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  Hikozaemon at 02:12 AM JST - 18th July

  I want one - and as a Softbank subscriber since the J-Phone days, the way Masayoshi Son has turned the unit around since Borderphone's disasterous expedition in Japan is inspiring.

  All the anti-softbankers, who do you like then, Docomo???

  I get the thing with the features - Yes the iPhone has a great screen that you can play recorded, converted, and transfered videos on - but most good Japanese mobiles can receive digital tv straight off, and people do use it on long commutes, or to watch sports while working late.

  Also, sha-mails (texts with photo attachments) are huge in Japan, that and emoticons are the basic way people mail each other - lack of texting shows the Amero-centrism of the handset, the only market where texting has never caught on. Fair enough for America, but stupid for the rest of the world, for a feature that shouldn't have been that hard to include.

  The camera is a bit lame too - most mobiles now have cameras that are basically full spec digital cameras, and shoot good video too. The camera on the iPhone is 8 years out of date by spec.

  The appeal for me is the ease of internet connection, the nice screen, and the music player capability - most Japanese phones have MP3 players but require conversion of all files through copyright protection software that is simply too much of a pain to use. I guess we can choose now between a Japanese phone/tv/text/camera, or an American phone/internet/PDA/mp3 player. I think I will get one of these, but it will be nice when someone offers the complete package - the Koreans seem to be doing the best job of that at the moment. It will be interesting to see what Japanese handset makers, Sharp in particular, do to respond.

  Peace

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  MadamK82 at 06:18 AM JST - 18th July

  My friend got one when it came out, and he's already brought it back. he said the reception was awful (though that probably has more to do with the fact that he's with AT&T rather than it being a problem with the phone itself) also, the battery life isn't so great. He's a journalism major, so having video recording capabilities (catching stories when they happen) is very critical for him. I'm assuming that the iphones released in america are the same as the ones released in japan, and if they are, I think not having basic things like voice recording, video recording, and the ability to send multimedia messages (something my 2003 samung phone could do) makes the iphone not worth buying. (That and no phone could make me go back to AT&T.) I'll wait until next year when the third model comes out.

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  Badsey at 06:32 AM JST - 18th July

  this iPhone 2.0 is a huge upgrade and you now have 500 (mostly pay under iTunes) applications/ganes tto put on it. There are also ~2000 web aps to use under Safari. If you have the old iPhone you need to update software to 2.0 to run the new applications.

  Must have wifi or Bluetooth link to download softs.

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  rajakumar at 06:49 AM JST - 18th July

  Apple's moving for more dominance among tech savvy consumer market via iPhone gadjets.

  Apple and USA gadjets makers, leading in innovations in IT communications tech sector and making apples shares worth more.

  2000s pops and drops, run,may be IT tech gadjets based, in sections of global consumers ,especially in richer nations.

  Some fast money is moving towards apple's iPhone. Way to go.

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  mindovermatter at 08:29 AM JST - 18th July

  Oh....well.... how about that great support for ringtones...on every single Japanese model phone, including softbank, docomo, au...etc...

  If you don't own a Windows computer or download all of your ringtones / music through your phones web interface you're basically screwed...

  I don't have an I-Phone yet, but this would be the one big selling point for me... having owned a slew of docomo's, au's & j-phones, I think it's safe to say that one can actually use I-Tunes ON A MAC machine to get music....

  Unlike the last Foreign model (Nokia) from Softbank where they guaranteed, uses I-Tunes....

  Only later to find out... You must have a fricken Windows machine which runs I-Tunes....(NOT MAC...Windows ONLY) Who would have guessed....

  I'm sure not many people on this post even use Mac, much less the open source standard Linux... It's just as well a bunch of novices..

  enjoy your your new toy...don't try to understand why...just go about your ignorant bliss...

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  cnc at 02:19 PM JST - 18th July

  Its funny no one has pointed this out yet... 1:) Everyone agrees that Japanese mobile phones are superior in function and usability (I think everyone here has pointed out more or less all the minus points), so in comparison to the handsets available nowdays the trading-in for an Iphone is actually a downgrade.

