Softbank Corp. President Masayoshi Son mourned Friday over the death of a key business partner, Apple founder and former CEO Steve Jobs, on the same day that his company started receiving reservations for the new iPhone 4S.
Son revealed Softbank's pricing policy for the latest model in the popular iPhone series, offering relatively low monthly fees and handset prices on condition that the user commit to a two-year contract.
Softbank has monopolized the extremely popular smartphone series in Japan but will now be facing competition from rival KDDI Corp., which also won local distribution rights for the iPhone 4S.