NTT DoCoMo Inc. will order more Sony Corp. smartphones as the nation's largest wireless carrier keeps Apple Inc.'s iPhone off its shelves because the iTunes Store competes with its own e-commerce business.
Sales of Sony's Xperia A handset could reach 2 million by Sept. 30 after going on sale in May as DoCoMo focuses on a smaller range of devices, DoCoMo Chief Financial Officer Kazuto Tsubouchi said in an interview in Tokyo on Wednesday.
The carrier is trying to spark growth with discounts as it adds users at a slower pace than Softbank Corp. and KDDI Corp., which both sell the iPhone. DoCoMo is reducing the number of models in its stores by as much as half to focus its promotions on Sony and Samsung Electronics Co. handsets, Tsubouchi said.