Madplanet

Softbank cuts iPhone data plan pricing

Softbank has announced it’s changing the pricing for its iPhone data plan, such that low-volume users will pay JPY1,695 for up to 20,175 packets, with the charges sliding up to a ceiling of JPY5,985 as data use goes beyond that threshold. That contrasts with the previous plan’s flat JPY5,985 rate and means that in a light month your total bill could fall to JPY2,990 instead of the previous floor of JPY7,280. Softbank haven’t yet said how many iPhones they’ve sold, but given that they’re still in short supply I presume the pricing cut isn’t to stimulate demand. What it might be aimed at, if we’re really going to speculate, is trying to get high-roller users to move from DoCoMo before the latter launches the iPhone itself. 

And after a dry spell in terms of news on that old subject, the Japanese blogs are suddenly going nuts about it. Apparently the 2.0.1 firmware includes “JP DoCoMo (3G)” in the carrier selection screen [SEE BELOW for correction]; and after writing the above about Softbank wanting to woo DoCoMo subscribers quickly, I see there’s also a (now deleted?) blog post (second in this list of Google blog search results) on Pasona Tech’s site speculating that Softbank has revised its all-you-can-eat data plans to prepare for a DoCoMo iPhone launch; and so on and so on.

[CORRECTION: On further investigation, it seems that the carrier selection screen simply displays all compatible networks that the phone has detected; since Softbank and DoCoMo both use the same W-CDMA format, apparently DoCoMo shows up there — and has been doing since launch in Japan. Nothing new with 2.0.1, therefore.]

Murakami's Norwegian Wood heads for the big screen

Tran Anh Hung, who filmed Scent of Green Papayas and Cyclo, is signed on to direct Haruki Murakami’s Norwegian Wood, with filming starting next year for a 2010 release.

The last work of Murakami’s to be filmed, Tony Takitani, seemed to be well received, but very little of his output has even made it close to the screen thus far. (There was the famous example of the director who wanted to do A Wild Sheep Chase Blade Runner-style with cyborg sheep, so you can appreciate any scepticism Murakami might feel about having his stuff filmed.)

Will be interested to see who they cast in the lead roles, for one thing.

Name of the day: Arny Kapshitzer