Wired points to the iPhone's high monthly plan, lack of multimedia messaging support, and dependence on a computer for syncing as the main obstacles to popularity in Japan. Many in Japan use a cell phone as the primary computing device and have foregone a full-sized computer, so the iPhone's requirement is a dealbreaker. Western companies historically have had trouble cracking the Japanese market (Microsoft and Nokia could attest), so it's not necessarily a shocker that Softbank is reduced to giving the suckers away. [Wired]