Japan’s largest wireless carrier, NTT DoCoMo, reportedly in talks to sell iPhone

Seth Weintraub | Aug 26 2013 - 1:37 am PT

iPhone 5S Champagne

Bloomberg is reporting that shares of NTT DoCoMo are rising on rumors that Japan’s largest carrier will get the iPhone this year. The company’s rivals, KDDI and Softbank (who just bought Sprint) both currently carry the iPhone and saw their share price drop in morning trading.

[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.

The original Sankei article is here (translated) with the relevant bit translated by 9to5Mac reader Kazuto Kusakari:

A new iPhone from Apple is expected in September. The Japanese market are paying close attention to whether NTT docomo will be selling the new model or not. Having sold two other models as their main phones in the past summer season, the company is ready, as the vice-president Kazuto Tsubouchi has commented “the only problem is WHEN we are going to sell it.”…

Tsubouchi adds, “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.

Apple is also working on China’s largest carrier, China Mobile, which also doesn’t currently carry the iPhone. If Apple can hook one or optimally both of these two monster carriers, it will be able to sell significantly more iPhones in Asia.
Rumors of DoCoMo carrying Apple products including the iPhone have been going on for years.

The Wall Street Journal reported mid-November 2011 that negotiations with carriers in Asia came to a standstill because Apple was requiring iPhone sellers to commit to too large a volume. Additionally, NTT DoCoMo wanted to control what software goes on users’ iPhones, a concession Apple was unwilling to make.

Image via SonnyDickson

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willo (@mozfart) - 11 years ago

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This alone could push the EPS upwards 10%. Just based on increase in EPS, Apple can justify $700 per share.
Bring it on.
- Laughing_Boy48 - 11 years ago
  
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  So many keep believing that Apple’s share price is going to rocket just because of fundamentals, but that’s never the case. You think Apple should be sitting at $500 while Google is sitting near $900 just because of fundamentals? I’m not going to argue whether Apple is undervalued or not but Google shares should absolutely not be worth $400 more than Apple shares based on fundamentals of revenue, profits or growth. It’s all about how the hedge funds play the market like a casino. There’s no guarantee that anything will push Apple’s stock back to $700. As it stands, Apple’s P/E ratio is even a whole point less than Microsoft’s and I’d hardly think Microsoft has greater growth potential than Apple. Apple is being severely shortchanged based on fundamentals.
  
  I’d love to see the iPhone on both DoCoMo and China Mobile this year because it would definitely boost revenue and market share but I’m not counting on Apple’s share price to go through the roof because of it. The stock market just never works in Apple shareholder’s favor.
oneokami - 11 years ago

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“NTT DoCoMo wanted to control what software goes on users’ iPhones, a concession Apple was unwilling to make.”

As a consumer I’d balk at that, too.