In the mobile market, Japan has traditionally been technologically advanced, but very conservative on the commercial front. In the 3G era, NTT Docomo may have been the first operator to launch the new technology – with a pre-standard version called FOMA – but it was able to afford to do so partly because of the high margins it could command in a three-operator market that behaved in a closed, uncompetitive way. Those days are gone. First, Softbank bought Vodafone Japan in 2006 and injected a new dose of competition with some disruptive propositions for users. Softbank turned away from proprietary handsets and user interfaces, co-developed with local partners, and introduced iPhones and global applications, tapping into its activities in the…