A Japan Telecom blog reports that the iPhone will cost ¥20,000 ~ ¥30,000 here in Japan with it’s released in four weeks’ time, but no official price has been announced. This was supposedly said by Masayoshi Son, head of SoftBank–but the blog cites no source, gives no exact quotes, and the news does not appear anywhere else. The entry says:

Softbank Mobile Corp. CEO Masoyoshi SON said on June 13 that an iPhone handset itself will effectively cost ¥20,000-¥30,000 when its user selects the installment and discount plan.

The cost in the U.S. is $199 (about ¥21,000) for the 8GB model or $299 (about ¥32,000) for the 16GB model.

The company will unveil the program(s) for the basic monthly fee by the end of this month.

Take that for what it’s worth. Even if accurate, the “installment and discount plan” could make the pricing anywhere from cheap to prohibitively expensive. Best-case scenario: SoftBank will offer the price as a subsidy with their cheap “White Plan” (about $10/mo. basic charge, some calls free) and a reasonable data plan add-on. That’s wishful thinking, however; they might demand a more expensive contract and the data plan that tops out at ¥10,000 per month.

So now we know little more than we did a few minutes ago. Isn’t this fun?