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3G iPhone in Japan?

Snowshiro said:
Actually, I don't think it's a case of where you live. I think it's a case of where you lived before.

I'm assuming from your avatar that you're American. What you don't usually appreciate is that in America, practically everything is cheaper than most other developed countries. You've had it better than everyone else for years, and when you leave your own country you suddenly find out what it's like to live in the rest of the world. If you'd come from somewhere like the UK, you wouldn't find Japanese pricing particularly unusual. In fact in many respects it's often cheaper.
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You act as though it's by random undeserved chance that things are cheaper in the US. But really US prices are a strong argument against cartels, protectionism, controlled economies, and lack of competition. These are areas the US is strong in, thankfully, which is why prices are cheaper in the US.

But *sigh*, I'll be prepared to pay out the wazoo in Japan.
 
I think we all can agree that iPhone is expensive here, but what can we do?

Putting the price aside, I think there are several reason that might make me getting it in the end:

  1. True multilingual support - English support for Japanese phones are terrible, typing in it without predictive input is a pain.

  2. Full web browser - I have iPod Touch, and I can tell you this is as close as you can get to desktop browser on a mobile. It even have support for AJAX to boot. Now if only Apple can give Adobe the go to implement flash into it then it will be perfect.

  3. OSX Platform - Switching mobile has been always a pain, transferring contacts, application incompatible.. etc. But with a common platform this won't be a problem.

  4. Application - With the huge community behind this I can see all sort of useful application coming up. I have never been bored with my JB iPod Touch because there is always new application to play with (e.g. live video broadcast).

Yes, you can still get most of this with iPod Touch but most of the time I wish I have connectivity to the internet since most of the application I used need it. It is a pain trying to find free WiFi spot in Japan.

The GPS on iPhone is another seller as traveling in Tokyo without a map is really a pain. Since it uses Google Map(another good reason for always on connectivity) as its source, it should be free unlike those in Japanese mobile where you have to pay to use it.

After considering all those, I don't think the full retail price is all that bad.
 
xenohawk said:
After considering all those, I don't think the full retail price is all that bad.
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Well, it looks like AT&T may indeed be pulling the same crap on U.S. customers although the unsubsidized price looks like it might be a little less than double in the states (about 40,000 yen on the 8GB model) and not the 2.5 to 3 times Softbank will be gouging us for.
 
SaSaSushi said:
Well, it looks like AT&T may indeed be pulling the same crap on U.S. customers although the unsubsidized price looks like it might be a little less than double in the states (about 40,000 yen on the 8GB model) and not the 2.5 to 3 times Softbank will be gouging us for.
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Yeah, that is true unfortunately :(. Looks like our unsubsidized price is closer to the ones in UK than US.

By the way, is the Softbank early termination fee fixed at $450 or varies according to how many months left in your contract? How does that work? It is not like we are leaving them completely. :confused:
 
xenohawk said:
By the way, is the Softbank early termination fee fixed at $450 or varies according to how many months left in your contract? How does that work? It is not like we are leaving them completely. :confused:
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Yeah, it varies with how many months are remaining in your contract. But since you have not yet completed your contract, you will not qualify for 'new customer pricing' on any phone, regardless of whether you pay the ETF or not. Brilliant, isn't it? :rolleyes:
 
mavis said:
Yeah, it varies with how many months are remaining in your contract. But since you have not yet completed your contract, you will not qualify for 'new customer pricing' on any phone, regardless of whether you pay the ETF or not. Brilliant, isn't it? :rolleyes:
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Oh wow, I see now. So if Apple manage to come out with real iPhone 2 next year we will be having the same problem with the ETF again.. :(
 
MacbookSwitcher said:
You act as though it's by random undeserved chance that things are cheaper in the US. But really US prices are a strong argument against cartels, protectionism, controlled economies, and lack of competition. These are areas the US is strong in, thankfully, which is why prices are cheaper in the US.

