Gov't Plans Free Loan of iPhones to Tourists

[Mulboyne]

The Tourist Agency has announced a trial plan to offer tourists the free loan of an iPhone 4. The scheme will start in Okinawa next month and run for two years. The agency thinks they will be helpful to tourists looking for shopping, restaurant and travel information on the go. There will be a 100 handsets available at airports and port terminals while a further 200 are to be offered through hotels and restaurants. There will be a 24 hour call centre prepared to support the service. The agency also has an eye on expanding the plan to include Kyoto and Tokyo, mentioning Asakusa specifically as a likely target.

Link(Japanese)

[IparryU]

The Tourist Agency has announced a trial plan to offer tourists the free loan of an iPhone 4. The scheme will start in Okinawa next month and run for two years. The agency thinks they will be helpful to tourists looking for shopping, restaurant and travel information on the go. There will be a 100 handsets available at airports and port terminals while a further 200 are to be offered through hotels and restaurants. There will be a 24 hour call centre prepared to support the service. The agency also has an eye on expanding the plan to include Kyoto and Tokyo, mentioning Asakusa specifically as a likely target.

Link(Japanese)

i doubt that this will be solid... lets wait and see

[Yokohammer]

They're going to lend 'em out to FGs for free?

It can't be ... gotta be some sort of setup so they can complain about FGs not returning the phones ...

(Probably not, but it's been a long week and I need something to bitch about.)

[Mulboyne]

i doubt that this will be solid... lets wait and see

You rarely get a government agency announcing something like that unless it's a done deal. Softbank, JTB and Dentsu are some of the big corporate names which have signed up to the project.

As I mentioned in another thread, the past experience and natural cynicism of many FGs leads us to be dubious about this plan to encourage tourism but we shouldn't be blind to the fact that there is a major effort under way nationwide.

[Bucky]

[IkemenTommy]

My question is that foreign 3G enabled phones can roam domestically (expensively) but what's the point?

I bet that this boondoggle will be scrapped as soon as they discover that many foreigners do not return these souvenirs upon their departure.


*Yes, I know that softwank iPhones are SIM-locked and they cannot be used outside of Japan so let's don't get into that heated discussion.

[Mulboyne]

I guess the government is trying everything, even extreme ideas like this, to bolster tourism.

To be fair, that's already old data. The year-on-year visitor numbers have been positive since November 2009 so the trend turned some months ago. July is the most recent statistic and Chinese visitors came in record numbers.

What the earlier collapse does show is how vulnerable Japan's visitor flow is to sharp swings when economies dive and the yen rises. That's true of every country but most developed nations already have a stable tourism base. Japan is almost still at the stage of a developing nation tourist industry but those kinds of destinations are usually cheap and wholly geared towards tourism so they often buck global trends when they are just being discovered.

[Mulboyne]

It's all kicked off under the name Okinawa2Go!

Press Release (Japanese PDF)

I can't find any English details but the numbers for the 24h call centre are:

098 (916) 6180 (English)
098 (916) 6181 (Chinese)
098 (916) 6182 (Korean)

[Iraira]

What a great way to keep track of foreigners traveling in Japan..give them a phone and monitor where they go and record the troubles/illegal activities they engage in.

[Mulboyne]

The project has also set up free wi-fi hotspots in Okinawa to support the free rental iphones. Other device users can register to use them too but I suppose there would be a fee.