Things have obviously changed since 2008, when surveys stated that around 90% of Japanese consumers would not buy an iPhone. The iPhone 4 seems to have changed opinions and has become a big hit in the tech-savvy country and for mobile carrier Softbank. It's become such a hit that rival NTT DoCoMo, the country's largest mobile carrier, has turned to Darth Vader in their latest anti-iPhone campaign.

Yes, that Darth Vader. Vader's signing bonus for promoting the Galaxy S phone was undisclosed, but in one commercial he waves his hand and states, "there is no iPhone." It's quite a battle being fought, as The Wall Street Journal's Japan Realtime blog as stated that "The iPhone accounts for about two-thirds of the domestic smartphone market, making DoCoMo's efforts even more challenging in image-conscious Japan, where the iPhone is starting to become a must-have personal accessory among many young people." Funny; you'd have thought Apple would be the company resorting the the Force Choke to get people to buy their products.