How to bag Japan's beloved iDuck
Jim Connell wanted it all, and he wanted it small, but he just couldn't find it in the United States. An ultralight laptop is crucial to the frequent traveler, and so is the gear to connect to several flavors of wireless networks. He even called Sony to ask when he might buy a souped-up model with built-in connectors. The reply: "Not in the foreseeable future," says Connell, a New Hampshire publishing executive.
Not in U.S. stores, that is. Just such a version was already selling in Sony's home country of Japan, where consumers are more willing to pay top prices for the smallest gadgets with the latest ports and dongles. Bargain-loving Americans often don't get the best of Asia's products at all or have to wait months or years for their arrival. So Connell and others increasingly turn to importers who roam Nipponese electronics alleys to satisfy American geeks. "It's a bug that's hard to shake," says David Chien, a California computer specialist who often reaches halfway around the globe to scratch his itch for gadgets.
Dynamism.com is the best-known middleman. It has a rapidly evolving list of Asia's latest and greatest, including laptops so thin they could seemingly slice hard cheese. The company also offers cutting-edge digital cameras, cellphones, and hand-held PC s, like the half-pound Zaurus SL-Series PDA ($699 and up). Smaller than a magazine blow-in card, it adds a new twist: Swivel the screen up and around to unveil a wide keyboard. There are also gadgets with a bit of whimsy. The iDuck ($50 and up) is a memory card wrapped in a plastic duck that glows when plugged into a PC. The kitschy iDuck earns the derision of Dynamism's tech-savvy support staff, says founder Douglas Krone, but Americans love it. "There was a loud groan here when a new version recently came out," he says. "They knew the duck wasn't going away."
With a staff of about a dozen in Chicago and Tokyo, Dynamism has a reputation for delivering the most complete package, including the all-important English translations of software and manuals, a year's warranty, and lifetime support. A reputable competitor, japan-direct.com , has been around since 1997, about as long as Dynamism, but operates out of Japan without a U.S. office. In both cases, buyers pay a premium for the service and warranties. Dynamism, for example, usually adds 25 percent to the Japanese price.
New Yorkers can check out Japanese imports in person. Compact-impact.com sells dozens of items at 21 Avenue B on the Lower East Side and can order others. Most in-stock offerings are less serious tech, such as air purifiers or hand-held massagers that draw power from a laptop's universal serial bus port, along with the occasional, ultrasmall laptop.
The joy of tech superiority is tempered by problems unique to imports. Connell, for one, couldn't figure out how to type the "@" sign on his new Sony notebook PC until Dynamism's whizzes helped him load the proper keyboard software. Even with the coolest gadget in town, you still need to slog through the manual.
This story appears in the June 7, 2004 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.
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