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3G iPhone in Japan?

Apple's Japan Site Features iPhone 3GS

Well, the new 3GS is already up on Apple's Japanese site. MMS is shown as a feature. Any word on whether Softbank will allow it on both the new and now old models? How will they implement it? Old ne.jp addresses back? Migrate i.softbank.jp from IMAP to MMS?

Or, more likely, do nothing and keep the half *** status quo?
 
Softbank Japan suck.

I see American's complaining at how bad their AT&T service is, but living in Tokyo I am consistently surprised by how Softbank do their best to ruin the iPhone here.

Now, we see no mention of 'Japan' on any of the WWDC slides and only rumours of a June 26th release.

Surely, this can only be Softbank's fault?

I just went to the Roppongi Softbank store and a fully bi-lingual member of staff apologised and said officially they know 'NOTHING'. No release date, prices, specifics about mail addresses, MMS...

All we do know so far, is that Softbank are listed on the MMS slide, but not on the tethering slide.

Yappari na-

I hate Softbank and how they have taken an entire year to NOT learn from their mistakes with the original 3G launch in Japan.

If they deliever tethering, full emoji support, email addresses that are fully imap, not blocked by AU, Docomo etc AND at a fair price, I will happily eat my words and get on with enjoying my phone.

If anyone at Apple ever reads this, Softbank are making you look like a dumb american cellphone maker (motorola?) and you should do your damndest to jump ship to Docomo or Au.

Anyone disagree?
 
fender101 said:
Now, we see no mention of 'Japan' on any of the WWDC slides and only rumours of a June 26th release.
Click to expand...
If you go to 02:00:40 of the WWDC keynote speech video, you will see Japan listed for June 26th (screenshot attached below).

fender101 said:
I just went to the Roppongi Softbank store and a fully bi-lingual member of staff apologised and said officially they know 'NOTHING'. No release date, prices, specifics about mail addresses, MMS...
Click to expand...
I stopped into a Yokohama Softbank outlet this morning, and the sales guy desperately tried to push the current 3G with the "iPhone for everybody" zero yen plan. I asked when the 3G S would be released and he said all he knew (or could say) was that US etc. was June 19th, and "some" other countries after that. I expect we'll hear something official from Softbank quite soon.

fender101 said:
All we do know so far, is that Softbank are listed on the MMS slide, but not on the tethering slide.
Click to expand...
It would be great to have tethering included in the current data plan rates, but I wouldn't keep my fingers crossed.
 

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CanuckInJapan said:
If you go to 02:00:40 of the WWDC keynote speech video, you will see Japan listed for June 26th (screenshot attached below).


Good work!

I hadn't had a chance to watch the full video yet so was relying on gizmodo's live blog photos.

Hopefully we'll have pricing details shortly, Softbank have probably put their part-time / temp staff to work on the 3GS launch plan by now...
Click to expand...
 
Hey guys, sorry to hijack, but what are Softbank's iPhone plans/rates like? I'm going to attend uni in Tokyo in three or so months and am considering purchasing an iPhone.
 
To quickly summarize:

On Thursday, June 18th along with the release of the iPhone 3.0 software you will be able to use the MMS service.

MMS service, exactly like S! Mail is a service that allows you to send/receive mail to/from telephone numbers and e-mail addresses. Since it is included in the S Basic service you are already using you don't need to do any special procedures.

For more details access the home page on or after June 18th.

Then it says if you have any questions contact:

iPhone Technical Support Center
Tel: 0800-2223-151 (Free Dial: Weekdays 9AM-7PM, Weekends/Holidays 9AM-5PM)
 
SaSaSushi said:
To quickly summarize:

On Thursday, June 18th along with the release of the iPhone 3.0 software you will be able to use the MMS service.

MMS service, exactly like S! Mail is a service that allows you to send/receive mail to/from telephone numbers and e-mail addresses. Since it is included in the S Basic service you are already using you don't need to do any special procedures.

For more details access the home page on or after June 18th.

Then it says if you have any questions contact:

iPhone Technical Support Center
Tel: 0800-2223-151 (Free Dial: Weekdays 9AM-7PM, Weekends/Holidays 9AM-5PM)
Click to expand...

Cool, thanks a lot. :D I hope they give us a new MMS email address or migrate the i.softbank.jp one.
 
leonstafford said:
A video showing some dork playing with iPhone OS 3 beta "demoing" tethering on Softwank network.

What would have been a more exciting demo is if the guy had actually been able to tether the device and show the laptop using the net :p
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It doesn't mean anything --- you can all tether with the beta, it is just a pricing issue.

Americans are well aware that all the American carriers (whether it's AT&T or Verizon) have tethering plans on smartphones that cost about $30 a month. AT&T hasn't announced iphone tethering because they are still pricing it.

