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Apple’s iPhone goes on sale in Japan right now - Softbank makes a solid opening marketing move

July 11, 2008
By Ken Worsley


It’s 7AM, and that means Apple’s 3G iPhone is going on sale at Softbank’s Omotesando location right now - but not until noon elsewhere. Am I posting from there? Heck no - I already have a phone, an iPod and two pockets, so I’m waiting for all the bugs to be worked out and for AU to start selling the thing.

There has been quite a bit of hoopla and discussion concerning the sale of the iPhone in Japan, and I think Softbank has made a brilliant marketing/PR decision in putting the iPhone on sale in Omotesando five hours before anywhere else in the country. First, this meant that the first iPhone bought in Japan would be bought in Omotesando, which is fashion culture center for the younger generation (or, perhaps better put, lies between Shibuya and Harajuku, the fashion culture centers for the younger generation).

By ensuring that the first iPhones would be sold at the Omotesando location, this guaranteed that the queue to get the first iPhone would form outside this shop. Omotesando is (arguably) Tokyo’s most fashionable place, and boasts some of the nation’s highest land values. Softbank most likely wanted to avoid Akihabara at this point in time, and God forbid that the line form somewhere as unfashionable as Shinjuku, or even - cringe, say it slowly - Ikebukuro.

Thus, putting the queue in Omotesando was essential, because that line of customers was bound to draw plenty of attention, from both the old and new media. Television crews, international news agencies, and even bloggers have covered the living daylights out of this event. Whether or not the iPhone is successful in Japan will not be clear for some time, but Softbank has managed to generate buzz and turn it into an event - the birth of the iPhone, right on the most fashionable street in Tokyo. And they’ve gotten us to help them market it (usually that’s Dentsu’s job).

The lack of the Dentsu model in marketing the iPhone has been the proverbial deafening silence in the initial marketing of the iPhone. No television ads, no Brad Pitt, no Cameron Diaz, no Aya Ueto (or the rest of the White family). No ads in subways, trains, buses or magazines.

What untold fortunes is Softbank saving in advertising costs by not using traditional media to advertise the iPhone? It’s not easy to estimate, but the long-term question is: What is the ROI on zero? Is Apple strong enough to break the Dentsu model? How long would the lines be if Softbank and Apple teamed up to sell ramen and doughnuts? And finally, how much free publicity has the media and the blogosphere brought to the iPhone’s birthday in Japan?

Site note: Back in May, “iPhone line forms at Apple’s flagship for absolutely no reason” according to engadget

Filed Under Marketing, Technology, Telecom 

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Comments

13 Responses to “Apple’s iPhone goes on sale in Japan right now - Softbank makes a solid opening marketing move”

  1. Ken Y-N on July 11th, 2008 7:46 am

    Has SoftBank really been trying to generate a buzz, or is it just generating it all on its own? The telly this morning had live broadcasts from The Queue with a big countdown clock in front of the SoftBank door.

    I go past the main SoftBank store by Yodobashi Camera in Osaka Umeda every morning but I couldn’t see a queue, but that was either due to not looking hard enough or it being formed out of site. A pokey wee SoftBank in Kyobashi had about half a dozen people outside at 7:30 am, however.

    I am really surprised that there has been absolutely no advertising (were there posters inside SoftBank shops?), but perhaps they don’t have the stocks (or the software is still not finished…) and want to avoid the problems in the UK where O2 took pre-orders, had a system crash, and ran out of stocks that day.

  2. Gen Kanai on July 11th, 2008 8:08 am

    “and for AU to start selling the thing.”

    You’ll be waiting for quite some time then :)

  3. sandbaggerone on July 11th, 2008 10:08 am

    People were lined up for about two blocks at the main SB store here in Nagoya this morning. The line started early morning, and the phone doesn’t go on sale till noon. I saw a few people standing around some of the smaller stores as well. Nobody was lined up at the Apple Store to check the demo phones.

  4. Ken Worsley on July 11th, 2008 10:36 am

    Ken:
    Has SoftBank really been trying to generate a buzz, or is it just generating it all on its own?

    Both. That’s really what I was getting at I guess.

    Gen:
    You’ll be waiting for quite some time then :)
    Exactly.

