink reader I would like to see more of the devices on the street..but alas none of the companies has done enough to really market the ereader well, supply a huge selection of ebooks, for example 300,000, and for the life of me; they have not targeted the Manga market which is HUGE in Japan. On top of that, Manga is mostly in Black and white so no need to compete with tablets....

ozero_rgfx · 07-27-2012, 12:36 AM

A blogger in Japan summarizes that.

J->E Translated with Excite:
http://goo.gl/V3pM3
Original:
http://d.hatena.ne.jp/JavaBlack/20120727/p1

and what i know is:

- The Installation failure of Kobo desktop client on windows, when users uses multibyte chars for thier username. (It was fixed on current version.)

- Rakuten started to accepting activetions of devices from 15:00. That was bad enough timing to cause load spike on their activation server/insrastructure. Then, almost all of users can't activate their OWN KTs, even reading DRM-less EPUBs.
Rakuten should have accept from 06:00AM or 03:00, the time of lesser active networkers.

- Book search engine/indexing in Rakuten book store does NOT care about CJKs.
Japanese text was not devided with spaces. So search engine needs morphological analysis such as n-gram, and tuning of them for effective indexing.
More to worth, it can't specify contents language in search query. Then, the result was flooded with English contents.

- Search result of books doesn't show volume number for series of books.
ex: All of "Shingeki no Kyojin vol.1","Shingeki no Kyojin vol.2" ... and " ..Vol.10" are just shown as "Shingeki no Kyojin". Compare cover picture with amazon. LOL

- Lacking description for limitation, such as "You can't select text on book that bought from Rakuten."

- Firmware was buggy. Forgets wifi setting. Reboots on reading books. Stalls on scanning contents.

eh.. Rakuten must have not hired enough personnel for releasing Hardware, Localization of contents, and not able to eat their own dogfood for inmature firmware, services, shortage of span.

Yes, I love KT for affordable price on auction(about $70) for DRM-less EPUB/PDF reader ... and non-protected firmware.

Rakuten, keep hard work.

murg · 07-27-2012, 05:47 AM

I couldn't get the Excite link to translate, here's the Bing version: http://www.microsofttranslator.com/b...ck/20120727/p1

That forum makes MobileRead look like a love-fest!

DrNefario · 07-27-2012, 08:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nila

Launching when they know they are in the middle of having serious firmware issues just seems like an incredibly stupid move to me.

I'd guess the new firmware was mainly intended for the Japanese launch.

the.Mtn.Man · 07-27-2012, 08:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nila

I really think this site at the moment is making the Touch sound FAR worse than it is. Everyone is complaining about everything whereas in actual fact, its a good, simple, stable reader overall that is just going through a rough patch right now.

I agree. Negativity seems to be the native language of the internet, though I suppose it's just human nature. As the old marketing rule says, a customer who has a good experience will tell one person, while a customer who has a bad experience will tell ten people.

Danger · 07-27-2012, 09:06 AM

All I can say is yup, make us look really gracious and nice over here

...

Quote:

It is a sense of "not enough" feel to the whole:

Not enough time
Technology is not enough
Not enough test
Talent is not enough
Understanding of the management is not enough. Strategy is not enough

lar3ry · 07-27-2012, 01:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nila

Launching when they know they are in the middle of having serious firmware issues just seems like an incredibly stupid move to me.

I agree! Did they really think the result would be different?

Quote:

Despite all the bugs reported on this site, I LOVE my Kobo Touch and am SOOO glad I bought it.

Another pont of agreement. I would read very little without it. Paper books are just way too awkward.

Quote:

I really think this site at the moment is making the Touch sound FAR worse than it is. Everyone is complaining about everything whereas in actual fact, its a good, simple, stable reader overall that is just going through a rough patch right now.

Well, here's where we disagree. I don't think we (the collective 'we' on this site) are making it sound worse than it is. Yes, it's a good, simple, stable, reader, but not, apparently, when it is running the most recent upgrade, or at least for many folks. I don't see nearly as many folks complaining about previous releases, and I don't see many saying it's not a good reader.

