Counterpoint: iPhone is huge in Japan and led a minor revolution in phones here (prior to iPhone non-Japanese phones were unheard of here). Now you can't even get proper directions to some of the largest train stations, including the busiest one, Shinjuku. I don't know how it is in the States, but in Japan this isn't a regression or an inconvenience, it's a total removal of a heavily used feature. I can't think of a better way Apple could have fucked up the experience for Japanese users.
And they were doing so well here, too.