NTT Docomo iPhone pricing, discount plans announced

The Docomo iPhone site is now live. Pre orders started from 4 pm today.

Docomo is offering up to 3 years of waived base fees, which typically costs ¥780 per month, along with an approximate ¥1,000 discount on the data plan for people port a number (MNP) from another carrier. This brings the minimum cost for those who qualify down to ¥4,725. Existing customers will pay about ¥6,500 per month. Docomo will also buy your Softbank or AU iPhones for up to ¥20,000 (in docomo points).

The price of the cheapest iPhone (16GB 5C) is less than the total subsidy such that an additional ¥525 is deducted from the monthly cost. This means the absolute cheapest monthly cost for an iPhone from Docomo is ¥4,200.

Here are a list (pdf) of important service roll out dates: Available from August 20. sp mode mail and related services from October 1. D marker services will mainly become available within October (like d hits, d shopping d video, etc.). Docomo's subscription music service will actually (surprise surprise) be available, but is not scheduled to start until December.

NOTTV, decoration mail, osaifu-keitai, DCMX mini and Docomo's integrated contacts will not be available.

Basic Fees

• Base voice fee: ¥780
• ISP (sp mode): ¥315
• Data: ¥ 5,460

Total: ¥6,555

Discounts

Here is the list of discounts for people switching from other carriers.

• Docomo Best Switch Student Discount: Base voice fee waived for 3 years, ¥1,050 data discount (requires MNP)
• Docomo Welcome Back Discount: Base voice fee waived for 2 years (requires MNP; must have previously been a Docomo customer)
• Docomo Best Switch Discount: Base voice fee waived for 1 year (requires MNP).
• Docomo iPhone trade in Program: 1,000 docomo points per month for up to 20 months (requires MNP)
  
  • iPhone 5: 20 months (64 GB), 18 months (32 GB), 16 months (16 GB)
  • iPhone 4S: 10 months (64 GB), 8 months (32 GB), 6 months (16 GB)
  • iPhone 4: 5 months (32 GB), 4 months (16 GB), 3 months (8 GB)
  • iPhone 3GS: 2 months
  • iPhone 3G: 1 month

As usual, the deal is not nearly as nice, for existing loyal customers:
iPhone upgrade plan: ¥420 discount per month offsetting the cost of a 16 GB 5s or 32 GB 5c to zero yen

• Plus iPhone discount: Base voice fee waived for 1 year, data cost of ¥4,935 for one year if you carry an i-mode feature phone AND an iPhone.