iPhone Hysteria

[GomiGirl]

And the madness continues:

Live streaming from the people waiting outside the Omote Sando Softbank store. Plus a heap of pre-recorded clips.

[Caustic Saint]

There has been a bit of back and forth information sharing over at iphoneinjapan.com the past couple of days. Seems that if you're a gaijin with not a lot of time left on your visa, expect to get reamed for your iPhone - if you're even allowed to get one at all.

If you've got less than 27 months on your visa (which means damned near every non-PR gaijin), you can't get a two-year contract, which means you'll end up paying a fair bit more than the 23,040/34.560 (8GB/16GB) Softbank listed in their press release.

Here's a bit of info one poster there got from his local SB shop.

First off, paying by bank transfer is allowed and OK. The literature I got says that you must pay by credit card if your visa expires in under 90 days, but otherwise, you're in the clear.

Next, there are 1 year contracts available. The difference is, the iPhone is more expensive over a 1 year contract. Basically, you're looking at a 1,920 "discount" every month regardless of the length of your contract. So if you go for two years, the 16Gb phone comes out to a little over 30,000 yen. If you only sign up for a 1 year contract, you're looking at a price closer to 55,000 yen (because you lose out on 1,920 x 12 (1 year) of discounts on the phone itself). While it's not amazing, it's not bad either, considering the price of the original iPhone and taking the current price of the top end touch into account. These figures vary for the 8Gb. I imagine you could do the math yourself with the literature on Softbank's site. They won't let you sign up for a 2 year contract unless you have 27 months left on your visa, confirmed. They will, however, let you sign up for the 1 year plan (as long as you have 15 months left on your visa? I don't know, I have a bit longer on mine). I didn't ask about paying for the iPhone in full.

It looks like a 1-year contract for a 16Gb iPhone will be about (on the default white plan) 12,086 yen a month. (I didn't double check these numbers, but I assume the discount is in there already).

Other posters have claimed that you can be (depending on time left on your visa) required to pay for the iPhone in full up front, and then you'll get a discount over time with the Super Bonus deal.

What's full price mean?

8GB - 69,120
16GB - 80,640




I'm not treating anything posted anywhere other than Softbank's site as anything more than just internet chatter, but if this is true - holy hell!


EDIT: I just found the relevant info of the SB site (in Japanese, of course - so handy for gaijin).

This page states (in section 5):

When this human verification document the “certificate of alien registration + foreign passport” being similar, application you do, following item please note.

When the residency time limit is under 90 days, circuit contract is not produced.

When the residency time limit is within 15 months than application day, easy payment purchase (mediation) the acceptance due to contract is not possible. (Becomes acceptance only of shop front bundle payment)

When the residency time limit it is within 15 months than application day super, 27 months, easy payment purchase (mediation) the payment frequency due to contract becomes acceptance only of 12 payments or bundle payment.

When the residency time limit exceeds 27 months than application day, easy payment purchase (mediation) is possible regardless of to payment frequency.

[Mulboyne]

From the Mainichi

I wonder if those visa restrictions for contracts are determined by Softbank or by the Ministry.

[Caustic Saint]

I wonder if those visa restrictions for contracts are determined by Softbank or by the Ministry.

By Softbank. And they only apply to the iPhone - not any other phone they sell.

[Mulboyne]

[IkemenTommy]

[YT]JoDq2Gjc30g[/YT]
This was the funniest iPhone PR flop I have seen. 3:50 into the video, Ogura struggles to use the touch panel and the Safari feature does not work properly. They had to call in the Apple tech support but it must have been a nightmare for Apple.

Just blame it on the "bad internet connection..." right...

[nullpointer]

A friend of mine just got the iPhone. He was an existing customer of softbank and he says they never mentioned anything about a passport or remaining months on the visa. Simply transferred the number over to the iPhone. Maybe because he already had an existing contract?

[Catoneinutica]

Hot gossip from the mobile tech forums - DoCoMo staff were informed today that DoCoMo have signed with Apple for an iPhone release. Current roadmap is for an Autumn release in time for Christmas but many are suggesting this may happen earlier.

This is just rumour at this stage.

The DoCoMo rumor certainly raises an interesting scenario. DoCoMo is partially owned by the Ministry of Finance (as are JT and Tower Records [!], et al). If they carried the iPhone, they'd thus be in the position of promoting what is in effect a stinging rebuke to the Japanese electronics industry. It'd be like a J-gov't ministry promoting Hyundai cars or something.

METI must be shitting bricks.

[GomiGirl]

I saw this dude in the line yesterday. I had to walk past him to pick up some snacks for some friends in the line. He was hard to miss.

I did also run into our tattoo-ed friend Phoenix_Stu. He had a camp chair and looked quite comfy sitting in the queue.

