iPhone and Pinyin

[mikelove]

So I tried out an iPhone in the local Apple store today, and after a little while I came to what in hindsight should have been a rather obvious realization: the iPhone's keyboard would be almost completely useless for Pinyin input.

For those of you who haven't been following the iPhone much, instead of a hardware keyboard or a handwriting pad the iPhone uses an onscreen thumb keyboard; it doesn't even ship with a stylus, you're just expected to tap on the screen with your thumbs and compose text that way. This naturally leads to a lot of mistakes, since there's no tactile feedback and you never know exactly where your finger is going to hit the screen; you frequently end up hitting one of the letters next to the one you actually intended to type. Apple's solution to this was to add some slick AI which looks at misspelled words and guesses what you were actually trying to type based on other words which use similar combinations / patterns of letters.

For English, with its long words and vast numbers of potential syllables, this is actually a decent fix: you still run into occasional problems with really short words ("do," "go," ho," "no," "so," "to," and "yo" for example are all way too easy to confuse) but for longer words it comes up with the correct result most of the time. But with Pinyin it would be next-to-impossible for it to catch mistakes like this; by my count there are 16 different two-letter Pinyin syllables that end in 'a', so if you're off by a letter you'll almost certainly end up hitting another valid one, and even for longer syllables there'll generally be half a dozen other syllables which are identical except for one letter.

Hence I think Apple's going to need to come up with another method for text input if they ever want to market the iPhone in China. Other standard Chinese keyboards like Zhuyin are probably a no-go, since for the sake of touch-typing speed they tend to cluster initials on one side of the keyboard and finals on the other (thus again making it very easy to hit another valid syllable by mistake), so the best guess I can come up with is that they'll end up using an onscreen 3x4 number pad instead; Chinese cell users are already very familiar with how to enter text on these and can do so pretty quickly, and it seems highly doubtful that any other touchscreen-based method would do a better job.

Can anyone else think of a better workaround? If they can't come up with better text input than a regular phone keypad they're going to have a tough time competing with other smartphones - the prospects for the iPhone in China were already less-than-stellar between the high price, the absence of third-party software and the lack of a local iTunes Music Store (or of sufficient public interest in paid music downloads to justify launching one), but if it's no better for SMSing than a 200 kuai Nokia they're probably better off staying out of China altogether.

[Senzhi]

Is the iPod a succes in China? Then you know the answer about the iPhone.

Apple has no focus on China. Even though they offer their products here, they do know their pricing is too high for the average consumer.

Apple does use the same strategy as IBM: they don't go where the market is very volatile (except for B-to-B selling). And they definitely don't want to compete on pricing, though only on quality.

So to answer you question: Pinyin input will not be really a priority. In fact, Asia is the last market to be scheduled for the iPhone, presumably somewhere in the middle of 2008. Apple also knows that Nokia is king here, together with the local brands.

Let's see first how well the i-Phone does in the U.S., for I also find the pricing there too steep. Particulary the extra cost of having to go with an Apple choice of (expensive) network might put a lot of people off. This together with a low memory availability.

The design, as with all Apple products, seems cool though.

[highlander Iain]

I'm planning to head over to China soon and I'll be looking out for this rather than the iphone...

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/like-the-iphone/meizu-minione-specs-revealed-its-actually-got-some-juice-261388.php

[gato]

the best guess I can come up with is that they'll end up using an onscreen 3x4 number pad instead;

Yes, because pinyin for each characters tends to very short, a 3x4 pad with phrase entry and a good prediction algorithm can be very fast. I can probably type just as fast in Chinese on 3x4 pad as I can English on a QWERTY Treo keyboard. Of course, on a QWERTY, Chinese entry can be even faster.

They should probably add handwriting recognition for the Chinese market, as well. Maybe their touch screen is good enough that you can write with your fingers.

Is the iPod a succes in China?

I see a lot of people with the iPod Shuffle in the Shanghai subways. It may be at a price that the Chinese market can accept. The iPod ads here seem to be predominantly for the Shuffle. I've seen articles to the effect that there 50 million Chinese in the mainland who can be considered middle class (monthly income of 10,000 yuan or more). These people are the target market for most imported Western goods.

[venture160]

Apple is obviously focused elsewhere, but they are looking to build an official apple store in Beijing and Shanghai sometime within the next 2 years, on top of an executive briefing center that is being built as we speak in Beijing. Don't look for any big news over the next year.

[cdn_in_bj]

the prospects for the iPhone in China were already less-than-stellar between the high price

I disagree that the price will be that big of a factor. When it goes on sale here in 2008, even if the prices stay the same as the initial US launch prices, I think it will do very well considering what people pay here for high-end phones.

Consider the N70 and N73, from my observations the two most popular newer phones in Beijing. The N70, when launched, sold for over 7000 RMB here and over the course of a year dropped to the 4000 RMB range, and now has stabilized at 2000 RMB. The N73 started off lower but was still not cheap. It is now selling for 3000 RMB. Couple that with a strong demand for music phones, as demonstrated by the popularity of the Sony Walkman phones.

The middle class (as mentioned by gato) is going to scoop it right up. They just love their gadgets (mp3, mp4, dv, dc, etc.).

I think the bigger factor is if Nokia/Samsung/Sony are able to come up with an alternative by that time.

An interesting question is, will we have 3G here by that time (as 'they' keep promising), and if so, what standard?

[gato]

A video of someone typing on the iPhone. Doesn't look half bad.

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=323682

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKfhxMpEGpM

Fast iPhone typing

[laoren]

An online pinyin input method is available now

http://guohongtao.googlepages.com/vk.html

Before the officaial Chinese version iphone come out, it is a optional to input Chinese.

I think Apple will use handwriting recognition for the Chinese market rather pinyin.

[mmarketing]

wow i have never heard of the meizu before but it looks amazing! although i think 3 or 4g technology would be much better than edge. ..

[Prodigal Son]

How does pinyin input on the iPhone come into discussion before the iPhone even works on unapproved cellular networks?

Also, the Meizu has been delayed until next year and the price was recently raised, so its prospects aren't looking as good as they were when there was virtually no hard information available on it. The Meizu MP3 players are great though, I have an M6 which is better than the Nano which I had previously, so they're capable of making a high quality product.