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Japan's SoftBank hands out free iPhones for orphans after tragedy

In yet another example of amazing human spirit and goodwill after the tragic events in Japan a couple weeks ago, one of the country's largest telecommunications and media corporations, SoftBank, will give orphans from the earthquake and tsunami free iPhones.

Joe Aimonetti MacFixIt Editor
Joe is a seasoned Mac veteran with years of experience on the platform. He reports on Macs, iPods, iPhones and anything else Apple sells. He even has worked in Apple retail stores. He's also a creative professional who knows how to use a Mac to get the job done.
Joe Aimonetti

GadgetsDNA

In yet another example of amazing human spirit and goodwill after the tragic events in Japan a couple weeks ago, one of the country's largest telecommunications and media corporations, SoftBank, will give orphans from the earthquake and tsunami free iPhones.

According to GadgetsDNA, an iPhone and iPad-centric blog site, SoftBank will also cover all the communications fees until the children turn 18 as well as living costs for another 1,200 people that had to be relocated to Takeo.

The gesture, announced via Twitter by SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, is another way in which SoftBank has used social media to help keep many in Japan optimistic about the recovery process.

"Son is using Softbank's "Let's Do It" campaign site -- a tracker for his "Let's Do It" tasks posted on Twitter, each accompanied by a completion status indicator--to crowdsource requests for supporting earthquake victims. So far, these requests are mainly about ways to increase efficiency for donation efforts (like publishing a live list of item shortages for each shelter, and setting up new mobile networks at the shelters), but there were two that caught our attention."

The free iPhone idea actually came about from the "Let's Do It" campaign requests. Son also said SoftBank would replace any iPhones lost or damaged in the earthquake at no cost.

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