There has been a ton of ink spilled over Vodafone's failure in Japan. I won't go over the list because it is very long but suffice it to say that the British firm did not respect the market's differences.
So it's very strange to see Vodafone JV-ing with Softbank in Japan for mobile. I was convinced that Masayoshi Son, having significantly impacted the broadband market in Japan with Yahoo! BB, and having purchased Japan Telecom for a pretty penny, was going to re-brand and re-start Vodafone Japan as Yahoo! Japan Mobile. Softbank could then offer a full suite of telecommunications offerings- mobile, broadband, fixed-line, and of course all of the content via Yahoo! Japan.
Steven Town's confusion over at The Japan Stock Blog is valid. This deal doesn't make sense at face value or in light of how Son and Sarin are selling it to the press.
Vodafone, Softbank Set Up Joint Venture: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance
The Japan Stock Blog � Following Buyout, Softbank and Vodafone Form Questionable JV (SFTBF, VOD)
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