Oceanshaft

Wow, was watching the news last night when Softbank made a bold move in the battle between the handphone companies.

Today marks the start of number portability for mobile phones in Japan. Up to now, it's been predicted that the change in market share for each of the 3 major companies (NTT DoCoMo, au, Softbank) will be minimal. Even so, all three have been gearing up to increase their slice of the pie. But Softbank's sudden press conference on the eve of the big day really made an impact. The head of the company came out in person to announce that Softbank users would pay no fee for local phone calls to other Softbank users. That's zero yen, and a very big factor in Japan, where calling fees are so high most people use emails as the main form of communication.

A bold move, and they managed to keep it under wraps till now. Now we know the real meaning behind all those 「予想外」 commercials. New versions were delivered to the television broadcasters just yesterday too, apparently.

Of course, conditions and limitations will apply to the zero yen discount, but the sudden announcement, made after DoCoMo and au had already held their press events, really had impact.