Well, Finally
They took their sweet time about it. Apple is now said to be in active talks with NTT DoCoMo about selling the iPhone in Japan. This could suggest a summer rollout, and might further indicate that Apple has successfully developed a 3G version of the iPhone (perhaps to be unveiled at the MacWorld Expo?).
The Wall Street Journal Article goes on to say that while Apple is negotiating with NTT because it always tries to pair with the top market provider, it would turn to SoftBank, a recent upstart rival with a reputation for good deals but not-so-good customer service. SoftBank has been fairly well-known as an Apple groupie, selling iPods alongside their phones; its president even attended the last MacWorld Expo in San Francisco, the one where the iPhone was announced.
The report goes on to say that while NTT might blanch at Apple’s demand for a cut of the contract revenues, Apple won’t have trouble sealing a deal in Japan–suggesting that SoftBank would probably be happy to give Apple what it wants, thus putting more pressure on NTT DoCoMo.
Me, I don’t know from telecoms in Japan. I’m just getting the iPhone when it comes out. Which hopefully won’t be too much longer now.
Good morning, Mr.Poza! How are you?
I want iPhone too like my 60GB iPod (this is also a nice USB 2.0 portable HDD strage).
By the way, I felt very happy because two of you — you and Sachi looked very happy in the pic. You enjoy Japan very much and I think you are more than Japanese. Thanks.
P.S. Now I enjoy BBC Radio online. I like BBC English (Standard British accent English). But I still like and respect America and her culture and her independent spirit.
You know that the AT&T head honcho spilled the beans (no doubt infuriating Jobs and the Apple marketing people, who love their secrecy and big announcements) in an interview a while back? He said that they would be coming out with a higher-speed-data version of the iPhone in 2008.
The reason they wouldn’t want someone doing that is someone like me. I really want one but have been holding out for version 2.0, or at least version 1.5, with better data speeds. I’ve messed around with iPhones here and while they’re awesome for look and feel, for me a bit part of it would be the data and web browsing- and it’s just too damn slow for that.
The EDGE technology that they’re using just doesn’t have the ability for big files.
I did notice one really neato feature on the iPhone that would be excellent for me. When you pull up Google Maps, it has a button for traffic information. I’ve been poking around, thinking about getting some kind of traffic solution; having it essentially built-in to my cell phone would be excellent.
I’m not positive Google has truly “real time” information, when I compare the state’s site with Google’s the displays are a bit different, but typically close enough.
Anyway, the 3G appears to be coming before too much longer. Hang tough.