The people who think it's about Son inventing the iPhone don't get it. What this proves is that like-minded businessmen want to work with each other, and can accomplish great things together.
Steve didn't care about Son's guess/drawing, but what he did see was Son's potential as someone who is forward-thinking, and chose to work with him because of that. While Steve knew Apple had a great phone in the works, he also knew that partnering with the right people (service providers) was important. Many of the established service providers were just too entrenched/comfortable with the existing business model to accommodate the iPhone, so he took a chance on people like Son. Smart.
The people who think it's about Son inventing the iPhone don't get it. What this proves is that like-minded businessmen want to work with each other, and can accomplish great things together.
Steve didn't care about Son's guess/drawing, but what he did see was Son's potential as someone who is forward-thinking, and chose to work with him because of that. While Steve knew Apple had a great phone in the works, he also knew that partnering with the right people (service providers) was important. Many of the established service providers were just too entrenched/comfortable with the existing business model to accommodate the iPhone, so he took a chance on people like Son. Smart.
Good things come to those who aggressively pursue them.
The people who think it's about Son inventing the iPhone don't get it.
The knee-jerk mean-spiritedness that opened this thread is really shameful. These people should be exiled to MacRumors for a week to learn about the barrenness of such cynicism.
I just can't believe how many people here either can't read the original post, or be bothered to listen to the (very good) interview.
Yep. Knee-jerk stupidity.
I (and I assume everyone else) was just goofing. I don't think anyone actually believes Son is trying to claim credit for the iPhone.
As a SoftBank subscriber in Japan, what I take from this story is that however Son gained exclusive first rights to the iPhone in Japan, it enabled him to lock the iPhone and keep it locked even after au and DoCoMo joined the fray 3 years later.
SoftBank users (and now au and DoCoMo) STILL CANNOT get a factory IMIEI unlock of their off-contract 3GS, 4, 4S and soon 5 units. We have paid our 2-year contracts but remain forever locked to SoftBank's not so great business model.
It is damned annoying that I cannot unlock a SB phone and put an overseas SIM in it when traveling. Instead I am forced to pay outrageous global roaming charges.
Contrast this with cheap SIM IMEI unlocks in the US and compulsory IMEI unlocks in the EU and you can see how far behind the curve Japanese mobile carriers are.
And you can't even buy an iPhone SIM-less in Japan either. Which is crazy. I've been over there 5 times in the past year and if never fails to irritate me! Lol
In fact, you can buy an unlocked phone online from Apple Japan here for about 75,000 yen. Apple Japan does not widely advertize this but then you face the problem of no payngo SIMs and very few MNVOs (two perhaps) none of whom offer payngo. The MNVO SIM has to be purchased for a minimum 1-year contract using monthly credit card payments from a Japanese cc.
It is a locked-up market waiting for some serious disruption IMO.
Comments
The people who think it's about Son inventing the iPhone don't get it. What this proves is that like-minded businessmen want to work with each other, and can accomplish great things together.
Steve didn't care about Son's guess/drawing, but what he did see was Son's potential as someone who is forward-thinking, and chose to work with him because of that. While Steve knew Apple had a great phone in the works, he also knew that partnering with the right people (service providers) was important. Many of the established service providers were just too entrenched/comfortable with the existing business model to accommodate the iPhone, so he took a chance on people like Son. Smart.
Good things come to those who aggressively pursue them.
The knee-jerk mean-spiritedness that opened this thread is really shameful. These people should be exiled to MacRumors for a week to learn about the barrenness of such cynicism.
I just can't believe how many people here either can't read the original post, or be bothered to listen to the (very good) interview.
Yep. Knee-jerk stupidity.
I (and I assume everyone else) was just goofing. I don't think anyone actually believes Son is trying to claim credit for the iPhone.
And you can't even buy an iPhone SIM-less in Japan either. Which is crazy. I've been over there 5 times in the past year and if never fails to irritate me! Lol
In fact, you can buy an unlocked phone online from Apple Japan here for about 75,000 yen. Apple Japan does not widely advertize this but then you face the problem of no payngo SIMs and very few MNVOs (two perhaps) none of whom offer payngo. The MNVO SIM has to be purchased for a minimum 1-year contract using monthly credit card payments from a Japanese cc.
It is a locked-up market waiting for some serious disruption IMO.