iPad 2 3G in Japan - unlocked!

Hi All,

I happened to be in Fukuoka on Thursday, when the iPad 2 and the iPhone 4W were released. I arrived at around 12:30 to the Apple Store at Tenjin. 40min later I left the shop with my brand new iPad 2 32GB 3G model.

I asked the Apple Store employees in regard to SIM Lock. They told me that the iPad 2 in Japan is SIM locked, worldwide! not only for local carriers. It sounded a bit strange, so first thing I did when I arrived home is taking out the SIM (its not as smooth as the iPad 1) and put in a foreign SIM I got, and guess what? it recognized it and even already had the APN settings configured.

FYI!

Enjoy!

Oren

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Doug Lerner on April 30, 2011 at 11:07am

That sounds right. The iPad should not be SIM locked anywhere.

doug

Permalink Reply by Tsubasa Kato on April 30, 2011 at 11:24am

Which SIM card did you use? If it's a roaming SIM card, wouldn't it work if it's locked only in Japan? Did you try with Docomo's microUIM ?

Wondering if it's locked only in Japan or it's really unlocked worldwide. :)

Permalink Reply by Oren The Red on April 30, 2011 at 1:26pm

I tried three SIMs: Orange Israel, Voda Italy, StarHub Singapore.

It recognized them while on the iPhone it rejects them on the spot.

Oren.

Permalink Reply by David B on April 30, 2011 at 2:33pm

The Japanese iPad always did work with foreign SIM's. it's locked such that only a SoftBank SIM will work in an iPad sold in Japan. i.e. you can't stick a docomo/b-mobile SIM in, but you can stick any other SIM in and it will work.