Off-line maps for Japan. Where is it?

[Roderick Aspiras]

Hi! I have been frequently travelling to Japan and Japan being one of the biggest market of Microsoft, there is ZERO Windows Phone here? What the heck Microsoft? I brought my own Nokia Lumia 620 here and it works fine but I cannot use HERE maps efficiently because I cannot download an off-line version of the map.
Wake up guys this is unforgivable.

 

[foxbat121]

That's more of a Nokia's Here Map problem than Microsoft's. And if there is zero Windows phone in Japan, how can it be MS's biggest market?

That being said, it is interesting that in Here Maps, there is no downloadable maps for Japan. There must be some local licensing issues prevented Nokia to offer this.

 

[Muessig]

Wow I just checked this and I cant find it here either. Might be worth getting in contact with Microsoft/Nokia about this.

 

[Huime]

You should wake up. Japan is all about iphone and Japanese make, but now some Samsung. MS is never big in japan apart from cooperate software and Windows. Nokia Maps too had been excluding Japan since it launch on WP.

 

[Roderick Aspiras]

Microsoft is huge here in Japan. 99% of Japanese use Microsoft Office and Windows in their home and corporate environment. I know because I am here. Japanese are Excel crazy people and they are very good at Excel. They have used Excel so good that an Excel person outside Japan will be a new comer if you see what they have done and created out of Excel. Google is not big here but Yahoo is. In terms of mobile phone Microsoft is non-existent. Japanese brand still dominates Japan - those clam shell type phones are still popular but smartphones like iPhone and Android are gaining ground. iPhone is very popular to Japanese women. I think its partly Microsoft because they should know that Here does not offer good mapping here in Japan. The last Windows phone I saw was Windows 7 from Sharp but that was like a year ago and now its is gone. Some of my Japanese office mates wants Windows 8 phone when they see my Lumia 620 but sadly they cannot buy one.

 

[ag1986]

It's a licensing issue. Google Maps doesn't allow offline caching here as well. On the other hand, the level of detail and accuracy of public transit (JR/Tokyo Metro as far as I saw) are absolutely amazing.

 

[Huime]

Microsoft is huge here in Japan. 99% of Japanese use Microsoft Office and Windows in their home and corporate environment. I know because I am here. Japanese are Excel crazy people and they are very good at Excel. They have used Excel so good that an Excel person outside Japan will be a new comer if you see what they have done and created out of Excel. Google is not big here but Yahoo is. In terms of mobile phone Microsoft is non-existent. Japanese brand still dominates Japan - those clam shell type phones are still popular but smartphones like iPhone and Android are gaining ground. iPhone is very popular to Japanese women. I think its partly Microsoft because they should know that Here does not offer good mapping here in Japan. The last Windows phone I saw was Windows 7 from Sharp but that was like a year ago and now its is gone. Some of my Japanese office mates wants Windows 8 phone when they see my Lumia 620 but sadly they cannot buy one.

...
which is why I said other than cooperate solution MS is almost non existence in Japan...
Google is big in terms of an service importer, and Yahoo had been localized for more than a decade...

 

[Mark Frank]

I have been living in Tokyo since 2007. The iPhone is 34% of the market here making it one of the most popular phones. Only old people have the clam shell phones, at least in Tokyo. Microsoft didn't push hard when they had the Windows 7.5 here and was only available at AU. They didn't market it well and very few people knew about it. They have been talking about releasing the Windows Phone 8 here but the market is very difficult so they are probably preparing now that they recently bought Nokia.

As far as Microsoft being huge, anyplace that uses a computer is Windows and Office, which is anywhere in the world. People only use Macs at work in movies or for design/creative work.

 

[Mark Frank]

iOS vs. Android vs. Windows Phone Market Share in Japan and France: Google Mobile OS No. 1; Microsoft (MSFT) Windows Phone Gaining iOS : Tech : Latinos Post

Actually I double checked, as of August this year iOS is 47% and Android is 48%

 

[el mentor]

But there is a little emergency solution for offline Japan maps.
i found an app : GPS Map+ for my Lumia 920
you can download the area that you expect you will use with a wifi connection, by just drag the map to locations that you want in your memory.
you can safe places to a favourites folder,
that was all i needed, to see where i walk and where i go . with the GPS point moving while walking around .
probably there is a lot more possible with this app , but i haven't checked that out yet.
i was really happy to find this out , and it had helped me while i was lost somewhere and find my way back in the good direction.
so far i think this is your best way to go for now in japan with offline GPS maps!