  2:) It is expensive compared to nearly every subsidized phone on the Japanese market regardless of the carrier. Sets that are 30,000yen plus in the beginning get knocked down to less than 1/4th of that in about a couple of months or so , after debut. The way Apple inc., does business i do not foresee a drop in price in any future, be it near or far.

  3:) Operating cost is very expensive. Softbank ties you in for a 2-year contract making you pay 8,240/m for the 8G and 8,720/m for the 16G. This is excluding 3 other options you must have and content fees.

  4:) I admit after playing with a working display for about 30 minutesI was impressed with the interface and application usability but, that was it the was nothing else more extraordinary about it. Size was too big for someone who mails on trains, busses etc., and the keyboard is not efficient. There is a lack of that instant response needed for fast texting and even with a software upgrade it still doesn't amount to the confidence gained in using a real keypad. I know because the foremost experts on this talent.. 'the kokosei'..also avoided the MotoRAZR because of its too slick keypad.

  5:) Anyone who has been living in Japane long enough knows this for a fact that the Japanese love to lineup in front of shops, so much so that when they see an impressive line they will just line up without even confirming what the line is for. So, whatever we saw before the debut of the iphone in Japan was just something very normal for the Japanese. Lines in the rest of the world can be attributed to the fact that no one apart from South Koreans, have mobile phones as advanced as they have here so naturally everyone was expected to line up as they did for the shiny new iphone. This reminds me of one more point for comparison. The Japanese culture is not and does not promote the showing off of one's possessions. Whereas the rest of the world thrives on the idea and is indirectly also attributes to the committing of some percentage of crime. Hence the reason why everyone lined up for the Big, Bright and shiny iphone. In comparison docomo in Japan had released a micro sized keitai by sony (if I remember correctly), and if I am not wrong it is still one of the best selling handsets. Docomo already has experience trying to market a large formfactor handset (the motorola M1000) and I don't think it was a good one. For the readers who have been patient and are not particularly going head over heels for the iphone, there is still hope. Google is working on a new software platform called Android, for mobile phones and from what I can judge it seems to be more promising than the iphone.

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  Zen_Builder at 02:31 PM JST - 18th July

  Myself don't see a need to upgrade.

  My current Softbank handset has 3G, MP3, TV, good camera(Pic and Video), GPS, infrared, bluetooth, etc. And whoever said they are struggling with a japanese interface hasn't found the setting to switch to english(don't work on PHS). ;)

  Not saying the IPhone is rubbish, just not worth it for me to learn a new interface, etc.

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  Zen_Builder at 02:31 PM JST - 18th July

  Forgot to add world-roaming.

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  GJP2006 at 02:49 PM JST - 18th July

  I just won't pay that much for monthly fees. I see not incentive to switch and I am a Mac fan and user.

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  satorujk at 09:21 PM JST - 18th July

  iphone's bluetooth is for audio streaming only. not file transfers!! What? how bad is that!

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  Badsey at 07:15 AM JST - 19th July

  You can easily make to your own ringtones for your iPhone (for free) or pay Apple $2.

  You can buy apps or make your own with the Apple SDK.

  The choice is yours.

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  Zen_Builder at 07:19 AM JST - 19th July

  I would guess it could be done without the sdk.

  Just need to be tech-savvy.

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  Badsey at 10:03 AM JST - 19th July

  (sad)Mac truth: I have an iMac 20" and haven't used it for a month since I have the iPhone. Now I want the iPhone 2.0 soft upgrade (iPhone must update thru computer). Can't do it since the wifi security page won't come up under Firefox or Safari on my iMac. This Wifi access point actually works fine on the iPhone though. This is not a home wifi,but on the road wifi access. I don't run WinXp on my Mac either, but that would fix the problem. =games on my iPhone must wait another day.

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  DeepAir65 at 04:30 PM JST - 22nd July

  All the anti-softbankers, who do you like then, Docomo???

  AU - the reception is far superior than 3G. Someone was trying to demo me their iPhone and no reception in the middle of Tokyo...

  If I had an iPhone then people could actually reach me - quite often I leave my phone behind but my nano goes with me everywhere!

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  lolipop at 09:53 AM JST - 23rd July

  proud Apple i say i dont need u

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