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3G iPhone in Japan?

SaSaSushi said:
It looks like we may not have to wait in long lines on release day after all. ;)

Survey: 91% of Japanese don't want an iPhone

Interestingly, as I suggested above a major complaint among users seems to be the lack of a user-replaceable battery.
Click to expand...

Let's see, that's 9% of 122 million, which is about 11.4 million Japanese who want an iPhone. There are 7 Apple stores in Japan, and let's say there are 2000 Softbank stores in Japan (I have no idea). That would be 11.4 million divided by 2000 = 5,715 iPhone buyers per store. If there are only 200 Softbank stores in Japan instead of 2000, that's 57,150 iPhone buyers per store!

So, oh yeah, you WILL be waiting in lines alright.
 
SaSaSushi said:
It looks like we may not have to wait in long lines on release day after all. ;)

Survey: 91% of Japanese don't want an iPhone

Interestingly, as I suggested above a major complaint among users seems to be the lack of a user-replaceable battery.
Click to expand...

This is a stupid survey.

So, 9% of Japanese want an iPhone? As the previous posted said, that's a lot of people.

Also... this survey was conducted before the iPhone 3G was announced. So, it's a useless survey.

arn
 
MacbookSwitcher said:
Let's see, that's 9% of 122 million, which is about 11.4 million Japanese who want an iPhone. There are 7 Apple stores in Japan, and let's say there are 2000 Softbank stores in Japan (I have no idea). That would be 11.4 million divided by 2000 = 5,715 iPhone buyers per store. If there are only 200 Softbank stores in Japan instead of 2000, that's 57,150 iPhone buyers per store!

So, oh yeah, you WILL be waiting in lines alright.
Click to expand...
I'd say there are close to 2,000 Softbank stores in just Okinawa. I would guess close to 50,000 in all of Japan.
 
kdarling said:
A couple of days before the iPhone first went on sale, surveys showed that 15% of people 13-64 in the US wanted one. That's what, about 40 million people?

In reality, about 1% (3 million) actually got one and activated it on ATT.
Click to expand...

Assuming these ratios hold the same, that means about 1 million Japanese will be getting the iPhone over the next year. That's one out of every 127 Japanese people! Heck, almost every single Japanese I know here in Cali, to a person, has an iPhone.

So is the glass half full or half empty? Sheesh.
 
MacbookSwitcher said:
Assuming these ratios hold the same, that means about 1 million Japanese will be getting the iPhone over the next year. That's one out of every 127 Japanese people! Heck, almost every single Japanese I know here in Cali, to a person, has an iPhone.
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Yeah, those are huge numbers. As long as Softbank doesn't get too greedy with the tariffs, they've got a real winner here. (although they might actually want to keep prices a little high - I doubt their network would be able to support millions of data-using iPhones all of a sudden) ...
 
arn said:
Also... this survey was conducted before the iPhone 3G was announced. So, it's a useless survey.
Click to expand...

Not exactly. As the article explains the survey was conducted after Softbank announced the iPhone but 2 days before the official 3G iPhone announcement at WWDC.

TUAW should know that it would obviously skew the results if based only on the news of the $199 global pricepoint alone though.
 
The vast majority of Japanese are not generally early adopters of new things and don't fanatically wait outside shops in long lines, unless the product is very well established (e.g. the latest in a long line of a video game franchise such as Final Fantasy). I doubt the iPhone is going to be hard to get hold of unless Apple has serious supply shortages caused by the simultaneous worldwide launch. Buying an iPhone isn't as simple as just buying a new Nintendo DS. You have to consider the ongoing prices (new tariffs), the change of phone number, the new email address (if you're switching networks) and moving all your existing data to the new phone. It's a fairly important change of lifestyle that you don't just buy off the shelf.

Secondly, if you asked the Japanese population, would you like a new HDTV?, at least 1 in 10 are probably going to say yes, but it doesn't mean they're going to buy it anytime soon. In a group culture like Japan, people will start buying the iPhone in big numbers, once they've seen their friend or someone in their family has one.

I will certainly be getting one though. My boss has announced that he's going to give them to all the employees of our company. We we're considering Blackberries, but DoCoMo's Blackberry support has been woeful, so we're going to be getting iP3G's instead.
 
