iPhone Helps Japan's #3 Cell Company Karate-Chop the Competition

It may be only the third-biggest cellphone company in Japan, but Softbank Corp. just did a big Number Two on its competitors, thanks to the House of Jobs.

Shortly after beginning to sell the iPhone, Softbank announced an increase of 215,400 subscribers this past July, which -- on top of the over half-million subscribers it brought on board four months ago with free calling between family members -- gave it a 15-month lead on new customers over NTT DoCoMo Inc. and KDDI Corp. (respectively, the #1 and #2 "Cellphone Sons" in the Land of the Rising Sun).  By comparison, DoCoMo boasts 53.7 million subscribers, with another 30.3 million aligned with KDDI.

New-subscriber discounts and two-year installment plans helped Softbank storm into the lead; they currently offer the 8-gigabyte iPhone model for ¥23,040 (US$208.00) and the 16-gigabyte version for ¥34,560 (US$313.00) for first-time iPhoners.

[Via The Japan Times]