I FINALLY got an iPhone. I almost got one earlier this year when my current mobile phone was about 7/8 croaked, but being a reader of the Apple rumor sites, I decided to hold out for the new one. The iPhone 4 was announced and when it was finally released in Japan, I had to reserve one and wait. Well, it is finally here and perhaps more importantly, I realized that it is going to be really great for taking photos and videos and uploading them quick. I already uploaded a video to YouTube of my dogs playing, before I even got out of bed this morning!
My experience at Softbank getting my telephone was pretty bad. They must have their whole process designed by lawyers. I came away with 26 sheets of paper that are related to the contract, terms and etc. NOT, how to use the telephone. Of these papers the staff scanned or copied all at least once. There was so much paperwork that the guy had to commandeer the desk next to his to spread everything out on.
The guy at the Softbank shop kept telling to sign here, sign this. I kept having to ask what I am signing. Then he would explain. The guys stunk, was often fingering his nose (then my iPhone), had really horrible handwriting and didn’t even bother to tell me what he was doing or how long the process was going to take. It ended up taking about 90 minutes. That seems like an awful long time to just sign off and hand off a new telephone. I wonder if changing to new handsets 5 or 6 times over the years here took a total of 90 minutes. My recollection is about 10 to 15 minutes tops.
Not your stereotypical Apple buying experience. Now I am a realist and I know that Apple has to partner with mobile providers to make iPhone available for us, but this was crap, plain and simple.
Then Apple started to really disappoint me. I needed to download a free app to transfer my old address book to my iPhone. That requires a Japanese iTunes account with valid credit card. I am not sure if the credit card has to be issued in Japan but it seemed possible. (Foreigners have an extremely difficult time getting a credit card here.)
Fortunately, while I was waiting I had my sketchbook so I was able to get some work done.
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