Pulse2 Technology and Social Media News » Softbank Mobile Corporation

Damage From Earthquake Slams Mobile Communications In Japan

Amit Chowdhry — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 19:18:53 +0000

The 8.9 magnitude earthquake and tsunami in Japan costed the lives of hundreds of people and had disrupted communications in the Asian country. People are lining up at public phones which takes the priority of networks during and after the earthquake. Cell phones still work, but the service gets jammed quickly. Data works much better than voice on mobile networks. The three largest mobile phone networks said that their services were disrupted across Japan. The three largest mobile phone network companies include NTT DoCoMo, KDDI Corp., and Softbank Corp. The wireless systems said that their reception was either considered to be poor or bad after the earthquake. [ComputerWorld]

SoftBank Invests $250 Million In PPLive

Amit Chowdhry — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 23:03:09 +0000

Softbank in Japan has bought a 35% stake in Chinese video company PPLive for $250 million. “This capital will really help us to be more competitive in China,” stated PPLive CEO Vintent Tao. PPLive lets people access live TV programming and video-on-demand movies. About 200 million people have installed PPLive and there are 105 million active users per month. PPLive users watched an average of 2.5 hours per session. [

Softbank Selling Free 16GB iPad With 25 Month Contract

Amit Chowdhry — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 05:46:23 +0000

Japanese telecommunications company Softbank is selling a 16GB Apple iPad for free. The catch is a 25 month contract which costs ¥4725 ($56) per month. The promotion is called “iPad For Everybody.” Based on what I can understand from Google’s Translated version of the website, it sounds like this deal will be between December 3, 2010 and February 28, 2011. [mocoNews]

Vodafone To Sell $5 Billion Worth Of Softbank Stake

Amit Chowdhry — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 20:04:38 +0000

The Vodafone Group is planning to sell about £3.1 billion ($5 billion) worth of equity in Japanese mobile carrier company Softbank. Vodafone gained equity in Softbank after selling them Vodafone Japan in 2006. The company is starting to sell off their non-core assets and they have raised their outlook for the year. They plan to use this money to reduce their debt. [DealBook]

Quentin Tarantino In An Obscure SoftBank Commercial [Video]

Amit Chowdhry — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 04:33:29 +0000

Quentin Tarantino, the director behind movies such as Pulp Fiction, Sin City, and the Kill Bill series has always had an appreciation for Japanese culture. Usually he is the man behind the camera for Japanese-inspired cameras but this time he is in front of the camera in a Japanese telecommunications commercial. I don’t know what they’re saying in this SoftBank commercial, but it looks like that there is a good joke in it.

SoftBank Marketing Campaign Features Large Husky As Cellphone Strap

Amit Chowdhry — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 19:25:18 +0000

SoftBank Corporation in Japan has launched a weird marketing campaign that features a giant husky plush toy to be the world’s biggest cell phone strap. The cellphone strap stuffed animal is 30 cm. tall and a limited 30,000 of these will be for sale.

SoftBank often times has weird commercials for the mobile phones that they sell. The commercial that they have for the iPhone features a family with a white husky dog as the father.

The cellphone strap campaign will no longer be around by the end of August. In the commercial above Japanese celebrity Aya Ueto is holding up a phone with the dog hanging from the strap and she strains her muscles. After complaining about how heavy the strap is, she proves that she can lift her brother a lot easier.

[via MobileCrunch]

Vodafone Building APIs For Billing and Location Awareness

Amit Chowdhry — Fri, 15 May 2009 03:07:13 +0000

Vodafone is planning to release a set of APIs that will give developers the opportunity to build applications with capabilities to directly charge consumers for micro-payments and has the ability to detect location. Developers will be able to reach Vodafone’s 289 million customers through the selling of games and other applications.

Vodafone will allow developers to use direct billing capabilities for customers to pay for application services wirelessly through pre- and post-paid accounts.

Another fortunate opportunity for developers through Vodafone is access to the Joint Innovation Lab (JIL) SDK. The JIL is a partnership between Softbank Corporation, Vodafone, and China Mobile Limited. This will allow developers to create widgets for a total customer base of up to one billion consumers. JIL will be launching a formal website and the SDK this summer.

[via Vodafone press release]