softbank

After announcing Japan's iPhone 3G in one of the shortest press releases ever, Softbank is following up with a little more information in the way of pricing.

According to a Reuters report, the 8GB iPhone 3G will cost 23,040 yen ($213), while the higher-capacity 16GB model will retail for 34,560 yen ($319). Subscribers will need to sign a two-year contract when the handset, distributed exclusively by Softbank, launches in Japan on July 11. They can also opt for a plan that will allow them to talk for free among Softbank subscribers for most of the day with … Read more

The iPhone will make its official debut in Japan later this year on SoftBank's mobile network, the company announced Wednesday.

SoftBank is the third largest carrier in Japan, behind NTT DoCoMo and KDDI. But DoCoMo and KDDI have has built networks based on the CDMA family of standards (used by Sprint and Verizon in the U.S.), while SoftBank's network is based on the GSM family of standards currently used by the iPhone. Apple is expected to unveil a next-generation iPhone next week, but few expect the company to have a CDMA-version ready at this point in … Read more

Disney and Softbank have geen making phones for kids in Japan for some time, with the handsets becoming increasingly adult-like in both function and appearance. Its latest mobile handset also seems to be aimed at this ambiguous market in Japan, but the theme clearly belongs to the Magic Kingdom: Princesses.

The "Cinderella" line is being produced in a partnership with Sharp, using the Disney Mobility service offered by Softank, according to Akihabara News. The DM002SH has a 2.6-inch display, a 2-megapixel camera, Bluetooth, microSD card slot, 50MB of built-in memory, and the 1Seg TV tuner used in … Read more

A trio of mobile companies including two global giants will collaborate to find more ways to profit from and develop mobile phone-based internet use, the Financial Times reported.

Vodafone, the biggest-earning mobile company, China Mobile, the company with the largest user base, and Softbank, the third-place Japanese carrier, form the coalition.

FT writes, "The collaboration underlines how mobile operators are keen to stop internet search engines such as Google and Yahoo dominating the provision of potentially lucrative services on the wireless internet."

Indeed, Google is working on ever more wireless applications. At WWW2008 in Beijing on Wednesday, Google'… Read more

It's kind of surprising that one of the big handset makers didn't come up with a Transformers phone at the height of the movie's hype last year. After all, just about every other form of gadget tried to cash in on it, from laptops and stereos to earphones and MP3 players.

Perhaps Softbank just and Toshiba knew that that true Optimus Prime loyalists would appreciate such a phone regardless of the movie. But it's unclear whether hard-core fans would look past the fact that the new 815T PB handset on the Japanese market doesn't really … Read more

There are two basic questions about Tiffany's entry into the luxury phone market: why it took so long and why it doesn't cost more. Sure, $94,000 is a lot of money but, come on, this is Tiffany. You'd think it would have hit six figures on principle alone (though it does sound more impressive in yen--10 million).

The 3G handset, a joint project with Japan's Softbank Mobile, doesn't skimp either: It's encrusted with more than 400 diamonds totaling well over 20 carats, according to BornRich. Maybe Tiffany just decided that it can't … Read more

Sometimes it seems that Japanese phone makers target their products at children as much as adult consumers--in some cases even before they're born.

Disney Japan is no exception, of course, so it's no surprise that the Magic Kingdom of the Pacific is coming out with yet another mobile handset for kids. But its new DM001SH model, which MobileWhack says is produced jointly with Tokyo-based Softbank, looks decidedly more grown-up and polished than previous phones and other gadgets aimed at the kodomo market.

In fact, we wouldn't mind having one of these handsets either, with its 2.6-inch … Read more