iPhone 3G starts people lining up outside Softbank Mobile stores in Japan
By David Gonzales on 09 Jul 08So the first final worldwide release of the new iPhone is a just a few days away. For some, it might be just another mobile phone launch, but still there are those who see this as a landmark event. Wanting to be part of it, people have started lining up outside stores where the iPhone 3G will be for sale, such as the one in Tokyo, Japan.
Softbank Mobile Corp.’s main store in Tokyo has been the store of choice for at least 20 people so far to lineup in while waiting for the release of the iPhone 3G. Everyone from students to the president of a software company have leveled to wait in line together for the next must-have gadget of this year.
The first person in line is a certain Sano, a 24-year old computer science student. He most likely isn’t really the first person to arrive at Softbank Mobile’s store to wait in line, but won the right by playing rock-paper-scissors with the other people on site and winning.
Japan is known for highly advanced mobile technology, and even before the iPhone I’m sure the “Internet in your pocket” is somewhat old news for them. What attracts the buyers these days, it seems, is the full software suite included in the iPhone’s operating system. It’s almost as if the iPhone emulates it’s bigger, costlier, and more powerful brothers (Macs) by selling the software inside it and looking good at the same time.
Sano says the first thing he’ll do when he bags the iPhone is to “try the GPS function and Google Maps.” Ryo Shimizu, president of a mobile phone software company, Ubiquitous Entertainment, says “people who only look at hardware and functions are missing the point” because the iPhone’s biggest selling strength is in its software.
He further goes on to say that “The iPhone will set a new standard for the mobile-phone industry, the way Star Wars did for special effects in movies. It’s more than a phone: It’s a paradigm shift.”
If the iPhone mania spreads all over the world, it won’t be long before Shimizu’s words ring true. And if ever, this paradigm shift looks to be for the better.
Read Bloomberg
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