View this article at: http://www.macnn.com/articles/04/11/24/ipod.mini.in.japan/ Wednesday, Nov 24, 2004 10:15am Apple's iPod mini at forefront of Japanese market Apple's iPod mini is still the best selling MP3 player in Japan--almost four months after its debut in July. Bloomberg says that Apple's success is frustrating Sony and predicts that 40 percent of the 1.5 million digital music players sold in Japan will come from Apple: "Apple's latest success is another setback for Sony, whose profit from consumer electronics has fallen in five of the past six years as Sharp and Matsushita Electric Industrial grabbed the digital initiative with flat-screen televisions and DVD players. 'Sony was the pioneer with the Walkman," said Alexander Shalash, who manages global technology stocks including Apple shares for Swissca Portfolio Management in Zurich. "This time they're late. There are no alternatives to the iPod right now.'"