8GB iPhone 3G to sell for about $215 in Japan, says carrier

[Dashken]

The announcement that Japanese mobile carrier SoftBank would be the first to offer the iPhone 3G in Japan was surprising to many observers, mainly because SoftBank is considerably smaller than competitors NTT DoCoMo and au by KDDI. There was also the question of just how many Japanese consumers would even want the iPhone 3G. Based on a recent Reuters piece detailing SoftBank's iPhone 3G pricing, though, the carrier is hoping that the iPhone 3G will solve both problems, and is trying to keep prices a bit lower than its rivals to sweeten the deal.

The 8G iPhone 3G will be selling for ¥23,040, or approximately $214, and the 16GB model will cost ¥34,560, or around $321. The article also says that customers can "pay for the device over the course of two years," although it's unclear if this is just referring to a subsidy, or if it's something else. In terms of monthly charges, SoftBank says that the iPhone subscription will run users roughly ¥7,280 per month, or $67, including unlimited 3G data access.

iPhone 3G switchers will do good things for SoftBank's bottom line, since the ¥7,280 revenue from iPhone customers is roughly 70 percent higher than the current per-customer average. Based on the iPhone 3G's features and SoftBank's pricing scheme, the carrier is expecting users who are currently paying a lot more with the two big carriers to switch over. Unfortunately, supplies are expected to be limited at launch, since a lot of other countries are getting the iPhone 3G at the same time.

Source: 8GB iPhone 3G to sell for about $215 in Japan, says carrier