[Charles]

I got the official iPhone 2.0 release, installed it on my 1st gen iPhone, it's great. However, I am totally underwhelmed with the total crap applications some people are writing. Like this utter piece of fecal matter, "Hold On!" Perhaps we could excuse these little turds as the byproduct of newbies to the platform, writing sample code.
However, it is harder to excuse the problems of people who just don't get the interface at all. Usually they're old Palm or Blackberry programmers, like this particularly bad example.

Oh well, it's bound to get better eventually, as real developers discover how to use the iPhone platform, and they replace the amateurs.

[GomiGirl]

OMG I agree with Charles!!

Also, here is the video from the launch - hand held MacBook Air using the built in camera and very noisy but captures the street party atmosphere from this morning.

About minute 4, there is a promo video shown in the corner of the live stream.. this was shot last Sunday and looks like somebody I know quite well.. it is in the Softbank stream as the guys in the front of the queue were the developers of Zeptopad and they haven't wasted any promotional opportunity.

About Minute 12 is when the doors opened to smoke etc. Looks like a bomb went off!!

[Cyka UchuuJin]

hmmm. i've been on vodafone/softbank since sept 2004 and i am only a temporary visitor (90 days), always have been. the only reason i went with vodafone back then was because they were the only company that had global roaming in kenya, so i have always has a sim card in my phone, and i'm on a autopayment from my credit card (non-japanese bank) and have a contract. when i'm in kenya, i usually even put my vodafone sim into my nokia phone there and it works just fine. i wonder if i were to buy an iphone somewhere else if i could just stick my sim in there like i do with the nokia.

as for the softbank restriction on visas, i think if you have an existing contract that you won't have any problems.

[nullpointer]

It does look like that if you are an existing softbank user then you will not be hassled regrading visa and related BS.

A random gaijin on iphoneinjapan.

[IkemenTommy]

About Minute 12 is when the doors opened to smoke etc. Looks like a bomb went off!!

And fuckin dorks...

[GomiGirl]

Oh well, it's bound to get better eventually, as real developers discover how to use the iPhone platform, and they replace the amateurs.

Yes well my apps haven't been launched yet!!

[ichigo partygirl]

iphone applications that you hate are going to annoy people in the same way that the endless number of useless facebook applications do (for those who use facebook).

[GomiGirl]

iphone applications that you hate are going to annoy people in the same way that the endless number of useless facebook applications do (for those who use facebook).

Only if they include the "must send to friends to get your answer" scheme that most damn facebook apps use.

I refuse to use facebook mainly for this reason and I think that as I have a blog, flickr and discussion groups like FG I think that is kinda enough for this little girl.

But then the Boy uses Facebook so I get him to send out invites and stuff when we have parties.

[omae mona]

I saw this dude in the line yesterday. I had to walk past him to pick up some snacks for some friends in the line. He was hard to miss.

I did also run into our tattoo-ed friend Phoenix_Stu. He had a camp chair and looked quite comfy sitting in the queue.

Wow, there must have been multiple foreigners with comfy chairs in the queue. NHK news had a brief clip talking to one who was keeping himself cool with a folding fan. It was definitely not Phoenix_stu, though (the guy was definitely tatoo-less).

[Taro Toporific]

Wow, there must have been multiple foreigners with comfy chairs in the queue....It was definitely not Phoenix_stu, though (the guy was definitely tatoo-less).

Danny Cho in dancertrooper drag was interviewed on CNN complete with his trademark boogie.
View video.

[Caustic Saint]

So has the hysteria died down already? How many FGs managed to score an iPhone?

[IkemenTommy]

So has the hysteria died down already? How many FGs managed to score an iPhone?

"This thread is now closed"

[Caustic Saint]

"This thread is now closed"

Are you sure?

[IkemenTommy]

How many FGs managed to score an iPhone?

I'm not going to be stake out in front of the shop for days just to find out that they ran out of stock. The fact that no one is bragging on here, I don't think anyone got one.

[Caustic Saint]

I'm not going to be stake out in front of the shop for days just to find out that they ran out of stock. The fact that no one is bragging on here, I don't think anyone got one.

I wasn't expecting bragging, just wondering if anybody managed to get one.

For the record, I did.

[SIZE="1"](No camping out, showed up at 8:40 Friday morning. Gotta love smaller, out of the way shops.)[/SIZE]

[omae mona]

For the record, I did.

(No camping out, showed up at 8:40 Friday morning. Gotta love smaller, out of the way shops.)

You gotta be joking. I assumed that with a 1-km, 1500-person line, the Omotesando store must be the only store selling the phone for a while. What the hell were those people doing lined up for 3 days if other stores had the phone in stock?