I find it good, stable, and simple, while running 1.9.17, and a LOT more user-friendly when running that release with the plugin to get the advertising off the front page.

Valid complaints about problems are not 'negativity', and neither are valid complaints about the company.

For a mind-boggling example of the latter, have a look on http://www.getsatisfaction.com and see the response to user "Andrew". He asked when an upgrade might be out for his Kobo WiFi, and the response asked him to open a ticket! Unbelievable!

Jaden · 07-27-2012, 03:54 PM

Well... just as I thought... If you want to sell well in Japan you have to aim for perfection. And the current Kobo Touch firmware is not perfect at all.

Hope they will strive to resolve the problems very soon and will stop to release "half-cooked" firmware...

Fix bugs first, release a stable version, then (if you must) add new features (marketing tools like all that Facebook and Discover stuff...).

07-25-2012, 04:17 AM	#1
murg No Comment Posts: 3,238 Karma: 23878043 Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Australia Device: Kobo: Not just an eReader, it's an adventure!	Japanese Launch not going well It looks like the Japanese launch is not going well. And for exactly the same reasons that we're all (well, most of us) having: problems with the 2.0 software like Desktop not working, device not working and poor customer service. Rakuten has removed ALL of the reviews of the Touch from their site. This is generally the action of an unhappy company. http://www.the-digital-reader.com/20...ws/#more-36884 The cached Google page, translated: http://www.microsofttranslator.com/b...&hl=en&ct=clnk Last edited by murg; 07-25-2012 at 04:23 AM.

07-25-2012, 08:49 PM	#6
GvilleBridge Connoisseur Posts: 73 Karma: 121348 Join Date: Aug 2011 Device: Kobo Touch, Nook Tablet	"Poor poor aching mackerel" I examined some of the complaints of first Japanese buyers of the KT, but it is very difficult to tell exactly what the problems were and what Rakuten is planning, largely because of the strangeness of the Microsoft and Google translations from Japanese. For example, from the Rakuten official's statement translated from http://www.itmedia.co.jp/news/articl...5/news106.html (apparently includes some user complaints): "...Executive officer in charge of apology is 'not sorry'...Field review of the site to the terminal direct criticism of Rakuten been flooded, the state had burst into flames...A series of problems is why what happened...Welcome to you also who has been challenged many times activation, had been a waste of time without work..." From user complaints translated at http://www.microsofttranslator.com/b...&hl=en&ct=clnk --"I don't know this is a defective product or specification, missing the pretty face turned off for now other than profit." --"Price and assortment of stores, poor poor aching mackerel, no site making themselves too hard to use, can be admired there. Unfortunately reading revolution seems only to fail. Mastermind of the revolution would be beheaded or imprisoned?" --"Buy first stumble stumbled of opening the box. EBook hard to isolate a box too good in this opening is?...Also many glitches (and fix the future of thing) but seems there obviates the Rakuten charm just the kobo home present such glitches need things that with courage, sincerity... The outspoken amazlet hoping to go to ripen in the farm UP in the future." --"Grubbed I tried to read a watch (laughs) after starting the body, pre-installation of Aozora Bunko and flip through...Can be recommended for those seeking support to Rakuten, tulips." --"Arrived on the first day, and certainly is to review for you guys to use eh was thought at first, a few days later, so-so like Hmong? 'as I've conveniently. Or content to enhance how long after that that is all. I hope thank you. He expected more of the Kindle better but, honestly." But all was not bizarre and negative: --"Well, try a little more." There were several pages of comments at the Rakuten site but the company has taken them down (one will see the notice attached here). Basically, I don't now know whether to laugh or weep. Well, Rakuten and Kobo, try a little more! Attached Thumbnails

