Even if this were just a joke, it’d still be fun to publish. But no, the iPhone 3G’s 8 GB model is the most popular smartphone in Japan at retail, and the 16 GB version holds the number two position. What’s more impressive than the iPhone’s Japanese dominance is its carrier, Softbank, which “adjusted its plans to make the product cheaper in terms of fees and hardware.” This is such a smart tactic as it gets the iPhone into the hands of more people. Just think about what would happen if instead of costing around $80 a month (before taxes and inexplicable fees, of course), AT&T charged customers $50 or $60 a month to use the iPhone. A lot of people look at a $200 phone and see that as the barrier to entry, but the initial cost is negligible in comparison to the amount of money paid over time. Signing that two-year contract for the iPhone in the US costs you well over $2000 in fees alone.
