The details are as skimpy as they get, but SoftBank today announced on their web site that they’ve signed a deal with Apple:

SOFTBANK MOBILE Corp. today announced it has signed an agreement with Apple® to bring the iPhone™ to Japan later this year.

The Japanese version of the announcement says “in this year,” not “later this year,” but since both the English and Japanese come from SoftBank, I presume that they mean the same thing. “Later” is kind of fuzzy, though–are we talking August or December? It definitely doesn’t sound like July, though.

Also unclear is… well, everything else. Whether SoftBank is to be the exclusive carrier, for example. It would be a bit strange if it weren’t–as far as I am aware, Japanese cell phones are almost always (if not always) tied to specific carriers.

I was also on the verge of posting recently that Docomo seemed less and less likely to release the iPhone for a few different reasons; one being that they will be selling the Prada Touch phone by LG, considered an iPhone competitor; also, they just released a big line of new 3G cell phones, equipped with large screens, video streaming, GPS–the works. Doubtful they’d release such a big line of phones like that so close to announcing the iPhone.

Nevertheless, people are still talking about how the SoftBank iPhone contract might be a way of pressuring Docomo or something; for some reason, I doubt this a bit. I drive by a SoftBank store every day on my commute to work; maybe I’ll stop by today and ask some questions.

Meanwhile, just a few days before Jobs is expected to spill all the beans about the new 3G iPhone at the WWDC, rumors fly–ranging from minimalist reports that the new phone will be thicker and have no other upgrades aside from the 3G ability, all the way to hopeful, soaring rumors that the new phone will be slimmer, have a longer battery life, and will feature GPS, video conferencing and more. What many seem in agreement about is that the new form factor will have rounder edges, and the phone will come in at least white and black varieties (though more colors have been rumored).

In other Mac news: Apple’s “.Mac” service is going to get rebranded and maybe overhauled, it seems; Apple seems to have bough the names “Me.com” and “MobileMe,” and the new service will probably fold iPhone connectivity into the package, along with unknown feature changes. Among the rumors: online versions of Mac apps like Address Book and iCal in a new system that offers “push” syncing.

Also out today is news that Jobs will introduce OS X version 10.6 at the WWDC this week, an OS to be released next January–which is really early in terms of OS releases for Apple, just 14 months after Leopard. However, the release will be unusual: as it’s name–“Snow Leopard”–suggests, it will not be a full-featured upgrade. Instead, it will be “heavily focused on performance and nailing down speed and stability,” and will be made for Intel Macs only.

So, presumably, no tablet Macs with Multi-Touch which can talk in soothing tones while mixing drinks for you. But who knows.

One other thing–Sachi heard the SoftBank story on the news last night–and didn’t tell me. We’ve got to have a serious talk about this kind of thing.