Mobile in Japan

I had a very nice conversation last week with Anthony Joh, who recently launched a podcast from Tokyo, a city he just moved in after a chapter in Bangkok.

Apple’s iPhone event might be only tomorrow, but here are three predictions for Japan:

A new iPhone is coming —probably a spec-bumped iPhone 4 called iPhone 4S,

KDDI will be the second carrier in Japan to get it, and

The Nikkei calls it a sudden collapse of the monopoly. I simply think the writing was on the wall.

Remember that scene in Lost In Translation where Bill Murray randomly orders food from a menu he’s at loss understanding?

DoCoMo is making this a thing of the past.

The telecom mammoth is partnering with Twitter in order to release various types of applications based on Twitter’s massive amount of data.

The first service would be a new type of location-based service in Japan, set to launch in Q4.

Our sources were right. The iPad 2 is arriving in Japan tomorrow, April 28.

And, you know what? The elusive white iPhone 4 will be in stores as well.

The official confirmation comes from no other than SoftBank. A few minutes ago, they added this update on their Twitter account

Turns out I was wrong.

I had placed my bets for a mid-May release, but the second iteration of the iPad will hit Japan’s shores on April 28. That’s tomorrow, folks. You read that right.

Our various sources confirm it.

The acting CEO acknowledged during the Q&A session that Apple was sourcing “hundreds of items” from Japan. These range from LCD components to coatings and optical drives. “The earthquake and tsunami and nuclear crisis caused disruption for suppliers”. Acknowledging the difficulties, Cook added that “employees have been literally working around the clock” and have come up with a “number of contingency plans”. He stressed the impressive resilience and “outstanding teamwork” of Apple’s partners in Japan.