(P.S. congrats on your common sense, CS)

[Caustic Saint]

You gotta be joking. I assumed that with a 1-km, 1500-person line, the Omotesando store must be the only store selling the phone for a while. What the hell were those people doing lined up for 3 days if other stores had the phone in stock?

(P.S. congrats on your common sense, CS)

Well, I almost displayed a shocking lack of common sense, which would've left me iPhone-less. I was all set to go to Omotesando when the gf put her foot down and called me out for the nut I was being.

Thank goodness she did.

I went to work as usual on Friday morning (after getting a good night's sleep in a bed), but swung by the local Softbank shop near work on the way. There was a queue of 6 people and a sign on the door. Too much kanji for me, so I snapped a pic of it and went on to work to ask my boss what it said. She told me it basically said they'd pass out tickets (no lotto - you get a ticket, you get a phone) at 10, and phones could be picked up anytime after noon. I'd already arranged to come in an hour late, so she was surprised to see me there before 9, and said I could go wait for a ticket.

10 AM rolls around and I get a ticket for a 16gb black iPhone. Went back on my break to start the paperwork, then finished things up after work. The servers were overloaded Friday night, so I couldn't get the phone 'til Saturday when all the dust had settled and my Docomo number was transferred.

[Mike Oxlong]

Any problems with the contract? Needing to prove 2-1/2 years on your visa, or was it smooth sailing?

[IkemenTommy]

For the record, I did.

Then maybe you can give us a little review. Is it true that it puts out a shit load of heat?

[Caustic Saint]

Any problems with the contract? Needing to prove 2-1/2 years on your visa, or was it smooth sailing?

I got boned on the contract thing. I was changing from Docomo to Softbank, and have 16 months left on my current visa. I figured that would make for an easy transition, as I qualified for the "pay over 12 months, get the discount over 24" deal.

Nope.

For whatever reason, I was denied that and had to pay in full up front. I get the discount over 24 months, so the end result is basically the same. I'm just out a huge chunk of change right now. I was informed of that while out to dinner Friday night. (I'd left the shop and asked them to call me when they knew something.) Thankfully they were willing to hold the phone until I could swing by and pick it up on Saturday.

I'm not sure what their approval process is, but every case (the few I've read about online) of a gaijin changing to Softbank from another carrier ended up this way. The only exceptions have come from people who used a Japanese driver's license as their ID. They got approved easily and it's just those with a gaijin card and passport who've been asked to pay up front.

Then maybe you can give us a little review. Is it true that it puts out a shit load of heat?

Heat: Yes, it does get warm, but not as warm as some phones I've had in the past.

Sound Quality: Very good. Much better than I got with my Docomo 2G phone.

Reception: Very good. Much better than I got with my Docomo 2G phone.

GPS & Google Maps: Really frickin' cool! I went to the Costco near Machida with some friends yesterday and tried this out in their car on the way there. The positioning was slightly off at time, and the signal took a bit of time to lock in at first, but seeing that blue dot track across the Google satellite photo is really slick.

iPod-ness: Just like an iPod Touch. Very nice.

Web browsing: Decent speeds. The interface is also just like on the Touch.

Visual Voicemail: An iPod-like interface for voicemail messages. Very slick and more useful that I'd imagined it would be. Well worth the 315/month they charge for it.

SMS: Works just like it should and displays all back and forth messages together in an instant messenger format.

Camera: Not bad, but not spectacular. About what you'd expect from a keitai. Interesting note - it makes no sound when taking a photo.


Complaints: Yes, I have a couple.

1. No audible alerts for email. WTF? The phone alert system is very slick, and works great even if you're listening to music. Email just gives you a pop-up on the screen. Which isn't that great if the phone's in your pocket.

2. Syncing music. Unlike and iPod, the iPhone can only sync with one music library. Not so great if you keep your music on a home machine, but your calendar, contacts and podcasts on another one. (This is the system I use, since I want all the regularly updatable, smaller stuff on my MacBook, and the 30GB of music on the Mini. My solution to this was to put a backup of all my music on a portable hard drive, plug that into my router and use that location as my iTunes library. Seems to work well so far.)


I guess that's about it for now. I'll post more thoughts as they come up, and will answer whatever questions people may have.

[Charles]

1. No audible alerts for email. WTF? The phone alert system is very slick, and works great even if you're listening to music. Email just gives you a pop-up on the screen. Which isn't that great if the phone's in your pocket.

You can turn on audible email alerts in Preferences. You can even pick the sound. It even uses the vibrating buzz when you turn the ringer to silent mode.

Odd that you say the camera makes no sound when taking a picture. Mine does. But I'm using a 1st gen iPhone with the 2.0 software.