07-27-2012, 12:36 AM	#9
ozero_rgfx Junior Member Posts: 1 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Osaka, Japan Device: Kobo Touch	What gone wrong with Rakuten. A blogger in Japan summarizes that. J->E Translated with Excite: http://goo.gl/V3pM3 Original: http://d.hatena.ne.jp/JavaBlack/20120727/p1 and what i know is: - The Installation failure of Kobo desktop client on windows, when users uses multibyte chars for thier username. (It was fixed on current version.) - Rakuten started to accepting activetions of devices from 15:00. That was bad enough timing to cause load spike on their activation server/insrastructure. Then, almost all of users can't activate their OWN KTs, even reading DRM-less EPUBs. Rakuten should have accept from 06:00AM or 03:00, the time of lesser active networkers. - Book search engine/indexing in Rakuten book store does NOT care about CJKs. Japanese text was not devided with spaces. So search engine needs morphological analysis such as n-gram, and tuning of them for effective indexing. More to worth, it can't specify contents language in search query. Then, the result was flooded with English contents. - Search result of books doesn't show volume number for series of books. ex: All of "Shingeki no Kyojin vol.1","Shingeki no Kyojin vol.2" ... and " ..Vol.10" are just shown as "Shingeki no Kyojin". Compare cover picture with amazon. LOL - Lacking description for limitation, such as "You can't select text on book that bought from Rakuten." - Firmware was buggy. Forgets wifi setting. Reboots on reading books. Stalls on scanning contents. eh.. Rakuten must have not hired enough personnel for releasing Hardware, Localization of contents, and not able to eat their own dogfood for inmature firmware, services, shortage of span. Yes, I love KT for affordable price on auction(about $70) for DRM-less EPUB/PDF reader ... and non-protected firmware. Rakuten, keep hard work.

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07-25-2012, 02:52 PM	#2
MisterMax Enthusiast Posts: 25 Karma: 7365 Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Italy Device: 2 Kobo Touch	That's sad...

07-25-2012, 03:00 PM	#3
volpo Addict Posts: 205 Karma: 2595216 Join Date: Aug 2011 Device: Clara 2E, Glo HD	"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" and nobody at Kobo can say they didn't know that there were problems with their method.

07-25-2012, 08:12 PM	#5
murg No Comment Posts: 3,238 Karma: 23878043 Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Australia Device: Kobo: Not just an eReader, it's an adventure!	Yeah, reading the pages translated from Japanese is really weird.

07-26-2012, 07:19 PM	#7
nila Member Posts: 21 Karma: 4952 Join Date: Jun 2012 Device: none	Launching when they know they are in the middle of having serious firmware issues just seems like an incredibly stupid move to me. Despite all the bugs reported on this site, I LOVE my Kobo Touch and am SOOO glad I bought it. I really think this site at the moment is making the Touch sound FAR worse than it is. Everyone is complaining about everything whereas in actual fact, its a good, simple, stable reader overall that is just going through a rough patch right now.

07-26-2012, 07:35 PM	#8
hidari MR Drone Posts: 1,613 Karma: 15612282 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: DRONEZONE Device: PB360+, Huawei MP5, Libra H20	Well hopefully it will do well in Japan, as an avid eink reader I would like to see more of the devices on the street..but alas none of the companies has done enough to really market the ereader well, supply a huge selection of ebooks, for example 300,000, and for the life of me; they have not targeted the Manga market which is HUGE in Japan. On top of that, Manga is mostly in Black and white so no need to compete with tablets....

07-27-2012, 05:47 AM	#10
murg No Comment Posts: 3,238 Karma: 23878043 Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Australia Device: Kobo: Not just an eReader, it's an adventure!	I couldn't get the Excite link to translate, here's the Bing version: http://www.microsofttranslator.com/b...ck/20120727/p1 That forum makes MobileRead look like a love-fest!

07-27-2012, 03:54 PM	#15
Jaden Evangelist Posts: 409 Karma: 1244354 Join Date: Jan 2012 Device: Kobo Touch	Well... just as I thought... If you want to sell well in Japan you have to aim for perfection. And the current Kobo Touch firmware is not perfect at all. Hope they will strive to resolve the problems very soon and will stop to release "half-cooked" firmware... Fix bugs first, release a stable version, then (if you must) add new features (marketing tools like all that Facebook and Discover stuff...).

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