You would think that when Research in Motion announced that it had released the BlackBerry 8707h via NTT DoCoMo in Japan last week, the devices would actually support fonts of the language people who buy the devices speak. This, however, would not be a good assumption. The 8707h allows for the display of Japanese characters but doesn’t allow for their input. As Engadgetmobile puts it, RIM “had a moment of clarity and realized that folks occasionally like typing in their native language” so they have decided to support Japanese fonts.

We’re working to have a solution for entering Japanese fonts in the first two quarters of next year,” RIM President and Co-CEO Mike Lazaridis told a press conference in Tokyo. RIM will even be nice enough to allow previous models of the BlackBerry to update with the new software for free so the 1400 or so people who have already ordered the BlackBerry 8707h are in luck.

Via Reuters

BlackBerry 8707h, NTT DoCoMo