…in Japan anyway.

Can’t say I’m suprised. Mind you, Vodafone service is dreadful in Japan compared to DoCoMo (NTT) and Au (KDDI).
The only reason why I have one (and Yuko too), is because its the only company to have a good choice of 3G phones that work abroad. NTT’s and KDDI’s ‘foreign’ usage phones are just to damn inconvenient in comparison, and since I have to travel it’s great to have a phone I can use easily abroad.

That’s the thing, and it’s summed up nicely in the BBC story.
“Vodafone’s Japanese subsidiary had been losing customers in the face of fierce competition from domestic operators such as NTT DoCoMo and KDDI.

The mobile giant bought the unit with a view to achieving cross-border economies of scale, but found the Japanese market was too different from Vodafone’s operations elsewhere. “

“was just to different”. You here this phrase all the time in Japan. It’s not just the foreigners who promote this idea, the Japanese themselves are very keen to promote this myth of complete uniqueness to the world.
Sure, they are different. We are all different in some ways. But not THAT different.