iPhone launch news roundup

it would have been pretty hard for anyone in town not to notice that last Friday saw the long awaited launch of Apple's 3G version of the iPhone in Japan. my favourite keitai news sites were totally devoted to the launch, with barely an article about anything else.

one recurring theme, even in the mainstream media (Nihon Keisai Shinbum) was the comparison of the iPhone to Commodore Perry's Black Ships that opened Japan to the outside world. I have high hopes that the iPhone and more importantly the model surrounding the App Store are going to shake up the local keitai market.it shouldn't be a surprise that the iPhone effectively sold out on the first day. the flagship SoftBank store in Omotesando opened at 7am, with other stores and electrical retailers starting the sale of iPhones from midday. I popped along to BIC Camera's HQ in Yurakucho around 1pm and there was plenty of exitement, with queues around the building and TV cameras reporting on the action. but unfortunately Ueto Aya was already nowhere to be seen!

one internet article had went along asking the people in line what phone they had currently been using and they were spread evenly amongst SoftBank, docomo and au, so I think the iPhone is definitely a good thing for SoftBank right now, and the longer they remain the sole network with iPhone the better.on the comical side of things, one article touched on the sole reason why I will not be buying an iPhone anytime soon, and that is of course the lack of mobile wallet (osaifu-keitai) functions. they looked into whether you could get similar functionality by strapping a IC enabled credit card to the back of your iPhone. personally though, for now I think I will settle for carrying around two devices. a nice Japanese keitai and iPod Touch.