Softbank and Apple to develop iPod phones
The Japanese Internet service company and the U.S. computer company are expected to launch handsets with the iPod functions as early as this year in Japan. Softbank Corp. and Apple Computer Inc. are planning to jointly develop mobile phones that have built-in iPod digital music players and can download songs directly from Apple’s iTunes Music Store, news reports said Saturday. Kyodo News agency had a similar report.
The Japanese Internet service company and the U.S. computer company are expected to launch handsets with the iPod functions as early as this year in Japan, Japanese business daily Nihon Keizai reported, citing unnamed sources. The two companies also plan to develop a phone that can download songs using Softbank’s wireless communication network next year, the paper said.
**Web update 16 May: SoftBank has come out to deny the rumor, very unusual in that the Nikkei is ‘almost’ never wrong. Time will tell. The official statement from SoftBank is Here (in Japanese)