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iPhone to Shake Up Japan's Cellphone Industry?

Wednesday August 13, 2008 1:16 pm PDT by Arnold Kim
A Softbank official believes that the iPhone represents a turning point in Japanese mobile phones and that competing Japanese phones will have to revamp their handsets to allow for more sophisticated software to keep up.

Faced with increased competition, Japanese handset providers will have to provide more software-oriented machines like the touch-screen iPhone, said Tetsuzo Matsumoto, a senior executive vice president at Softbank Mobile.

Other Japanese mobile providers are, of course, skeptical.

Wired had previously explored the significant differences in the mobile phone market in Japan and questioned whether or not the iPhone could make a significant dent in the unique mobile market.

The iPhone, however, seems to have done quite well in Japan during its launch in July. Rival carrier KDDI Corp saw net losses in their retention rates while SoftBank saw net growth of 52,000 subscriptions which SoftBank believes was directly due to the iPhone.
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DanielJvdBerg
Posted: 49 months ago
This is great news, for being:
1: iPhone growth
2: competition innovation which is always good to drive the iPhone itself to compete against that
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plumbingandtech
Posted: 49 months ago
Yah, well i have learned to do the opposite of what Wired says.
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kasei
Posted: 49 months ago

Yah, well i have learned to do the opposite of what Wired says.


Based on what?
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mavis
Posted: 49 months ago

This is great news, for being:
1: iPhone growth
2: competition innovation which is always good to drive the iPhone itself to compete against that


Indeed! This is good news for Japanese consumers, whether they like the iPhone or not.
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kjs862
Posted: 49 months ago
bring on all you got!
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kire1820
Posted: 49 months ago
Iphone will definitely have an impact in Japan. I think japan has a very developed 3G coverage right? ATT needs to work harder...I only get 3G signals "sometimes!!!"
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NT1440
Posted: 49 months ago
havent japanese cell phones been light years ahead of us for some time now?

the iphone may seem outdated there. Here its great, there, potentially a joke
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pederg
Posted: 49 months ago

havent japanese cell phones been light years ahead of us for some time now?

the iphone may seem outdated there. Here its great, there, potentially a joke


Their technology is way more advanced, but it is when it comes to the OS and the interface, that the iPhone might "shake up" the industry..

PederG
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NT1440
Posted: 49 months ago

Their technology is way more advanced, but it is when it comes to the OS and the interface, that the iPhone might "shake up" the industry..

PederG


ok thats fair, the iphone may be the first phone built with a truly revolutionary UI:apple:
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dicklacara
Posted: 49 months ago
Removed, duplicate
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