NTT DoCoMo, Japan’s largest wireless carrier, remains in talks with Apple to offer the iPhone in Japan, according to a new report. Citing DoCoMo president and CEO Ryuji Yamada, the Wall Street Journal reports that certain requirements have made it difficult for the companies to come to an agreement.
“We haven’t given up our hope of introducing the iPhone”, Yamada told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview, but Apple typically asks carrier to commit to a large volume of phones. “If the introduction of the iPhone results in the mass majority of our products occupied by the iPhone, then that’s a scenario that’s difficult to us to swallow.” Yamada also cited Apple’s refusal to allow carriers to pre-install their own applications—such as DoCoMo’s e-wallet app—as a potential problem.
SoftBank had been the lone iPhone carrier in Japan until recently, when the handset arrived on rival carrier KDDI.