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3G iPhone in Japan?

BiginJapan said:
Word. Do you not have any mobile internet connectivity with the Touch? Can't you use WiFi hotspots and such, or aren't they reasonably available?
(I've yet to see one model on the Japanese market that wasn't at heart a POS. They're essentially disposable.)
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Apparently my house is the only pocket of civilization in this part of Tokyo, it's the only place I can get a WiFi signal ... ;)

Actually, that's not entirely true. There's LOTS of WiFi in Tokyo, it's just that 99.9% of it is secured. So yeah - it's pretty hard to find an open network, you just have to keep trying and eventually you'll find one. With 8% signal strength. heh ...

The thing that has really got me pissed at Softbank is that I just broke my phone (my bad, I know) and even with the $5/month insurance, they want me to pay $160 for a new one. So I asked them how much my plastic Sharp 814SH would be without insurance. With a straight face the woman says to me, $690. That's right, seventy thousand yen (about $700USD) for that POS, year old phone. I shudder to think how much they'll try to charge for the iPhone.
 
Hope it comes to Softbank.

I'm pretty much stuck since my girlfriend and her entire family on the Softbank white plan.
 
We KNOW THIS ALREADY. There is so much evidence of a 3G iPhone that its baiscally certain it will be announced at WWDC, probably released very soon after, too.
 
PowerFullMac said:
We KNOW THIS ALREADY. There is so much evidence of a 3G iPhone that its baiscally certain it will be announced at WWDC, probably released very soon after, too.
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Gee, thanks for sharing. Perhaps if you read the thread title next time, your post might actually make sense in the context of the discussion. In this case, we're not debating the launch of a 3G iPhone (as you said, that horse has been beaten to death!) but rather, the launch of a 3G iPhone in JAPAN ... See, it's no coincidence the thread starter chose the title: 3G iPhone in Japan?

Anyway, thanks again for your time.
 
mavis said:
Gee, thanks for sharing. Perhaps if you read the thread title next time, your post might actually make sense in the context of the discussion. In this case, we're not debating the launch of a 3G iPhone (as you said, that horse has been beaten to death!) but rather, the launch of a 3G iPhone in JAPAN ... See, it's no coincidence the thread starter chose the title: 3G iPhone in Japan?

Anyway, thanks again for your time.
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Well, as Apple have announced deals with carriers all over the world, the iPhone will probably be in Japan, too.
 
PowerFullMac said:
Well, as Apple have announced deals with carriers all over the world, the iPhone will probably be in Japan, too.
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Well, if you even bothered to read the last 12 posts or so you'd know that the discussion was speculation about which carrier was going to get the iPhone not whether it would be sold in Japan or not.
 
SaSaSushi said:
Well, if you even bothered to read the last 12 posts or so you'd know that the discussion was speculation about which carrier was going to get the iPhone not whether it would be sold in Japan or not.
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Yeah, 'coz we all have time to read through 6 pages of posts :rolleyes:
 
SaSaSushi said:
LOL, we mere mortals can't even delete our own posts, much less anyone else's.

Your posts were no trouble to me but it did seem as if you were replying to a different conversation.
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I thought you lot where mods the way you were moaning at me! :p

I wasent fully concentraiting, I must admit, I was rush-posting at school!
 
Doubting its DoCoMo

The Prada is being heavily advertised in おもてさんどえき and I saw prototype-y ones at bic camera today... piccy from my craptei
 

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PowerFullMac said:
I thought you lot where mods the way you were moaning at me! :p

I wasent fully concentraiting, I must admit, I was rush-posting at school!
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I suspect most of the backlash was especially because it looked like you were SHOUTING at everyone about their IGNORANCE OF THE FACTS, when in fact YOU were the one that didn't know what the conversation was about.

Lesson: Read before you post, or risk the wrath of the regular posters (non-mods included)! And be careful with the all-caps. If you really don't have time to read the six pages of lead-up, and feel that you absolutely must post without reading, may I suggest something along the lines of: "Pardon me, but don't we know already that the 3G is, in fact, coming out? Or possibly my dreadful ignorance of the gist of this thread has misled me as to the nature of the discussion..." next time? ;)

As a public service: N.B. to new joiners of this thread: We KNOW there WILL BE a 3G iPhone release, and ASSUME one is IMMINENT in Japan. What we want to know is WHEN, and with WHAT PROVIDER, and using WHAT PROTOCOL, etc.

Your input, especially substantiated rumors and informed assessments, on these issues is greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

PS to Mavis: My condolences -- that is fully and truly Wack. But I doubt Apple would let Softbank (or anyone else) do anything additionally outrageous to the price of the already-not-in-any-way-cheap iPhone...
 
Nope but the online pictures make it look. Meh... not as fancy as iPhone's but pretty good


The thing I notice right away, however, is how small it is compared to the iPhone. IT IS TINY!

