Apple Plays the Field in Japan

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." (More Apple stories.)