Meanwhile, the people from those 22 carriers who saw their carriers supporting tethering are now beginning to realize that it would cost them extra money to get this "feature". Brits are in full riots over this.

http://forum.o2.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=20313
http://forum.o2.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=20453
http://forum.o2.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=20377

You are going to get mad either way. If your carrier is not on the slide, you get mad for lack of support. If you carrier is on the slide, you get mad for the extra price.
 
Since we're getting the MMS support on June 18th, does that also mean the 3.0 update is coming out the same day? Just wondering when crank up my old and incredibly slow PC to update my phone.
 
Gokunama said:
Since we're getting the MMS support on June 18th, does that also mean the 3.0 update is coming out the same day? Just wondering when crank up my old and incredibly slow PC to update my phone.
Click to expand...

Yes -- the 3.0 update release is scheduled for June 17th California time, which will be June 18th here in Japan.
 
gotta wait 'n see...

samab said:
You are going to get mad either way. If your carrier is not on the slide, you get mad for lack of support. If you carrier is on the slide, you get mad for the extra price.
Click to expand...

Good summary of the situation.

I imagine that Softbank will see how AT&T handles tethering. Altho MMS seems like something that will be widely popular in Japan, they may figure that ('legitimate') tethering is something only a handful of nerds will want--and will fork over two or three thousand yen extra (or more?!) a month for. And that low-budget/student nerds will jailbreak anyway.

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem that DoCoMo/Au offers a similar service and thus some price competition. e-Mobile seems to have some interesting, reasonably priced solutions, if you can resist the gee-whiz allure of the iPhone...
 
Apple Japan site: Tethering

On its page describing new features of 3G S (not 3.0 software), Apple Japan has this little blurb about tethering (basically says can connect either Win or Mac to Internet thru iPhone). (http://www.apple.com/jp/iphone/iphone-3g-s/)

Seems like posting info on this feature implies some kind of support by Softbank. (But who knows how well Apple Japan and Softbank coordinate?)
 

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PhixionFilms said:
This is GREAT news if its real.
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Agreed!! It would be very cool if Softbank were to offer tethering, cause with recent concerns over bandwidth (they're currently conducting bandwidth limitation testing), I wouldn't want to pay for a servce that's being crippled.

If that's the case, I'd rather just jail break and get the service for free.
 
I found this article online. After putting it through Google translate, I'm still a little confused about whether MMS for iPhone will use xxx@softbank.ne.jp or xxx@i.softbank.jp . Can we keep the POP address too? Or will it be switched to MMS?

Would a Japanese speaker translate the last paragraph? I'm sorry, my Japanese is at beginner level :(

「iPhone OS 3.0」でS！メールが利用可能に——ソフトバンク、MMSのサポートを表明
6月11日11時42分配信 ＋D Mobile
　ソフトバンクモバイルはこのほど、日本時間6月18日に配信されるiPhone OS の最新版「iPhone OS 3.0」においてMMS（S！メール）送受信をサポートすることを明らかにした。

　iPhoneは現在、電話番号を使って短い文章を送受信するSMSとPOP／SMTPを利用するメールの2種類に対応。米Appleは3月17日（現地時間）に行った報道関係者向けの説明会において、MMSについてはiPhone OS 3.0で対応することを公表していたが、実際にMMSを提供するかどうかは各国の通信キャリアの判断に委ねられていた。

　今回ソフトバンクモバイルがMMS（S！メール）のサポートを表明したことで、iPhone 3GやiPhone 3G Sを使って写真や連絡先、音楽ファイル、現在地情報などをプッシュメールとして送受信できるようになる。なお、MMS（S！メール）の利用はS！ベーシック（i）のサービス内容に含まれるため手続きは不要だという。

　アドレスについてはS！メールと同じく「xxxxx@softbank.ne.jp」が使われる予定。また、iPhone専用として提供されている「xxxxx@i.softbank.jp」とどのように使い分けられるかや、送受信できる最大サイズなどについては、6月18日以降に案内するとしている。
Click to expand...
 
thewhitehart said:
I found this article online. After putting it through Google translate, I'm still a little confused about whether MMS for iPhone will use xxx@softbank.ne.jp or xxx@i.softbank.jp . Can we keep the POP address too? Or will it be switched to MMS?

Would a Japanese speaker translate the last paragraph? I'm sorry, my Japanese is at beginner level :(
Click to expand...

Sounds like they are planning to switch us over to softbank.ne.jp, but they're not quite sure what will happen with i.softbank.jp. They'll provide more info on the 18th.

I personally don't care so much about mms... Seems like all the carriers had just figured out how to incorporate the i.softbank mail address. Could anyone share the benefits of mms? I'd appreciate it!
 
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