Since first wondering back in January about the iPhone it’s recently been announced Softbank has been chosen as provider upsetting NTT Docomo in the process.
Today marked another milestone in the long awaited arrival of the iPhone in Japan. As expected, Apple CEO Steve Jobs once again kicked off the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) being held June 9-13 in San Francisco, California. The keynote took place at 10:00 a.m. on Monday, June 9 at Moscone West … which means about 2am Tuesday morning Japan time.
It’s official, the 3G iPhone will be released in “70 countries this year. We’re going to start with 22 of the biggest, rolling out the iPhone 3G at the same time in all of these countries. July 11.” … i’m assuming Japan falls into one of these countries and the slide show certainly highlights Japan.
Update – Here’s the Softbank iPhone Plan available in Japan
Bring on July 11 and i’ll have an iPhone with the works please!
Images from Engadget … there’s a few more over there too.
Update – Confirmed “Available on July 11th in: Australia, Austria, Belgium (French), Belgium (Dutch), Canada (English), Canada (French), Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland (French), Switzerland (German), UK, USA” – Engadget
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{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
i watched the WWDC and hell yeah i gonna get me a shiny new iPhone 3G! hehe.
which one do you prefer? Black or white?
maybe i get me a white one to match with my white macbook
Black for me! Can you confirm Japan is part of the first 22 countries to recieve on July11? It certainly seems that way to me … although i’ve been wrong before
yep japan will get it on 11th july ^^
So far i know the 199$ will be with a data/call plan of course. Don’t know the price without a carrier plan >.<
i think it’s going to cast around 500$ here in switzerland without a carrier… damn.
Quoting sources will mean more traffic for you – trust me.
Ahh, 4 in the morning …. new i’d over look something and had every intention to come back in and clean it up later this morning. Always try and give credit where it’s due.
It’s coming out here today….same price too….
What cell phone carrier will it run on there? It only runs on AT&T here which blows because AT&T isn’t good. I may get a cracked one in Asia so I can use it anywhere. I’m a naughty boy.
If it’s really going to be 20,000 yen or so, it’ll undercut almost all the other new models from everyone else (and the iPod!), but I wonder what sort of contract it will be bundled with? Looking at the Softbank site for their Pake-hodai plans, I see this:
http://mb.softbank.jp/mb/en/price_plan/upd/index.html
Standard mobile phone browser is 4,200 yen per month, PC browser plan is 5,985 yen, then Series X plan (seems to be their smartphone plan) runs up to 9,800 yen per month.
I’m taking bets on the 9,800 yen per month being compulsory; if not mandatory, given the shortage of WiFi here, it will be necessary.
Thanks for the info from Softbank Ken, that was another thing on the list of things to look up this morning!
Maybe I’m just slow, but is the iPhone better than what’s already on the market in Japan, and if so, why? It would have to be amazing to get me to switch to Softbank.
I use the p903i i have for very little other than messaging (email) which is cumbersome at best for me. I miss having a phone i can easily integrate with Outlook to sync my calender. After spending a week overseas and using an iPhone for things like Google Maps and having a proper internet browser i found it extremely useful …. the list can go on.
As for Softbank …. not fussed who i’m with, very rarely get a phone call and the money is neither here nor there for me. Didn’t even realise there were issues with Softbank anyway.
Oh, I don’t think there are any issues with Softbank, it’s just that I’ve been with AU for 10 years and I’ve earned a lot of points for a nice discount off my next phone… now I wish they’d won the bid for the iPhone.
I’m with Docomo now and it certainly would make it easier if they had won it …. maybe they’ll be able to offer it too.
I can’t wait for it to come to Canada. I was watching the live feeds for WWDC and the 3G iPhone looks crazy.
Be prepared for Japanese people to spend even more time on their phones. Is that possible?
Probably not possible Billy …. i’m not sure exactly what it is they do on them anyway …. far too many email messages from what i can see. I spend very little time on my phone now and even more rarely if i’m in the company of others … it will make things easier for me with the ability to keep my schedule closer to hand.
Hmmm…I am moving to Taiwan this summer – perhaps I better wait -
Good luck with the move Nathan, will the Bicycle Tour continue over there?
I walked into the local softbank 3 months ago and asked when they would be offering it. No one…not even the supervisor had ANY idea wtf I was talking about??
Nice to know those geniuses are in the corporate loop
Oh yeah – you better believe it -