Domo arigato, the iPhone is coming to Japan

One thing unique to Japan is that because of a lack of 2G, there will be a need to force the phone to stay in 3G mode while the default is to revert to GSM when W-CDMA is lost (even in mid-call). So there may be a special F/W switch for that, otherwise it will drain the battery much faster.

Simply put, there are multiple bands that UMTS/WCDMA (same thing, invented by NTT) runs on throughout the world. Mostly, it is 2100 MHz. There are some others such as AT&T and soon T-Mobile in the US use different bands. Also Emobile here in Japan runs on 1700 MHz.

The 3G iPhone will undoubtably be a UMTS/WCDMA phone with quad-band GSM as well. The only question is how it will deal with multiple UMTS/WCDMA frequencies.

There are a handful but not a ton of multi-band UMTS/WCDMA phones out there. If iPhone were to be one, it would be one of a handful with that capability.

My guess: They'll do 2100 MHz and the AT&T frequencies and that will be it. That covers everywhere I know of except for T-Mobile in the US and Emobile in Japan.

No chance for a CDMA iPhone whatsoever.

Christian, you really need to correct the part about "I expect that the Japanese iPhone will be very different, internally, from its counterparts from other parts of the world."

2-3 years ago, that could be true since 3G in US and 3G of the rest of the world (Asia / Europe) are on different bands, and we ended up with US only 3G or Asia/Europe only 3G phones. Mind you, those phone can all fallback to GSM network.

But since mid 2006, true "World band 3G" radio chipsets became more and more common among smartphones (especially the ones HTC produced). These "World band 3G" phones can work nicely in 3G mode in the US, Europe and Asia (including Japan), and I am sure that's the type of chipset the iPhone 2.0 will use. After all, we're in 2008.

Educated guess points to a single streamlined design of iPhone 2.0 for the entire world. After all, it can be done. There's no technical reason why it can't.

Not only is it all possible, but AT&T already sells a few world phones that include 2100MHz band "3G" service that work in Japan and South Korea including the Blackjack II, Treo 750, and SE z750. Newer cellphone radio chips are making five-band phones more accessible and less expensive. It would not be a stretch to imagine the iPhone2 will be similarly capable.

That's what happens when amateurs try to delve into 3GPP specifications (sigh..).
Christina, every UMTS phone currently available by major manufacturers is able to work on the two so called UMTS "bands" WCDMA 2100 and WCDMA 1900, hence there is no need for any special hardware function,. The frequency rasters in the chip currently produced have the capability for both. Hence there is even MORE chance for that gray market to develop. Note that even with the current iPhone, you were able to roam while in Europe (remember that guy with a bill of several thousand dollars with At&T), so NO (hay) Problema

my nokia N95 worked fine last time i was over there as well

"To clarify, the next generation iPhone will be 3G, or UMTS based, but the bands used by US carriers are different than those used in Japan (and in Europe and other parts of the world for that matter). Whether or not the phones will be able to switch between bands without some sort of hardware unlock remains to be seen."

Well, if Apple includes all 3G bands, meaning they will include 850/1900/2100 W-CDMA band (or maybe the t-mobile 1700 as well), then we will be able to use the same 3G iPhone in the whole world. :)

Hey, why should it be different hardware, last time I was in Japan, my European Nokia E61 was perfectly usable on Softbank's 3G network!

" Japan is too small a market for Apple to profitably make a unique phone just for them."

Although, the cost of radios is pretty damn cheap. I'm betting that Apple made the hardware platform pretty radio agnostic. This way they could switch out radio modules (CDMA, W-CDMA instead of GSM) without any heavy reengineering.

Not to make it sound like "Oh yeah you just pop the back off that bad boy and switch out the module," but you can bet they have a plan in case something with AT&T goes south and they need to go to a carrier that might not be GSM-based.

This is the best thing to happen to Japan since American beef was allowed to trickle in through customs again. I know a ton of people here, in Japan, that want an iPhone. Unfortunately everyone is worried about the monthly fees. I really don't need any talk time just give us unlimited data plans for a tiny amount of yen. We love text messages, e-mail, and web browsing! Let us do it for a low cost! Who needs to talk? Thank you Apple! I hope Softbank doesn't F-it up. I am so glad that I didn't waste money on a PSP or DS Lite...waiting Mr. Jobs' Keynote.