Digital Daily » SoftBank

Open Handset Alliance: 47 Members. 1 Phone.

John Paczkowski — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 18:36:33 +0000

You wouldn’t know it from the number of Android handsets on the market, but support for Google’s (GOOG) new mobile operating system is growing. This morning, Open Handset Alliance, a coterie of tech companies dedicated to promoting the OS, added 14 new partners to its roster. Among them, device manufacturers like Sony Ericsson and Toshiba, chipmakers like ARM (ARMH) and Atheros (ATHR), and carriers like Softbank and Vodafone (VOD). With OHA already counting T-Mobile, Motorola (MOT), Sprint Nextel (S), NTT Docomo (DCM), HTC, Qualcomm (QCOM), Intel (INTC) and Samsung as members, it lacks only AT&T (T), Verizon (VZ) and Nokia (NOK). Glaring omissions, these. AT&T and Verizon are the two largest carriers in the states, and Nokia controls more than a third of the handset market. Still, the Android ecosystem is clearly well established. Now if the OHA could only begin populating it with a few more handsets beyond the T-Mobile G1, currently its lone inhabitant.

Carl Icahn Angry, Very Angry Indeed

John Paczkowski — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 18:00:21 +0000

[ See post to watch video ]

Softbank iPhone Deal Announced With 1-Button Press Release

John Paczkowski — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 12:10:43 +0000

With less than a week to go before Apple CEO Steve Jobs’s June 9 Worldwide Developers Conference keynote address and the expected debut of the 3G iPhone–and perhaps the Apple App Store and Mac OS X 10.6 as well–the company has finally closed a deal that will bring the device to Japan, one of the world’s largest and most demanding mobile-phone markets.

Softbank (SFTBF), Japan’s No. 3 wireless provider, broke the news in a spartan press release that would do even Apple (AAPL), a company renowned for its minimalist gadgets, proud. If ever there was a one-button press release, this is it:

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

Well, there you go. Presumably, Jobs will fill us in on the details on Monday. In any event, lining up a wireless partner in Japan is an important step for Apple, which hopes to gain a 1% share of the global cellphone business by the end of 2008. Nomura Research Institute estimates that Apple can sell 2 million to 3 million iPhones annually in Japan–-about 5% of the market–if it plays its cards right.

Also announced this morning, a deal with Telefonica (TEM), which has agreed to distribute the iPhone in Spain through its Movistar subsidiary. Together the two deals bring the iPhone distributor count up to an even 70, with more countries presumably waiting in the wings.

(Image credit: AAPLinvestors)

iPhone on the Fast Boat to Japan

John Paczkowski — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 19:00:17 +0000

[ See post to watch video ]

Konichiwa, iPhone

John Paczkowski — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 08:01:45 +0000

They say you need to know about 2,000 different kanji pictograms in order to read a Japanese newspaper. So how the hell is Apple going to adapt the iPhone’s virtual keyboard for modern Japanese?

We’ll have the answer soon enough. “People familiar with the situation” tell The Wall Street Journal that Apple is in talks with NTT DoCoMo and Softbank–two of Japan’s premier wireless carriers–about offering its iPhone in Japan.

Discussions, however, are not going well. Both carriers have balked at Apple’s terms, which include a subscriber revenue share that some estimates put at about 10%. “The negotiations are not going smoothly, as Apple’s conditions are extremely hard to meet,” one source told Reuters. “The ball is in Apple’s court right now.”

But likely not for long. In order to meet its goal of gaining a 1% share of the global cellphone business by the end of 2008, Apple must bring the iPhone to market in Japan. Nomura Research Institute estimates that Apple can sell 2 million to 3 million iPhones annually in Japan–about 5% of the market–if it plays its cards right.