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.
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. Kyodo News agency had a similar report.
Officials of the two companies were not available for comment Saturday.
Softbank entered the mobile phone business in April after it acquired British mobile phone company Vodafone's struggling Japan unit. The acquisition allows Softbank to take over the more than 15 million Japanese uses who have signed on to the carrier, as well as its mobile network, instead of building it from scratch.
The reported plan comes amid intensifying competition in the mobile phone business.
On Thursday, NTT DoCoMo, Japan's biggest mobile carrier, and Microsoft Corp. announced to jointly provide music services for mobile phones this summer. The second largest mobile phone company KDDI Corp. has drawn users through its music download feature.
