Japanese customers should be happy to hear that Softbank is getting ready to offer the iPhone 3G for free. It looks like the phone didn’t have the same success over here. Starting Friday the 8GB iPhone 3G will be offered for free while the 16GB version will sell for around $117 to new subscribers. They will still have to get a 2-year contract with that iPhone and the data plan will also cost only $44.75 compared to the standard $60. The offer is good through the end of May so you have some time to decide if the iPhone 3G is the thing you need.

via SoftBank