Mikey Campbell
Japan's No. 1 cellular carrier NTT DoCoMo on Friday said it would be willing to negotiate a deal to sell the iPhone, a device that has become a driving force in net subscriber growth for Apple's partner carriers in the country.
The president of NTT DoCoMo, Katoru Katō, said his company would be willing to add the iPhone to its existing lineup if the telecom can reach a mutually beneficial arrangement with Apple, reports the Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun (via Brightwire).
Apple requires partner carriers to sell a predetermined amount of iPhones per year and Kato said that DoCoMo can reach that number if the handset accounts for 20 to 30 percent of the company's overall smartphone sales. The telecom expects to bring in over $11 billion from Android-related e-commerce sales by the end of 2015.
A DoCoMo iPhone may not happen anytime soon, however, as the company is only now in preliminary negotiations to bring Apple's popular device onto its smartphone network.
News of Kato's willingness to adopt the iPhone comes one day after the Telecommunications Carriers Association announced that rival SoftBank raked in the most subscribers in December, signing up a total of 274,700 net contracts. The Japanese telecom, which started in the mobile industry after taking over Vodafone's Japan business, recently expanded into the U.S. after buying a controlling interest in Sprint.
Coming in second was KDDI with 239,200 net contracts while DoCoMo was third with 235,100 net subs. The statistics come one month after NTT DoCoMo announced its biggest ever net loss of subscribers in November, blaming the mass exodus on the iPhone.
Amber Neely
Andrew Orr
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
Chip Loder
23 Comments
NTT DoCoMo then and now.
When DoCoMo start selling iPhone, it means game over.
"Mutually beneficial". LMAO. How about you better start carrying it or your going to turn into the #3 carrier. How is that for "mutually beneficial" Same goes for China Mobile. Apple should not give in and should continue to build its business with aggressive, second place carriers to help them take share Same approach as what happened in the US. Make the leader feel pain. NTT already is
Well analyst were wrong that Apple needs a $99 phone to grow its business.
Well analyst were wrong that Apple needs a $99 phone to grow its business.
True, but businesses can always grow another step.
This doesn't change the need for something less expensive, if Apple wants to get into poorer countries.
As for Japan, the iPhone barely sold at first. It didn't get popular until it got subsidized down to free or almost free.