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Apple Plays the Field in Japan

Seeks exclusive partner for iPhones

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Dec 18, 2007 10:34 PM CST

(Newser) – Apple wants to bring the iPhone to Japan to compete with some of the most futuristic phones around, but it's being choosy in its search for a partner, Reuters reports. Apple is in talks with DoCoMo and Softbank, the country's biggest and third-biggest mobile operators respectively, but they're both wary of granting the big slice of revenue Apple demands.

There are more than 100 million mobile users in Japan, but Apple needs a local partner to bring the iPhone to them. Steve Jobs recently met with the president of DoCoMo, a subsidiary of Japanese phone giant NTT, but an insider said Jobs was playing hardball. "Apple's conditions are extremely hard to meet," he commented. "The ball is in Apple's court."

[Images (6)]

[Videos (1)]

A man uses his mobile phone as he walks past a Softbank advertising in downtown Tokyo Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2007. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye) (Associated Press)

A customer tries out an Apple iPhone at an Apple store in Palo Alto, Calif., Oct. 19, 2007. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma) (Associated Press)

Passers-by walk past a NTT DoCoMo Inc. shop at Marunouchi business district in Tokyo Friday, July 27, 2007. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye) (Associated Press)

Apple CEO Steve Jobs holds up an Apple iPhone at the MacWorld Conference in San Francisco, in this Jan. 9, 2007 file photo.. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File) (Associated Press)

A pedestrian passes a NTT DoCoMo shop in Tokyo Friday, Oct. 26, 2007. (AP Photo/Katsumi Kasahara) (Associated Press)

A customer checks a mobile phone at a Japanese telecommunications and Internet services company Softbank shop in downtown Tokyo Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2007. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye, FILE) (Associated Press)

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Apple Plays the Field in Japan