“…if you are a gaijin, it’s way easier to get married in Japan than to buy an iPhone!!

Read Jerome’s full post here.

There will be no change to the existing data plan, so iPhoners wishing to pay less for unlimited data will need to manually apply for a change in contract.

Doing so will result in the standard 2-year contract being renewed, thus if you change your plan on the 1st April 2009, the contract will be extended until 30th March 2011 (but can be cancelled at any time in exchange for a 9,960 yen fee).

Softbank have today announced new price plans for the iPhone 3G.

iPhone for Everybody is due to come into effect on the 1st March 2009, meaning that you can now pick up an 8GB iPhone for 0 (yep, zero) yen, or a 16GB model for just 480 yen per month.

As is always the case, you’ll need to sign up for a 2-year Softbank contract – but there’s good news here too as they have simultaneously announced a reduction in the cost of their monthly unlimited data plan, down from 5,585 to 4,410 yen. You can also sign up for a cheaper pay-per-packet type data plan, but with a new series of American Idol having recently started you’ll be bound to blow the upper limit in any case.

If you don’t already have an iPhone, now is definitely the time to get one. If you do already have one, now is definitely the time to get one for your wife.

People who enjoy reading kanji-heavy iPhone-related PDF press releases can indulge themselves here.

For those of us that don’t use the Softbank mail address (preferring, say, Gmail or Yahoo instead) this doesn’t apply – we still need to visit Gmail / Yahoo in Mobile Safari to figure out what cute pictures all the crosses were supposed to be.

Whilst this news doesn’t really mean anything as only 3 people in Japan own Willcom / eMobile handsets, it is a sign that Softbank are actively working to extend eMoji functionality to cover all other networks.

So exciting was this news that it even provoked me (that’s me that only buys a couple of albums off iTunes per year) to tap the iTunes App button on my home screen and have a look around for the first time.

But alas, there was to be no downloading iTunes songs over 3G for me just yet. Apparently, Softbank are yet to come round to the idea, thus if you do try, you’ll just be faced with the same old message that you need to be on a wifi network.

I popped into the Apple Store (Shibuya) tonight to confirm that this is the case (“yes”), and to find out if they have any idea when the service might arrive in Japan – to the latter they couldn’t say anything but “wakarimasen”.

I’m secretly quite happy about this as I spend enough on my iPhone already (all those premium cigarette-lighter apps), and anything that makes it harder for me to impulse buy can’t be bad.

Largely as a result of the popularity of the iPhone amongst foreign residents in Japan, Softbank has now added an English page to their website detailing all available price plans.

http://mb.softbank.jp/mb/en/price_plan/

Basic contract

Their basic phone package is their White plan (¥980 per month) , which gives you free calls to other Softbank users between 1am and 9pm. From 9pm to 1am calls are charged at ¥21 per 30 seconds. Calls to other networks / landlines are ¥21 per 30 seconds 24 hours a day.

Many users upgrade to the Double White plan, which for an additional ¥980 per month gives you a 50% discount on these prices (¥10.5 per 30 seconds).

White Plan

Data plans

Whilst you don’t necessarily have to buy a separate data plan (under the white plan data is priced at ¥0.2 per 128bytes), being an iPhone user you’ll be heading for bankruptcy if you don’t. Softbank’s cheapest data package is 12,250 packets for ¥1,029, but if 1 packet is only 128 bytes then 12,250 packets will only give you 1.6mb of monthly downloads. Bearing in mind that the iPhone is all about data (I typically download about 400mb per month), most users choose the unlimited option at ¥5,985 per month.

http://mb.softbank.jp/mb/en/price_plan/packet_full/index.html

Prices correct as of January 2009

Total cost

On top of the (Double) White plan and data charges, you’ll usually be paying for the phone itself (unless you bought it outright when signing up). The amount will depend on the deal you got at the time – mine is subsidised by Softbank (50%) so I’ll be paying about ¥2000 a month for the duration of the two year contract.

Visual voicemail is extra, costing about ¥315 per month.

In total, for someone who doesn’t use the phone much, you could expect to be paying about ¥10,000 a month. A lot of money? Perhaps, but it’s worth it.

English Support for iPhone users in Japan

Telephone support for English speakers http://mb.softbank.jp/mb/en/support/contact/customer/index.html

Softbank shops with English-speaking staff: http://mb.softbank.jp/mb/en/shop/index.html

As far as the TV function goes, the unit works by converting the incoming TV signal and re-broadcasting it via wifi to the iPhone for display. It’s controlled by the free app Terebi (‘TV’), now available from the Apple App store Japan.

The unit can also be used to power the iPhone 3G. A full charge provides approximately 100 mins of TV viewing on the iPhone – whilst it’s not confirmed yet one would assume that if one wasn’t using the TV app it would give the iPhone a full charge. Charging the TV adapter takes 180 mins via USB port or 120 mins using a USB mains adapter.

The 1Seg TV adapter is a little smaller than the iPhone in terms of surface area, but about 1.5x the thickness.

I’ll be popping out to my local Softbank store tomorrow to take a look, although bearing in mind the amount of rubbish that there is on Japanese TV won’t actually be buying one myself.

Photos: www.macotakara.jp

[UPDATE]

Steven Agata over at The Western World has posted his first impressions of the iPhone 1 seg adapater / battery pack, confirming much of the above. I get the impression that this product was rushed out of the design room as quickly as possible – let’s hope we see some improvements to the interface at least as a twitchy app might drive you up the wall.

But here I am starting a new life in Japan, and in need of a phone.

Buying the iPhone in Japan

The initial rush seems to have subsided, although stocks are still limited: we called our local Softbank store (having first phoned the Apple store in vain), and checked availability. They had 1 available, 16GB black.

The sign up process is pretty lengthy. You have to read through a few pages of Apple’s terms and conditions, then donate a kidney. It can be difficult for foreigners to get them as there’s a credit check, and a two year contract (they don’t want you skipping the country before paying all the monthly instalments). We decided that *Twinkle* would buy mine – far simpler If you don’t have someone willing to buy one for you, credit card is the way to go.

The plans cost anything between about 5000 yen and 9000 yen a month, + phone calls: this pays for the device itself and the data plan. I don’t like making phone calls (especially not at 20 yen a minute, which I discovered after a total of 3 hours on the phone) so that’s fine for me, I’m just in it for the data. Calls to other Softbank / Vodafone users are free at certain times.

You are given a Softbank (IMAP) email address. Personally, I like to use my own domain email address (…[at]tamegoeswild.com) so I’ve configured Google Apps to forward a copy of incoming mobile mail to Softbank (who then send an alert to the phone), and manually set the outgoing server to Gmail SMTP.

Once you have the device, be prepared to fall in love. As Steve would say, it is absolutely gorgeous. I mean, really, it is the most beautiful piece of technology I have ever had the privilege to take care of. And the best thing of all? It Just Works. It’s incredibly easy to use – I’ve not yet had to refer to the manual. It’s simple enough for even a four-year-old to understand – yesterday my little nephew was able to figure out how to switch between applications in a couple of minutes.

If you are an existing Mac user setting up your phone couldn’t be simpler – just plug it in. iTunes will sync all your contacts, email accounts, calendars, to do lists, photos, music, videos, just like that. It may be a little more complex for Windows users but they should be used to frustration anyway.

In the past I’ve always found it a pain to put data on mobile phones, and was also afraid that if I lost the phone, I’d lose my data. Here, all the data is safely stored on your computer / in the cloud, then synched to your iPhone either over the Internet or when you plug it in.

Applications

I won’t go through all my apps because I’d be here all day. Just to mention one of my Japanese favourites – Ekitan: the entire national train timetable, live updates on delays, a cache so you can refer to searches when there’s no signal, history of previous searches (for repeat journeys). And all with a lovely user-freindly interface. Yes, other phones can do this too – but not whilst oozing sex appeal.

I also like the fact that it has decent built-in speakers – I use it to listen to audiobooks just before I go to bed.

Where the iPhone falls down in Japan

Rather than just go on about how good the iPhone is (there’s plenty of sites dedicated to doing so already), I thought I’d point out some features – or lack of features – that are specific to Japan.

• My biggest gripe comes as the result of the iPhone being designed for a country that uses SMS, not email, for texting. Japan does use SMS, but it will only work with people who are on the same carrier as you. Here, email is dominant. Apple have tried to address this by having Softbank send an alert when you get new mail, but this is only a message on the screen – no vibrate and no sound. I hope they rectify this soon.
• The mail program doesn’t support eMoji, those little pictures people love to put in their texts. They just get scrambled. If the picture is core to the meaning of the message this can be a problem – you can read the message in Safari at the touch of a button, but it’s a bit of a drag.
• The packages are way too expensive.
• Visual voicemail doesn’t come as standard. I think it’s another 300 yen a month.
• Battery life. Ok, so that’s not limited to Japan, but it is still the iPhone’s biggest ‘issue’.
• The camera is probably the most pants camera to have been mass-marketed this year. Emergency use only.

It’s early days though, with it only having been launched here last month. What a lot of users are doing is using it as a secondary device – with all my family here on AU (not Softbank) I’ll probably go that way myself.

At least the 3G network is reliable – it really is super fast. You rarely find yourself waiting excessively for it to load. I also love the fact that it has Wifi – at home (or at friends’ houses, or where’s there’s public wifi) it automatically switches from 3G to the wireless broadband connection, thus not costing a penny in data transfer.

he introduction of ‘Genius’ with the latest version of iTunes is very welcome, and over the past couple of days I’ve been delighted to find some ‘new’ music that I never knew I had. Great stuff.

I find it really exciting to be able to use these new devices, and also to think where they might go in the future. I won’t be buying any more gadgets for a long time – perhaps next year I’ll get a Nikon DSLR with video function and in-built GPS (in the D700 line).

Incidentally, a good side-effect of my having an iPhone is that I spend a lot less time in front of my Mac. Being able to deal with emails on the road when I have a spare few minutes here and there means I don’t come home to a pile of stuff to wade through, and consequently don’t get distracted by browsing the internet – so the iPhone is pretty good for our relationship too!

Anyway, it’s just flashed up a reminder that I need to go to the toilet. According to the GPS system, the loo is located about 4 metres south-west of this cushion, and I have a date to be there by 12.34pm. Best be off.