iPad impact

iPad announced from Apple is a big topic in Japan as expected.
http://jpn-topics.blog.so-net.ne.jp/2010-01-27-1

And the major turning point seems to visit a mobile phone industry in Japan.

There is a peculiar commercial practice in Japan that is called "SIMロック"("SIM Lock").
For instance, you can use the SIM card of NTT DoCoMo between cellular phones of NTT DoCoMo. However, it is not possible to use it with cellular phones of Softbank.
Thanks to this practice, a mobile phone carreers can enclose their users.

But the news said yesterday that NTT DoCoMo seemed to be considering sales with a SIM card unit according to the sale in Japan of iPad!
Moreover, NTT DoCoMo seems to be examining sales of a SIM card for Nexus One provided by Google!
I think this is a big impact on the mobile phone industry in Japan!

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20100131-00000010-yom-bus_all

There is a possibility that Japanese users can freely choose the carriers and the portable terminals like foreign countries in the future.
On the other hand, it will be easier for the foreign portable terminals such as iPhone, iPad, Kindle and Nexus One to launch in Japan market.

タグ：iPad NTT DoCoMo Apple Mobile Phone SIM Japanese