New story out today:

Nagoya-based Aiphone chose this week to tell the world that it has been in talks with Apple since last summer about giving the US firm the right to use the ‘iPhone’ trademark in Japan.
You say iPhone, we say…

The possible conflict arose because, although ‘Aiphone’ and ‘iPhone’ are spelled differently in English, the Japanese rendering of both is exactly the same.

Aiphone says it has “reached a friendly agreement with Apple” that allows both to use the Japanese version within Japan.

Aiphone is not a telephone, but the name of a communications company founded in Japan in 1948. Since they seem to primarily make building intercom systems, you won’t be seeing any crossover, no cell phone “iPhone vs. AiPhone.”

The real importance of this announcement, as noted in the quoted article, is the fact that this proves the iPhone is indeed coming. While there is no confirmation that the iPhone will be coming to Japan in June (when it is rumored to come out in 3G in a variety of new countries), every new news tidbit suggests the loosening of the lid on the secret, which suggests a more imminent release.