This is cool/funny/weird in that uniquely Japanese sort of way. NTT DoCoMo, the number one telco in Japan, came out with ads for the Samsung Galaxy S, its flagship smartphone (based on Android), featuring none other than... Darth Vader.

As the WSJ points out, even though NTT is the number one telco in Japan, they lost out on the exclusive to sell Apple's iPhone to Softbank. The Japanese phone market is very specific, and the iPhone had a rocky start there, lacking many features Japanese consumers typically demand, but now it's become a status symbol among cool young Japanese (like cool young people everywhere, we guess). So it's important for NTT to promote the hell out of its Android-based smartphones heavily not to lose out in the smartphone market which, like everywhere else, is crucial and fast-growing.

The ad in question is deliciously weird. Apparently, Darth Vader is a metaphor for the Android phone. We're not sure how that would go with Western consumers but maybe in Japan it'll do the trick. And the whole track has a soft acoustic guitar soundtrack. Check it out: