Japanese consumers are one step closer to getting the much-coveted iPhone. According to Reuters, "Apple Inc. is playing Japan's top mobile operator NTT DoCoMo Inc against No. 3 carrier Softbank Corp on selling the iPhone in Japan." Apparently neither company is especially excited about the share of subscriber revenue that Apple is proposing, however.

Apple faced some stiff competition when it launched the iPhone in Europe, partnering with France Telecom's Orange, Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile, and Spain's O2. Compared to what it faces in the Asian market, however, that launch was child's play.

The device was a major hit when in launched in the States, but let's face it--a lot of the innovation it was heralded as bringing was, more than anything, a result of the restriction and widespread phone crippling imposed by our carriers. Unlike the relatively free European market, Japan has carrier exclusivity similar to that of the U.S. However, the Japanese have far more advanced handsets, in terms of Web browsing and camera-phone technology.

The major complaint about the iPhone's Web browsing is the relatively slow speed of the EDGE network on which it operates. Re-engineered to operate with native carriers, a Japanese iPhone would likely not suffer from the same speed issues.

If the iPhone is going to have any success in the Japanese market, it will hinge on its music player. And fortunately for Apple, the company was able to repeat the success of the iPod over there, at least to some degree.

So where does this leave the proposed Japanese iPhone? Will Apple be able to repeat the tremendous success it saw in the States, or will it completely tank, as some pundits are predicting? My guess is far less exciting, landing somewhere between the two.

I predict an initial buying surge driven by the novelty of owning a device that drove Americans to fits of frenzy months before. Others will genuinely be excited by the device's music capabilities. Ultimately, however, the handset is likely to become just another in a pile of cool phones available in the Japanese market.