If you’re using an iPhone in Japan, you’re in luck: the overall price you pay may have very well just gotten cheaper. Japanese carrier Softbank, Apple’s official partner in the land of the Rising Sun, has announced that they’re lowering the prices on iPhone data plans.
When Softbank first announced its pricing in June, they said they’d be charging ¥7,280/month (or, about ~$67) for unlimited data. Now, they’ve decided to mix that up a bit. Base pricing will now begin at ¥2,990/month (~$28), with a staggered fee based on how much data you transmit (the exact number for the fee was not available).
Either way, the company says customers won’t end up paying more than they would for the unlimited data plan, so most users should save money for all the data that they don’t end up using. The company hopes to draw in new customers turned off by the high price of the unlimited data package.
Of course, the iPhone is currently sold out in Japan anyway, so it’s going to be a little while before this helps bring new customers to the iPhone. But the lower charges will effect existing iPhone customers as well, starting this month.