Comments on: Was Softbank’s iPhone Launch Successful?

By: RichardW

RichardW — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 18:48:04 +0000

Mikeal, thanks for your indepth post. I was glad to have my own findings confirmed. 80,000 yen is a MASSIVE amount to pay especially when in America and Europe it’s half the price. I’ve got a year long visa, anyone know of a way to get hold of a phone with paying this upfront?

ARGGHH fu*king softbank!!

By: Mikeal

Mikeal — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 13:40:33 +0000

continued..The signup and general Softbank experience however was the biggest example of corporate BS and product ignorance I have yet experienced in Japan and I would have to agree with above comment, maybe Softbank are too small to carry the ball with something with this amount of global hype, thet just saw the dollar signs and told Apple yes we can do this. Well Softbank you dropped the ball way short of the line regarding customer service, product knowledge and PR re price and availablity. (end) sorry this 4 part comment is so long folks, 1000 character limit and I had a lot to say, for better or worse.

By: Mikeal

Mikeal — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 13:38:05 +0000

Overall the sign up process was pathetic,the staff did not seem to know a damn thing, constantly referring to a pile of paperwork on how to and what to do next etc.,Being a foriegner did not seem to be an issue, drivers license only credit card for monthly payments, that is fairly common here for most transactions of this kind.Having done some web research on Softbank’s prices and tech specs, I did have the feeling that most customers probably know more about the phones than Softbank staff.The phone itself I am still assessing as of yesterday 7/20 so far seems very user friendly and of course it is all in English …that is why I wanted it and downloading apps is English.

By: Mikeal

Mikeal — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 13:33:51 +0000

Continued..Then, if you are an existing customer they throw on an extra 6000 yen fo changing phones to the iPhone, like what is this a penalty payment for buying from Softbank.Where I live the local Softbank stoes told customers that no 8G phones were being released until later ???! so they could push sales of the expensive model first, more BS. The Softbank stores have no as in zero accessories available, customer being told to go to an Apple shop. If you do not have a pc available to finish the set up yourself,such as downloading your address book from your previous phone,(Softbank uploads your contacts to a server and you must USB to a pc to get them back and that is a major mission syncing your phone running English with their web site running Japanese, doesn’t work very well!) I ended up taking an hour and a half to re-enter my contacts and numbers manually.

By: Mikeal

Mikeal — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 13:31:23 +0000

Re the iPhone, seems to be a lot of mumbo jumbo about contracts and prices.First the price has been set by the agreement between Apple and Softbank at 8G 24000 yen and some change and the 16G at 34000 yen and some change.Typically Softbank like many other big companies here in Japan are not satisfied with only getting that much money for the item so they have devised a complicated BS type of formula to double their income from the sale of iPhones to have an end price of about 87000 yen plus the extra 5000 yen added to your contract if you are an existing customer to cover the new 3G service.(just another loophole to squeeze more cash from the buyer.) Once the shop assistant at Softbank stores do some creative accounting with the figures the actual retail price for the 16G model becomes 34000 yen and change–as it was in the first place, but Softbank are such nice people they are giving you this massive discount—-yeh right!

By: ML

ML — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 00:14:12 +0000

Correction!

My last post should have said foreign resident with less than 27 months remaining on your visa. Sorry………

By: ML

ML — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 00:12:48 +0000

Repost…..

Foreign resident with more than 27 months remaining on Visa:

Must pay for the phone up front as if no contract exists. Price for the 16GB model was about 80,000 yen and 8GB was about 70,000. If your Visa is close to 27 month mark they might be a little flexible, maybe a 1-year contract instead of 2 to reduce the price of the phone.

If you are a foreign resident, make sure you bring your passport w/visa, gaijin card, and bank book or cash card or else you’ll be out of luck.

By: ML

ML — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 00:11:39 +0000

More Softbank iPhone details:

Foreign resident with

By: ML

ML — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 00:10:44 +0000

Here’s some information on Softbank iPhone contract requirements:

Japanese Citizen/Foreign Resident with >27 months remaining on Visa:

2 year contract req. 8GB phone was 2,200 yen/month, plus white plan, unlimited data, and their email thing for a total of about 10,000 yen per month for 2 years. Payment must be made via auto bank withdrawal or Japan-based credit card. Pmt at conven. store is not allowed for iPhone. No money required up front as price of phone is spread over the 2-years. Softbank was also selling AppleCare for 7,800 yen but it didn’t cover drops, loss, or water damage (and SoftBank didn’t offer any additional insurance on their end).

Hope this helps,
Mike

By: ML

ML — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 23:53:54 +0000

I missed out on Friday at the small Softbank Store in Jiyugaoka and the store people were so clueless that I got the impression there was no way I’d get one during the weekend. Then I went to the Omotesando store around 4pm on Saturday and saw a line with a three hour wait (I didn’t want one that bad), so I went to have dinner with my family in Harajuku. Afterwards we walked past the store again (around 8PM) and there was no line so I went in and picked one up. In total it only took 45 minutes, was an easy transaction, and I got the impression they had plenty of stock of the 8GB model.

So my recommendation is to go to the Softbank Store in Omotesando or the Yodobashi in Akihabara. It appears most of the retailers are supplying only the big stores with large quantities until things calm down.