Softbank to cut minimum monthly fee on iPhone to Y2,990

ntttttttttttt

Japan’s No. 3 mobile carrier Softbank Corp on Tuesday lowered the monthly fee for the iPhone, with payments starting as low as 2,990 yen a month, less than half the cost at its introduction here last month. The fee offered then was 7,280 yen for unlimited use.

The change is aimed at wooing more people to iPhone, not just the niche heavy Net users that Softbank initially thought would be attracted to the product, Softbank Chief Executive Masayoshi Son said.

Son also spent some time praising the iPhone, especially its features such as email security and easy software upgrades that are different from what’s available on Japan’s Net-linking handsets.

“This is really great,” he said about his own iPhone. “I can’t stop myself from having fun with it. I can’t stop myself from loving it. Twenty-four hours in a day just aren’t enough.”

Apple has said that it sold a million of the new 3G-ready iPhone handsets around the world in three days when they went on sale in July. The iPhone 3G is available in more than 20 countries, including the U.S., Australia, Germany, Spain and the U.K.

Third-generation, or 3G, handsets, including the iPhone, relay information and connect wirelessly to the Internet at faster speeds than previous models.

Softbank, which also offers Internet services, bought British cellular giant Vodafone Group PLC’s struggling Japanese operations in 2006.

Japanese have been ahead of users in other nations in using cell phones to do restaurant searches, exchange email, making electronic payments, read digital novels and download music.