Daniel Hruska There's no need to be down to earth - the iPhone is going "on fire" in Japan. At the end of last year, three out of four smartphones sold were iPhones. Tim Cook said during the last shareholder meeting that iPhone sales in Japan were up 40 percent. This is due to the agreement concluded with NTT DOCOMO last year.
However, breaking into Japanese soil was not at all easy. To get Apple there, Steve Jobs used a Japanese billionaire who owned no mobile operator and had his own sketches of an iPod capable of making calls. SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son recalls how he managed to create an operator with an exclusive deal to sell iPhones.
Two years before Apple officially launched the iPhone, Son called Jobs and set up a meeting. Son showed him a rough sketch of how he envisioned an Apple phone. “I brought to show my sketches of an iPod with phone functions. I gave them to him, but Steve refused them, saying, 'Meat, don't give me your drawings. I've got my own,'" Son recalls. "Okay, I don't have to show you my drawings, but if you have yours, show them to me for Japan's sake," Son replied. Jobs responded, "Meat, you're crazy."
Jobs had every right to be skeptical. Son, of course, was a smart entrepreneur in the world of technology, who managed to sell two companies at the age of 19, which netted him $3 billion. Additionally, with a lucrative stake in Yahoo! Japan is also a successful investor. However, during that meeting he did not own or have any interest in any mobile operator.
"We haven't talked to anyone yet, but you came to me first, that's got to go," Jobs said. Negotiations continued for some time, when Son then suggested that he and Jobs write an agreement for the exclusive sale of iPhones. Jobs' reaction? "No! I'm not signing this, you don't even own an operator yet!” Son replied, “Look, Steve. You have promised me that. You gave me your word. I'll take care of the operator.”
And so he did. SoftBank spent more than $2006 billion in 15 for the Japanese arm of Vodafone Group. SoftBank Mobile became the top three mobile phone company in Japan and later announced iPhone sales starting in 2008. Since then, SoftBank Mobile has successfully carved out market share before NTT DOCOMO started selling the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c last September.
SoftBank Mobile is still in third place, but it is starting to expand around the world. Last year, the company bought the American company Sprint for 22 billion dollars. There are rumors that SoftBank Mobile wants to secure its position in the States by acquiring another operator, this time T-Mobile US.
As for Jobs, he thought about the iPhone until his death. Son recalls having an appointment with Tim Cook on the day of the iPhone 4S launch. However, he quickly canceled it, because Steve Jobs wanted to talk to him about a product that had not yet been announced. Jobs died the next day.
the guy in the opening photo looks like Kermit :-)