Why do software/hardware sales in Japan matter to the rest of the world?

[Vicious Horizon]

I suppose it's due to the way that Japan seems to set the trend for the rest of the world, and that their buying habits are very similar to the rest of the Western world (USA, UK) but they do it much quicker, in much greater numbers as Japan is a very technologically conscious country, and there are more buyers in a short space of time in Japan,

It basically allows companies to analyse how well the product is going to do in the rest of the world.

[Colonel Mitch]

I suppose it's due to the way that Japan seems to set the trend for the rest of the world, and that their buying habits are very similar to the rest of the Western world (USA, UK) but they do it much quicker, in much greater numbers as Japan is a very technologically conscious country, and there are more buyers in a short space of time in Japan,

It basically allows companies to analyse how well the product is going to do in the rest of the world.

Well put sir.

I must say I wholeheartedly agree with everything you've said, however we havent really discussed the problem of pricing strategy in an already overloaded market.