Japan’s iPhone battleground

October 14th, 2011By Category: Uncategorized

Apple’s new iPhone 4S is now officially out in Japan and regardless of whether or not you will be one of the first owners of the new model, its presence continues to change Japan’s telecoms industry and the resulting services it offers residents.

Aside from all the new features, the big news with this iPhone release is that KDDI’s “au” is the first of the big two carriers in Japan to offer an iPhone. KDDI is going all out with some aggressive pricing designed to upgrade as many of its loyal users as well as to snatch back the large number of people that moved over to Softbank during the latter’s exclusive distribution of the iPhone. You can find out more information here.

A couple of the techblogs in Japan have published the comparative pricing plans and you can compare “au” and Softbank here. As a quick overview though, both are cheap but Softbank comes in just a little cheaper.  For the extra cost, “au” users do benefit from the brand’s more established wireless network, however, as well as greater customer service reputation.  In addition, new users are having their number portability fees waved until January 2012 while the number of stores and outlets available to service iPhone customers is being aggressively expanded.

(Japanese customers are acting quick to snap up all available stock and the lines for the iPhone 4S were much the same as they have been with other recent Apple releases as Japan Today reported).

Anadecdotel and personal experience point out that among the foreign community, the iPhone is easily the most popular handset available and the increased distribution and new choice of networks obviously make things better, especially for folks living outside of Tokyo and unable to get a reliable Softbank signal or for those with close family and friends already using “au.”

Other things to note: Although its wider coverage is weaker, Softbank does benefit from a more established 3G network, meaning that data downloads and uploads are faster.  The “au” lack of 3G effectiveness is also expected to hinder the ability of their iPhone 4S customers to multitask calling and data usage.

Will you be switching?  Or does the availability of the iPhone on au finally convince you to join the Apple revolution?  Certainly the Japanese press is expecting Softbank to take a hit as many of its customer gains over the last 2 years have come about as a direct result of the iPhone.  Plenty of Japanese subscribers have for example kept a keitai on either “au” or DoCoMo while also taking an iPhone around with them.  Since the news was announced that “au” would be carrying the iPhone, Softbank’s stock price has indeed taken a hit.

That is not to say, though, that Softbank is giving up without a fight. They have announced a number of incentives to boost customer loyalty and you can expect to see a little more of “otosan” over the coming weeks. If you are in the market and prepared to shop around, keep an eye out for what special offers do become available as there are bound to be various savings out there – including this one – in which Softbank is offering a free data plan to a 3G iPad 2 to all iPhone customers.

Photo courtesy of Apple

Author of this article

Robin Pharo

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