Apple iPhone hits Japan with Softbank

The iPhone is once again off to pastures new – this time, the challenging market that is Japan, with Softbank as it chosen operator. The press release was somewhat on the brief side and went a little like this: “SOFTBANK MOBILE Corp. today announced it has signed an agreement with Apple to bring the iPhone to Japan later this year.” That’s it.

No word of any 3G as you’d expect, but clearly no one would expect Apple to go after Japan without it – after all, the country stopped taking shipments of 2G phones earlier this year.

Out of all the markets Apple has gone for with the iPhone, it’ll be Japan that should prove the biggest test. Blisteringly fast network speeds and clever apps aren’t exactly new over there. Still, Apple’s still got a big iPod fan base in the land of the rising sun – we’ll have to wait and see if that will translate into mobile sales though.