Snowshiro said:
I will certainly be getting one though. My boss has announced that he's going to give them to all the employees of our company. We we're considering Blackberries, but DoCoMo's Blackberry support has been woeful, so we're going to be getting iP3G's instead.
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Where do you work? I want a job! :p

Oh, and I hate you.
 
Has anybody heard anything yet from Softbank about pricing? I wonder why they're dragging their feet on this - surely they had pricing figured out MONTHS ago ... :confused:

I wish they'd let us know SOMETHING. :mad:
 
keirnna said:
I'd say there are close to 2,000 Softbank stores in just Okinawa. I would guess close to 50,000 in all of Japan.
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ha ha ha 2000 in Okinawa, eh? Let's see, and 50,000 stores in the all of Japan... Wow, that must be hell on the approximately 3,800 total full-time employees! I wonder how they manage... :p
 
BiginJapan said:
ha ha ha 2000 in Okinawa, eh? Let's see, and 50,000 stores in the all of Japan... Wow, that must be hell on the approximately 3,800 total full-time employees! I wonder how they manage... :p
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That number is a year old (6/22/2007). It's actually 4,900 full-timers now (Check their latest P.R. datasheet) and I imagine there are many more part-timers. ;) .

I could understand how he would feel that way. I counted 45 Softbank shops in Okinawa alone on the Softbank website. (I'm not about to count every prefecture manually, lol!) Here in the sticks of Shikoku it seems like there is one on every other block and there must be a few hundred shops at least. I can't even begin to imagine how many there must be in the Kanto and Kansai areas.
 
Well, Softbank has finally released pricing information - prepare to be ...

... pleasantly surprised. It's not quite as bad as most of us had thought ... ;)


http://iphone-japan.blogspot.com/2008/06/softbank-iphone-pricing.html

Key points:

8GB iPhone
Unsubsidized price: 69,120Y ($642USD)
After carrier discount: 23,040Y ($214USD)

16GB iPhone
Unsubsidized price: 80,640Y ($750USD)
After carrier discount: 34,560Y ($321USD)

Unlimited Data: 5,985Y ($40 less than they charge for other smartphones - way to go, Apple!)

Calling Plans: Same as other phones

So, it looks like we might not the shaft as badly as we thought - kudos to Apple for forcing a Japanese carrier to be somewhat reasonable in their pricing structure - this is a first for Japan, and certainly bodes well for other countries with overpriced mobile service (eg, Canada) ... :D
 
mavis said:
Well, Softbank has finally released pricing information - prepare to be ...

... pleasantly surprised. It's not quite as bad as most of us had thought ... ;)


http://iphone-japan.blogspot.com/2008/06/softbank-iphone-pricing.html

Key points:

8GB iPhone
Unsubsidized price: 69,120Y ($642USD)
After carrier discount: 23,040Y ($214USD)

16GB iPhone
Unsubsidized price: 80,640Y ($750USD)
After carrier discount: 34,560Y ($321USD)

Unlimited Data: 5,985Y ($40 less than they charge for other smartphones - way to go, Apple!)

Calling Plans: Same as other phones

So, it looks like we might not the shaft as badly as we thought - kudos to Apple for forcing a Japanese carrier to be somewhat reasonable in their pricing structure - this is a first for Japan, and certainly bodes well for other countries with overpriced mobile service (eg, Canada) ... :D
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info mavis. Man, that's confusing. Here's the monthly cost for simple folk like me:

8 GB:
980円 white plan + 5985円 unlimited data + 315円 basic pack + 960円 phone cost = 8240円/month

16 GB:
980円 white plan + 5985円 unlimited data + 315円 basic pack + 1440円 phone cost = 8720円/month

This of course changes if you have a plan other than the white plan. It also changes if you start calling non-softbank phones, then it's ¥42/minute for each call. Add in family plans, double white, blue plan, etc, and it gets even more hairy...


...and on a totally unrelated note, could someone PM me their recommendation for the best data card plan I could use with my Macbook Pro while in Japan? Would it be best to go with Softbank since I'd have an iPhone with them, or does DoCoMo have better data card plans? Thanks!
 
unlocked Japanese iPhone = Sprint iPhone for me?

