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iPhone Credited for SoftBank Success in Japan

Monday, August 11th, 2008 at 1:15 PM - by

SoftBank in Japan is crediting the iPhone for their net growth, and a competitor, KDDI, admitted that their own handsets just weren't attractive enough, according to Tech-On!

While new mobile subscriptions declined overall from last year, SoftBank has been able to use the the iPhone to grab a significant share of new subscriptions. One of the smaller carriers, KDDI, was particularly hurt by cancellations. "We are accepting the fact, considering that our handsets weren't attractive enough," KDDI said.

Some observers had previously doubted that the iPhone would go over well in Japan, but that thesis was put to the test when an iSHARE survey early in July showed that the iPhone topped the list when Japanese customers were asked which smartphone they were interested in.

"We believe our large net growth was an iPhone effect," said SoftBank's Mobile's PR Department. The Japanese carrier thinks that the iPhone may have also generated enough buzz to draw interest to their other phones, contributing to their success after the iPhone launch.

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