Free iPhone 3G in Japan, Not a Good Sign

Japan Softbank Mobile, carrier for iPhone in Japan has started giving away iPhones from Friday. This is NOT a good sign actually. Of course, the consumers will benefit from it.

According to the report from Straits Times, it seems like iPhone sales in Japan is not up to mark. Due to the weak iPhone sales, Softbank Mobile has decided to provide 8GB iPhone 3G free for anyone who sign their 2 years plan or at the cost of $118 if they decided to go for the 16GB ones. The promotion ends May 2009.

I can imagine why the sales is weak in Japan for iPhone 3G. The first being the economy right now. The second is the vast variety of Japan local market handphone that sports so many applications related to their daily life that I think many would have second thought using iPhone 3G.

However, I must say that over the years, there are a lot of changes in the Japan market. More people are travelling outside Japan for work and their local handphone would not work elsewhere, all thanks to their  handphone network. It has become a big problem for people who frequent outside their country. With the introducing of 3G network, the problem has sort of resolved.

With recent years, Nokia and etc has managed to penetrate into Japan market with their 3G models that Japan has also adopt. This has made travellers to Japan a peace of mind that their 3G enabled handphone is able to work over there and vice versa.What do you think?

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Read the full report over at Straits Times

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