I know this has been discussed in the past, but does anyone know if the iPhone 3G that is being released in Japan will be usable on the Sprint network in the US? (Assuming it can be unlocked.) I've read that Japan's CDMA network runs on a different frequency from America's, but I'm holding out (slim) hope that I could get an unlocked iPhone from Japan and use it on Sprint's network here. Related question: does Japan use something like EV-DO for data?
 
my apologies if this question has already been answered earlier in the thread, if it was i didn't see it...

i am looking for a firm answer that says the hardware is the same as a stateside iphone 3g as japanese iphone 3g and that there should be no problem swapping the phone onto the AT&T network after having used it in japan for x-years.

any info would be appreciated, and again my apologies if i am missing what right in front of my face.
 
Softbank strikes again!

Well, so much for reasonable pricing; if you're an existing Softbank customer, prepare to bend over and grab your ankles! :mad:

I just got off the phone with a Softbank customer service rep after inquiring about my account, and my upgrade eligibility. I am 12 months into a two year contract (actually a 27 month contract due to a bit of trickery on Softbank's part) ... My early termination fee will be $450! However, the fun doesn't stop there. Even though I will pay that ETF, I will not qualify for subsidized pricing on the iPhone, as I have not yet been a customer for the full 24 months. I was told that final pricing has not yet been decided, but for other phones, the subsidy in my situation is generally half of what it would be if I were a new customer. WTH??!!

So, to summarize: if you're an existing customer on a contract, you will have to pay a hefty ETF, but will still not qualify for new customer pricing on the iPhone, even though you'll sign a new 24 (actually, 27) month contract for it. The only way to get the 'new customer' pricing is to pay the exorbitant ETF and get a new phone number.

****ing crooks. Am I the only one that sees anything wrong with this picture?! :mad:
 
Calm down. It's been that way on every network, in every country since mobile phones were invented. Companies always give much much better incentives for new customers switching to their network than for existing customers, even if you're taking out a new contract. This is nothing specific to the iPhone or Softbank.
 
mavis said:
Even though I will pay that ETF, I will not qualify for subsidized pricing on the iPhone, as I have not yet been a customer for the full 24 months. I was told that final pricing has not yet been decided, but for other phones, the subsidy in my situation is generally half of what it would be if I were a new customer. WTH??!!
Click to expand...

Yeah, this was the showstopper for me too. Being a 7 year customer of Softbank now I have very big accrued discounts and I am not about to cancel and resubscribe and lose all that for ANY phone, even an iPhone.

So if I want to switch to the iPhone in January, 2009 when I am eligible to switch models again I would have to pay the ridiculous unsubsidized price which is more like 3 times the 23,040 yen one offered to new customers.

Guess I'm getting an iPod Touch and sticking with my current phone after all. :(
 
Snowshiro said:
Calm down. It's been that way on every network, in every country since mobile phones were invented. Companies always give much much better incentives for new customers switching to their network than for existing customers, even if you're taking out a new contract. This is nothing specific to the iPhone or Softbank.
Click to expand...
I'm sorry, but you have no idea what you're talking about. ;)

I worked for US West/AirTouch Cellular/Verizon Wireless for many years back in the States, and I know for a fact that American carriers do not force customers to cancel service and re-subscribe to get discounts on new equipment. In fact, sales associates who encourage customers to do this can lose their jobs over it - it's called "churn" and it's not a good thing. Most companies simply require customers to pay an ETF to complete their existing contract, and then sign a contract extension to take advantage of any subsidies they are currently offering. If you need proof of this, simply read through the forums about AT&T's upgrade policy. It should clear things up for you.

For Softbank to force customers in good standing to not only pay a huge ETF but also to completely cancel their service and then re-subscribe is very strange, and quite frankly, ridiculous. Hence the anger.
 
isoS said:
I know this has been discussed in the past, but does anyone know if the iPhone 3G that is being released in Japan will be usable on the Sprint network in the US? (Assuming it can be unlocked.) I've read that Japan's CDMA network runs on a different frequency from America's, but I'm holding out (slim) hope that I could get an unlocked iPhone from Japan and use it on Sprint's network here. Related question: does Japan use something like EV-DO for data?
Click to expand...

Nope, the iPhone uses the same hardware worldwide.

Anyway, like the US, Japan has both "CDMA"(CDMA2000-like Sprint/Verizon) and UMTS (W-CDMA--like ATT/T-mobile). Here the iPhone will be available from Softbank, which runs a UMTS network.
 
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