iPhone Sees Slow Japan Sales?

At least according to this post on WSJ. While we could take issue with several assurances therein, niggly details aside, it would seem that Steves amazing device is not exactly blowing the doors off at local retails shops after the first predictable wave of sales in early July. That being said the prediction for 1M unit sales in Japan was based on a full year and their price package, handset and monthly fee, is certainly competative enough. As usual there’s much more than meets the eye on a story like this!

According to market-research firm MM Research Institute, Apple sold about 200,000 phones in Japan in the first two months. Since then, however, demand has been falling steadily, and analysts now widely believe sales are unlikely to reach a total of 500,000 units. That is half the one million units that they previously thought Apple could sell. One big challenge is that Japanese users already have access to some of the most advanced mobile-phone technologies in the world. Models currently sold by Japanese cellphone makers typically contain a high-end color display, digital TV-viewing capability, satellite navigation service, music player and digital camera. Many models also include chips that let owners use their phones as debit cards or train passes. Noriko Tanaka, a 34-year-old Softbank customer in Tokyo, said she likes the iPhone’s touch screen, but would prefer a phone with digital television capability. “The touch screen looks fun, but I’m not sure I could get used to it,” said Ms. Tanaka.

No doubt we’ll finally get around to diggin deep into this story - long overdue video and all - sometime in the coming weeks.. should be worth the wait..