Softbank Corp, Japan’s only provider of Apple Inc’s iPhone, is losing part of that exclusivity as Japan Communications Inc starts offering chips that let the smartphone access another network.
Japan Communications will offer a Subscriber Identity Module, a chip that allows unlocked iPhone 4s to use NTT DoCoMo Inc’s network, Japan Communications said in a statement today. The service will cost ¥5,280 (US$62) a month for unlimited data use with a separate charge for voice calls and will be available on Thursday for users who reserved online, according to a statement by the company.
Softbank remains the only carrier that sells the iPhone in Japan, where handsets are locked, meaning they will not accept SIM cards from other providers. Japan Communications’ SIM cards will work with unlocked iPhone 4 models that can be purchased online or outside Japan.
Japan Communications offers mobile phone services by leasing a portion of DoCoMo’s network. The company’s iPhone plan also allows users to connect a laptop to the Internet via the smartphone, a service not offered by Softbank.
The company has no immediate plan to offer 3G SIM cards for Apple’s iPad tablet computer, chief executive Frank Seiji Sanda said yesterday in Tokyo.
DoCoMo, Japan’s largest mobile phone carrier, rose 0.2 percent to close at ¥142,100 on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Softbank, the country’s third-largest, fell 2.7 percent to ¥2,468, the biggest decline since July 16.
Japan’s smartphone shipments will probably exceed 3 million units in the 12 months from April 1, while the overall mobile phone market is expected to contract for a third year, according to MM Research Institute Ltd.
Apple shipped 1.69 million iPhones in the year ended March 31 and has 72 percent of the country’s smartphone market, MM Research said in April. Handsets made by Taiwan’s HTC Corp (宏達), which run on Android and Microsoft Corp’s Windows software, were second with 11 percent, the Tokyo-based researcher said.
Android, which also runs on tablet computers, may overtake Apple’s iOS, the operating system for the iPad and iPhone, in two years, El Segundo, California-based industry researcher ISuppli Corp said yesterday. Google’s software will probably run on 75 million phones in 2012, compared with 62 million handsets for iOS, it said.
DoCoMo’s mobile phone sales will probably rise 1 percent to 18.2 million units in the year ending March next year, the Tokyo-based company said last month. The carrier hasn’t disclosed smartphone sales figures for last fiscal year.
DoCoMo started selling its third Android model last month, while Softbank offers one Android phone. KDDI Corp, Japan’s second-largest carrier, introduced its first handset running the software developed by Google in June.
PLA MANEUVERS: Although Beijing has yet to formally announce military drills, its coast guard vessels have been spotted near and around Taiwan since Friday The Taiwanese military is on high alert and is closely monitoring the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) air and naval deployments after Beijing yesterday reserved seven airspace areas east of its Zhejiang and Fujian provinces through Wednesday. Beijing’s action was perceived as a precursor to a potential third “Joint Sword” military exercise, which national security experts said the PLA could launch following President William Lai’s (賴清德) state visits to the nation’s three Pacific allies and stopovers in Hawaii and Guam last week. Unlike the Joint Sword military exercises in May and October, when Beijing provided detailed information about the affected areas, it
CHINA: The activities come amid speculation that Beijing might launch military exercises in response to Lai’s recent visit to Pacific allies The Ministry of National Defense (MND) yesterday said China had nearly doubled the number of its warships operating around the nation in the previous 24 hours, ahead of what security sources expect would be a new round of war games. China’s military activities come amid speculation Beijing might organize military drills around the nation in response to President William Lai’s (賴清德) recent visit to Pacific allies, including stops in Hawaii and Guam, a US territory. Lai returned from the week-long trip on Friday night. Beijing has held two rounds of war games around Taiwan this year, and sends ships and military planes
Five flights have been arranged to help nearly 2,000 Taiwanese tourists return home from Okinawa after being stranded due to cruise ship maintenance issues, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications announced yesterday. China Airlines Ltd (中華航空), and EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) have arranged five flights with a total of 748 additional seats to transport 1,857 passengers from the MSC Bellissima back to Taiwan, the ministry said. The flights have been scheduled for yesterday and today by the Civil Aviation Administration, with the cruise operator covering all associated costs. The MSC Bellissima, carrying 4,341 passengers, departed from Keelung on Wednesday last week for Okinawa,
China is deploying its largest navy fleet in regional waters in nearly three decades, posing a threat to Taiwan that is more pronounced than previous Chinese war games, the Ministry of National Defense said today. Speaking in Taipei, ministry spokesperson Sun Li-fang (孫立方) said the scale of the current Chinese naval deployment in an area running from the southern Japanese islands down into the South China Sea was the largest since China held war games around Taiwan ahead of 1996 Taiwanese presidential elections. China's military has yet to comment and has not confirmed it is carrying out any exercises. "The current scale is
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