Bloomberg reports that shares of NTT DoCoMo are rising on rumors that the largest Japanese wireless carrier will get the iPhone this year. KDDI and Softbank, the company’s rivals who both currently carry Apple’s popular handset, saw their share price drop in morning trading.
Bloomberg, via 9to5Mac:
[DoCoMo]Chief Financial Officer Kazuto Tsubouchi said there are compelling reasons for Apple and his company to reach an agreement, according to an interview published in SankeiBiz. For Apple, it doesn’t make business sense not to allow Japan’s largest wireless carrier to sell the iPhone, while DoCoMo wants to be able to sell most popular handsets, Sankei said.
Company Vie President Kazuto Tsubouchi has commented “the only problem is WHEN we are going to sell it,” adding, “Nothing has changed. It will be difficult (to sell the iPhone on September 10th). But for Apple, it is not economically reasonable to not sell the iPhone on Japan’s largest carrier. As for NTT docomo, we must sell phone the customers desire. It’s a matter of terms.”
Rumors of NTT DoCoMo carrying the Apple iPhone have floated through the Intertubes for years. Hangups for the deal that have been reported in the past include Apple’s requirement of sellers to commit to a large volume of sales, and NTT DoCoMo’s insistence that it controls what software would go onto the handsets sold on its network.
Apple is also reported to be negotiating with China’s largest carrier, China Mobile. Deals with either, or both of these carriers should lead to a huge jump in the number of iPhones sold in Asia.
