Finally… Maybe… Unofficially
Yet more Mac news, this time on the Eastern side of the Pacific: The Nihon Keizai Shimbun (a leading economic newspaper, kind of like the Wall Street Journal of Japan) is reporting that Apple will open an iTunes Music Store in Japan in August of this year. This would be encouraging, except that the same paper previously predicted that the iTMS Japan would open in Spring 2005. The Mainichi Shimbun, however, did predict that the store would open before the end of 2005.
What is encouraging about the new story beyond the possible August start date is the report that Apple may be charging as little as ¥150 ($1.40) per song, well under the $2+ prices offered by current download services in Japan (though the story did go further to say that the price could be “between 100 and 200 yen per song”).
Still, good news for Japanese music fans, or those in Japan without a credit card with a billing address in a country where an iTMS is already located.
Still, good news for Japanese music fans, who want to pay for music…