But *sigh*, I'll be prepared to pay out the wazoo in Japan.
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It's the same thing with the Europeans. You argue with them about iphone prices --- and they just say flat out Europe is more expensive with everything and then you just accept it as a unchangeable fact.
 
xenohawk said:
How come we have to change our number while those switching from other network get to keep theirs via MNP? That's kinda unfair no? :mad:
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That's Softbank's [assinine] policy. It's not enough that we pay the ETF - we have to cancel service completely and re-subscribe. Apparently their only real concern is being able to report subscriber growth - it looks good in their press releases ... ;)
 
JapanScott said:
not sure if this has been posted, but SoftBank now has actual pages up for the iPhone. You can find it at: http://mb.softbank.jp/mb/iphone/
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And the fun continues: $60 flat rate data? Sure, but they're bandwidth throttling YouTube and Maps. A throttled YouTube doesn't sound that great to me, in fact it would kind of make that application useless (depending of course on how tight Softbank puckers up) and of course a capped Maps will prove to be irritating, at best. Also, they say they'll add more apps to the throttle list if they find data use to be too high. I wonder how long it'll be until they cap Safari ... ? :mad:
 
iphone availability

Some new on iPhone availability...

A Japanese friend of mine had a talk with a head of one of the biggest Softbank shops here in Nagoya. And he got some pretty bad new for those who want to get an iPhone on July 11th.

Basically, what he was told (of course it's an unofficial information) is that these will be purposely few units dispatched to Softbank shops in the first batch ("1-digit stock number in most Softbank shops"), in order to make the demand look high. So it's no wonder iPhone will evaporate immediately, as Softbank president told.

Now, it is planned to bring and sell 200K units in Japan in first 3 month after iPhone introduction (I sort of got the idea that Softbank actually think they won't be able to sell any more than that).

Softbank shops are strictly forbidden to make lists of any sorts, as well as even put iPhone-related flags outside the shops.

All this mighty sucks if you ask me.... But I still want the fscking device :(
 
mavis said:
Well, if your friend told you this, he's dead wrong - let's hope that's not the only bit of BS he was fed ... ;)
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Hopefully everything he told was ******** ;) However, from my own experience, I hightly doubt it.
Looks like you got the chance to reserve your own iPhone (good contacts, friends at Softbank prolly?). But for ordinary customers things are like that - no waiting lists, no pre-orders. There are, however, phone calls lists where they put customers who are "interested" in iPhone - these are neither WLs, nor pre-order lists, but can be considered as such, if you stretch far enough ;)

Anyways, I have all reasons to believe that Softbanks will get very few units on the first day so it would look like iPhones are very popular. Softbank never played fair.
 
macdigger said:
Looks like you got the chance to reserve your own iPhone (good contacts, friends at Softbank prolly?). But for ordinary customers things are like that - no waiting lists, no pre-orders.

Softbank never played fair.
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No - I don't have any contacts or friends at Softbank. I think it's just that the entire staff at that shop remembers me raising hell last year about some inane Softbank policy, and they probably figure they're better off shoving an iPhone in my hands and getting me out of there! I don't think they're too keen on the idea of me coming back repeatedly, and getting pissed that they don't have any stock. ;)

As for Softbank not playing fair - you're right. I hate those crooks passionately.
 
From reading this thread, as much as everyone seemed to not want DoCoMo to get the deal with Apple, it is not looking as if Softbank is going to be all that good. I sure hope that I am wrong on this.

I am waiting until the dust settles. I have a Touch and working cell phone so there is no hurry.
 
sushi said:
... I am waiting until the dust settles. I have a Touch and working cell phone so there is no hurry.
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Yeah, I'm in the same situation as you right now. I just WANT it, so not really super important to me right now. I'll wait until the someone report the real deal when it is out.
 
xenohawk said:
Yeah, I'm in the same situation as you right now. I just WANT it, so not really super important to me right now. I'll wait until the someone report the real deal when it is out.
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Yep, let some other folks be the guinea pigs. :D

The bandwidth throttling has me a bit concerned. The data plan is close to $60 per month for 3G access. At that rate I would think Softbank would not engage in bandwidth throttling. I am hoping that it is only a defensive measure for the introduction of the 3G iPhone and that it will be eliminated once they see the actual use (demand).