BTW sorry about the piccy, you can tell that I need a new phone just from looking at it.
 
BiginJapan said:
PS to Mavis: My condolences -- that is fully and truly Wack. But I doubt Apple would let Softbank (or anyone else) do anything additionally outrageous to the price of the already-not-in-any-way-cheap iPhone...
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True, but if Apple realizes that last year's cookie-cutter plastic clamshells are going for $700, who's to say they won't try to extract every last cent - pardon, YEN - out of the locals? I mean, if discontinued, disposable P.O.S. phones go for $700, why would Apple let us have the iPhone for $400? Disregarding the fact that the lowest model iPod Touch (the 8GB one) is still going for almost $400 at pretty much every retailer (and the Apple store) over here.

I have a feeling we're going to be taken to the cleaners on this one. As in, Apple is going to redefine "bend over and grab your ankles." :(
 
mavis said:
I have a feeling we're going to be taken to the cleaners on this one. As in, Apple is going to redefine "bend over and grab your ankles." :(
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I wonder if it won't be possible to, as someone above suggested, just buy a US 3G iPhone once they're released, unlock it and slide in my Softbank SIM card. If so, it would definitely be something I'd consider doing and then I wouldn't really care less if they partner with NTT for the Japanese market.

I'd rather have a full US model anyway. :)
 
SaSaSushi said:
I wonder if it won't be possible to, as someone above suggested, just buy a US 3G iPhone once they're released, unlock it and slide in my Softbank SIM card. If so, it would definitely be something I'd consider doing and then I wouldn't really care less if they partner with NTT for the Japanese market.

I'd rather have a full US model anyway. :)
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For my purposes, I really want to see what they do with Japanese input, especially in terms of hand-drawn character-recognition. Otherwise I'd be happy to use a US model, if that were a possibility.

So... who's got the cash to do this kind of thing on a whim [jailbreak --> SIM card swap], with the decided possibility it won't work at all? Any volunteers?

Mavis: My personal prediction is in the neighborhood of 6万 for the iPhone when it comes out here. No less than 5, no more than 7.
 
BiginJapan said:
For my purposes, I really want to see what they do with Japanese input, especially in terms of hand-drawn character-recognition. Otherwise I'd be happy to use a US model, if that were a possibility.
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Why do you think the input option would be different on a US model? This is Apple, not Microsoft! All iPhones (and iPod Touch's) have multi-lingual menus and all have the same input options. ;)
BiginJapan said:
My personal prediction is in the neighborhood of 6万 for the iPhone when it comes out here. No less than 5, no more than 7.
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I hope you're right. I'm willing to pay up to 8万 or so (for the highest capacity model) but it's hard to imagine them not screwing us when the Japanese have been screwed for years on all keitai-related pricing. Remember: year old, crap-tastic cookie cutter phones (without OneSeg or other worthless 'features') are going for 7万 ... I can't imagine the iPhone will be any less. In fact, it will likely be substantially more!

Of course, I hope I'm wrong. But I'm not holding my breath.
 
To yoyo5280 --> Ditto that on the iPhone probably not being with Docomo. I came to the same conclusion myself when I first saw the news that Docomo was getting the LG Prada phone. Of course, Softbank got the FULLFACE 2 several weeks ago, which mimics several features of the iPhone, so anything goes I suppose.

Guess we'll just have to wait a bit longer...dangit.
 
mavis said:
Why do you think the input option would be different on a US model? This is Apple, not Microsoft! All iPhones (and iPod Touch's) have multi-lingual menus and all have the same input options. ;)
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Good point... Apple's never put out a Japan-specific release that I can remember! I can almost imagine a Japan- (or at least Asia-) specific release, at least of the OS, for the iPhone, though, given the particularities of the market here. (The handwriting-recognition thing is particularly key, for me, though certainly not a huge consideration for Apple, I'm sure, as people use keyboards for their input conversion without complaint. I just really love the writing-recognition on my PDA and having it available on the iPhone would certainly contribute to making it worth the ??,???円 (see below).)


mavis said:
I hope you're right. I'm willing to pay up to 8万 or so (for the highest capacity model) but it's hard to imagine them not screwing us when the Japanese have been screwed for years on all keitai-related pricing. Remember: year old, crap-tastic cookie cutter phones (without OneSeg or other worthless 'features') are going for 7万 ... I can't imagine the iPhone will be any less. In fact, it will likely be substantially more!
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OK, I'll confess I'm just basing my estimate on the usual US-price:J-price ratios for Apple products. Having not actually paid anything more than a pittance for a handset that I can remember (I think the shortest I had one for was two years, and when I've gotten a new one it's always been a slightly-less-than-current model), my impression of handset prices may be off. Push comes to shove, I'd probably pay up to around 9万、depending on the features offered (see above).
 
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