NTT DoCoMo Inc said on Monday it will start selling Research In Motion's BlackBerry smartphones to individual users in Japan from August 1, less than a month after its rival launches Apple Inc's iPhone in the country.
Users of the BlackBerry Internet Service will be able to directly connect to the Internet without a dedicated server, and DoCoMo hopes it will appeal to individuals and small to midsize businesses. DoCoMo, Japan's biggest mobile phone operator, has been seeking rights to sell the iPhone in Japan, but smaller rival Softbank Corp won the contract first.