Softbank To Cap iPhone Bandwidth

Japan’s exclusive iPhone provider Softbank, the 3rd largest carrier, announced [J] that they will introduce bandwidth limit for heavy users of their data plan from December, to keep network quality and fairness of network usage. In case of using the Packet-Teigaku(fixed rate)-Full plan [J], which Japanese iPhone users usually depends on, if your monthly usage… Continue reading Softbank To Cap iPhone Bandwidth

MCF Announces This Year’s Award-Winning Mobile Projects (2/2)

Continued from the previous post. ———- Excellent Award (Mobile Solution Category) Won by McDonalds Japan[J] and the JV, a McDonalds’ joint venture with NTT DoCoMo, with their customer relationship marketing project by using cellphone wallet and mobile apps. Every Friday they distribute virtual discount coupons for McDonald’s meals to participating members’ handsets, which is valid… Continue reading MCF Announces This Year’s Award-Winning Mobile Projects (2/2)

iPhone 3GS Keeps No.1 In Japan On Its 2nd Week

This is a follow-up article on the news of iPhone sales in Japan. BCN weekly ranking [J] is updated and now we are seeing a weekly ranking for June 29th to July 5th. The newly introduced iPhone 3GS 32GB stays at the top position, whilst the 16GB loses No.2 position taken back by Sharp SH-06A.… Continue reading iPhone 3GS Keeps No.1 In Japan On Its 2nd Week

SMG and Alibaba: SoftBank strengthens ties with major Chinese web players

SoftBank seems to be pretty bullish about the growing Chinese web market, which is no wonder as there are about 300 million web users in that country (China has the biggest Internet population in the world). The Japanese technology behemoth formed two strategic alliances with high-profile Chinese partners in the last few days. Alliance with… Continue reading SMG and Alibaba: SoftBank strengthens ties with major Chinese web players

Masayoshi Son Retrospects A Meeting With Steve Jobs About Cellphone iPod Idea

At the iPhone 3GS launch event in Omotesando, Tokyo, Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son told a story about when he talked an idea of combining iPod and cellphone to Steve Jobs. According to Son, he had a meeting with jobs in 4,5 years ago, which is before he bought the Japan’s third biggest cellphone company from… Continue reading Masayoshi Son Retrospects A Meeting With Steve Jobs About Cellphone iPod Idea

iPhone 3GS Purchase Livestreaming Girl in Tokyo

At a flagship shop of Softbank Mobile, Japanese reseller of iPhone, there are people began lining up for tomorrow morning, new iPhone 3GS. Ketsudan Potaufe, a web unit sends a live reporter girl to there and let her broadcast live report from there on ustream. [update] ustream.tv stopped its service. old link was: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/potaufe The… Continue reading iPhone 3GS Purchase Livestreaming Girl in Tokyo

E-mail-only friend delivery springs up in Japan

Mixi Nengajou (new year greeting card) is not the only emerging service tries to turn online friendship into real items delivery. This is too much of a coincidence that Mixi, Softbank (owns 40% of Yahoo! Japan) and au(KDDI)-DeNA(runs Mobage Town) launched virtual to real shipping services in last 2 months. Softbank Puchi Gift November 4th,… Continue reading E-mail-only friend delivery springs up in Japan

Mixi gets pre-installed on all SoftBank phones, starting with the Sharp 931SH

It seems that Japan’s biggest SNS Mixi and the country’s third largest cell phone carrier SoftBank are getting closer and closer. Following the announcement of the general partnership in the mobile web space, all SoftBank handsets sold from now on will feature a pre-installed Mixi widget. Sharp’s awesome Aquos 931SH cell phone, which features an… Continue reading Mixi gets pre-installed on all SoftBank phones, starting with the Sharp 931SH

Shake-up in Japan’s mobile web: Mixi, MySpace, Mobage, Yahoo, Dwango and SoftBank Mobile collaborate

The mobile web is huge in Japan, meaning the alliance between Japanese Internet powerhouses Dwango, Mixi, MySpace Japan, Mobage-town, Yahoo and telecommunications company SoftBank Mobile announced on Thursday has to be taken very seriously. Details are rather scarce at this point but SoftBank, for example, says [J] Dwango will provide content from its super-successful video… Continue reading Shake-up in Japan’s mobile web: Mixi, MySpace, Mobage, Yahoo, Dwango and SoftBank Mobile collaborate

Softbank Mobile to Release 1-seg TV tuner for iPhone

Softbank Mobile announced today to release 1-seg digital TV tuner device for iPhone in the middle of December.   The 80-gram device provides the feature of TV over WiFi (converting TV signal received to IP-based data for iPhone) and doubles as a battery extender.   Three hours continuous TV viewing is available.   Price is not announced so… Continue reading Softbank Mobile to Release 1-seg TV tuner for iPhone