CyberMedia Blog

Yesterday evening at 16.00h a long line of people gathered in front of the Softbank shop in Omotesando. Already 4hours before the “Night before the iPhone 3G S release party” many enthusiasts and journalists stood in line to get entry to that special release party in a small hall next to the shop.

After some introduction finally at midnight Masayoshi son, the president of Softbank, showed up on stage and hailed the new features of the new iPhone. Later at 1am a typical “Janken Taikai” was held for two hours with prices of more than $100 each. After a small break from 3 to 4.30 hot dogs were served, before the crowed moved over to the Softbank shop in Omotesando for the official realease party of the new iPhone.

Then at 6.40h, 20minutes before the Softbank shop in Omotesando officially opens, Masayoshi Son and Uedo Aya, actress, singer and media icon for the iPhone in Japan, open the special iPhone 3G S release party together.

From early in the morning a long line of people waited in front of the shop and all media was represented.
 

Last night the whole Softbank shop was redecorated to a special iPhone shop. From today till Sunday Omotesando’s Softbank shop will sell no other phones than the new iPhones; all other handsets were removed from the store.

After Masayoshi Son showed some features of the new iPhone (e.g. video) to Uedo Aya and to excited people waiting in line, a countdown ushered the new 3G S area in Japan.

Son and Uedo welcomed every customer with a handshake and the whole Softbank team applauded when new costumers entered the shop.

Let’s see how successful the new iPhone is gonna be in Japan and how many handsets Softbank is gonna sell this weekend.

Japanese consumers want exclusivity and constant updates of product lines! That’s a big difference to Western markets, where product quality is mostly equal to long-time usage. In Japan, customers are spoiled and demand constant improvements, the highest quality, and the best service. Every mobile carrier releases new lines of mobile phones (15-20 models) in a wide range of colors and special editions every three months. In the entertainment business it’s the same. Every three months, comedians, TV shows, and dramas are also radically changed. Japanese Pop musicians who don’t release any video clip, single or CD for several weeks soon find themselves replaced by other artists.

OK, back to mobile. Softbank introduced a new service exclusively to Softbank users. Their slogan says: “The most interesting comedy can be seen on TV? Not at all! It’s more likely to be the mobile phone!” (いちばんオモシロイお笑いが見られるのは、テレビ？いや、ケータイかもよ。）

The service is called ‘S-1 Battle‘ and provides not only exclusive Japanese comedy (Monomane, Konto, Rakugo etc.) content from famous comedians, but let’s the users compare and rate these comedian’s performance. The site is made up like a K1-like battle ground. Every day, two comedians compete against each other. The champions of each month will battle at a live event at the end of the year. The total prize money for fighters in 2009 is 2.3 million dollars, the monthly champion will get $100.000 and all Softbank users have chances to win prices every month. So if you are lucky, a Softbank user and like Japanese comedy, scan the code below and enjoy the fight!