  5. Gen Kanai on July 11th, 2008 1:52 pm

    “I am really surprised that there has been absolutely no advertising…”

    They haven’t needed any advertising. The mass media is giving Softbank all the coverage they want for free. Brilliant move by Son & Co.

  6. Mike on July 11th, 2008 1:58 pm

    Aya Ueto has appeared:
    http://www.japantoday.com/category/picture-of-the-day/view/aya-ueto

  7. Ken Worsley on July 11th, 2008 2:04 pm

    Gen, I agree 100%. No major consumer electronic device has been so anticipated yet had so little advertising here. It will be interesting to follow the trajectory of this marketing plan.

  8. Ken Worsley on July 11th, 2008 3:02 pm

    Thanks Mike. Nikkei has a good pic of the crowd:
    http://www.nikkei.co.jp/news/main/im20080711AS1D1100F11072008.html

    I have a feeling we’ll be seeing a lot more of Ms Ueto.

  9. WG on July 11th, 2008 3:46 pm

    Have you seen this? Apparently it’s a real pain for foreigners to get one:

    Foreigners who want an iPhone face severe limitations
    http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=5106

    Could result in some bad PR.

  10. Ken Worsley on July 11th, 2008 6:15 pm

    I seriously doubt that will bring any bad publicity to Softbank. The pricing policy part seems confusing, of course that should be the same for everyone. But why should Softbank give a two year contract if someone’s visa is only valid for the next 15 months? They have no way of knowing if it will be renewed.

  11. Ken Worsley on July 12th, 2008 3:09 pm

    Seems as though they’re all sold out - but just how many? Anyone want to let the secret out of the bag?

    iPhone 3G Sells Out Across Japan On 1st Day

    http://www.nni.nikkei.co.jp/AC/TNKS/Nni20080711D11JFA09.htm

    The Japanese debut of U.S. firm Apple Inc.’s iPhone 3G has been a success, with the smart phone selling out at many stores on its Friday launch date.

    Leading consumer electronics discounters Bic Camera Inc. (3048) and Yodobashi Camera Co. parted with their entire inventories of the product, which are believed to have come to slightly more than 1,000 units each.

    Bell-Park Co. (9441), a major cellular phone vendor that operates some 100 stores centering on the Tokyo metropolitan area, sold most of its stock Friday. It has not been informed of when the next shipment will arrive.

    The roughly 2,700 or so Softbank Mobile Corp. cell phone stores around the nation are also believed to have sold all they had for the first day.

    The Softbank Corp. (9984) cell phone unit, which handles sales of the iPhone 3G in Japan, has not disclosed how many were made available on Friday. But industry watchers had largely expected the product to sell out upon launch because they had expected supplies to be limited.

  12. Alan on July 14th, 2008 10:53 pm

    Do they even need Japan? 1 million 3G iPhones sold on first weekend.
    http://apple20.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2008/07/14/apple-1-million-iphone-3gs-sold-in-three-days/

  13. Ken Worsley on July 15th, 2008 8:22 am

    Another follow-up from the Nikkei:

    Another quick follow-up from the Nikkei, this time on the iPhone:

    iPhone Dominates Japan’s Cell Phone Market On Release

    It took only three days from its debut on July 11 for worldwide sales of the new iPhone 3G from Apple Inc. to breach 1 million units.

    In Japan, interest was so strong that the iPhone accounted for 40% of all handset sales by volume electronics retailers on the day of its release, according to GfK Marketing Services Japan Ltd.

    Furthermore, 50% of all handset sales that day took place at outlets run by Softbank Mobile Corp., the Softbank Corp. (9984) unit that handles sales of the iPhone 3G in Japan. To put that in perspective, such outlets rang up only 19% of all handset sales on the day before the launch.

    Two versions of the iPhone 3G are available in Japan, with a 16-gigabyte model notching 33% of all handset sales on July 11. The smaller-capacity 8GB model accounted for 8% of mobile phone sales.

    When coupled with a two-year service contract, the 16GB handset costs only 11,520 yen more than the 8GB model, and this appears to have been a deciding factor in customer purchases.

    http://www.nni.nikkei.co.jp/AC/TNKS/Nni20080714D14JFA22.htm

    More here:

    http://www.nni.nikkei.co.jp/AC/TNKS/Nni20080714D12HH661.htm

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