Bandwidth throttling sort of defeats the purpose of 3G in the first place.

As some have mentioned, how will this affect YouTube videos and timely map updates. And what other type apps will be limited?

Watching from the sidelines for now...
 
sushi said:
The bandwidth throttling has me a bit concerned. The data plan is close to $60 per month for 3G access. At that rate I would think Softbank would not engage in bandwidth throttling. I am hoping that it is only a defensive measure for the introduction of the 3G iPhone and that it will be eliminated once they see the actual use (demand).
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I don't know, I wouldn't hold your breath - this is Japan, after all. Once something restrictive is set in place, the restrictions are rarely lifted (for example, I'm thinking of that stupid gas tax that was supposed to be temporary but has been in effect for decades) ...

sushi said:
Bandwidth throttling sort of defeats the purpose of 3G in the first place.
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Ya think??? ;)

sushi said:
Watching from the sidelines for now...
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Meh. I've been waiting 18 months to be able to buy an iPhone (not to mention the six years I've spent here in Japan, waiting for a phone with a proper email client) and as lame as Softbank's pricing is, I really expected it to be MUCH worse. So feel free to watch from the sidelines - I'll keep you posted when I get my new iPhone next week. :D
 
sushi said:
The bandwidth throttling has me a bit concerned. The data plan is close to $60 per month for 3G access. At that rate I would think Softbank would not engage in bandwidth throttling. I am hoping that it is only a defensive measure for the introduction of the 3G iPhone and that it will be eliminated once they see the actual use (demand).

Bandwidth throttling sort of defeats the purpose of 3G in the first place.
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Can anyone point me to the place where it is written about bandwidth throtting? I searched the new iPhone-related pages on Softbank's site ( http://mb.softbank.jp/mb/iphone/ ), but either I am blind or the info is not there...

The throtting (especially the possibility for adding new apps to the bandwidth throtting) concerns me as well. It's sort of like you get a car and on next planned service check the max speed get limited to 30km/h with some stupid reasoning like "there are some youngsters who overspeed, so we decided to limit the speed of all cars for roads to become safe again".

So you get an iPhone, and you MUST get that unlimited data plan, but as the time passes, the plan might become absolutely different from what you originally bought (everything is limited to 2G-level speed, for example, or every port except for 80, 110 and 25 - web and mail - are blocked)...
 
mavis said:
So feel free to watch from the sidelines - I'll keep you posted when I get my new iPhone next week. :D
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Thanks. Please keep us posted on your experiences and costs.

macdigger said:
Can anyone point me to the place where it is written about bandwidth throtting? I searched the new iPhone-related pages on Softbank's site ( http://mb.softbank.jp/mb/iphone/ ), but either
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That is a good question.

I have no source and was merely reiterating some others posts.

So yes, a link would be great.

JapanScott said:
Doesn't unlimited mean unlimited?
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You would think. :rolleyes:
 
While most of you seem to be anxiously waiting to see what the deal will be with the service of Softbank's "unlimited" data plan I'm just hoping that they'll eventually offer a pay-as-you-go plan. I want to be able to use the net in a pinch if I have to but don't really foresee needing to much outside of the confines of my own wifi. It would be primarily just a phone/music player for me on the road and therefore I don't want to be shoved into an expensive (to ME - I pay about 2000 yen/month for my current phone) data plan.

I don't see why they don't offer that option at all. I see that in the states AT&T also doesn't seem to be offering any "go" plans anymore and is forcing their data plans on all customers. It's sad because the needs of ALL customers should be considered.
 
SaSaSushi said:
of Softbank's "unlimited" data plan I'm just hoping that they'll eventually offer a pay-as-you-go plan
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I think that the flat data plan is Apple's requirement since the iPhone originated in the states with stateside plans. I hope my statement makes sense.

Like you, I am accustomed to Japan's system which is much different -- and somewhat complicated with all of their pricing plan options.

BTW, I heard that this is why DoCoMo didn't get the deal. There were issues with the data plan pricing. If true, then I doubt we will see anything but a flat plan for quite a while. I am really beginning to wish that DoCoMo got the contract instead of Softbank.
 
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