In some ways, Wall Street should be surprised that it did not happen sooner. Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) is talking to cellular carriers about launching the iPhone in Japan. In the country that created the Walkman and PlayStation, it would seem only logical that a tech gadget like the iPhone would be a huge success.

Japan is known for its obsession with cellphones. It is a large market for text applications and ringtones.

The Wall Street Journal writes that Apple is in talks with NTT DoCoMo (NYSE: DCM), the largest carrier in Japan, and Softbank. The Japanese market has "nearly 100 million mobile-phone users who buy new phones every two years on average. Japanese consumers are also already used to shelling out hundreds of dollars for expensive phones with advanced capabilities such as digital television, camera and music," according to the paper.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: MoneyGram (MGI), F5 Networks (FFIV), ARK Restaurants (ARKR), Nara Bancorp (NARA) and St. Jude Medical (STJ) were today's noteworthy initiations:

• AG Edwards initiated MoneyGram (NYSE: MGI) with a Buy rating because it believes the recent pullback in the shares provides an attractive entry point; Stephens started shares of MoneyGram with an Overweight rating, and believes the company is well positioned to create strong transactional growth and take market share.

• CIBC expects F5 Networks (NASDAQ: FFIV) to benefit from strong fundamentals in application networking solutions and started shares with a Sector Outperformer rating and $85 target.

• Morgan Joseph initiated ARK Restaurants (NASDAQ: ARKR) with a Buy rating and $43 target; they believe ARK is well positioned to benefit from strong SSS & earnings leverage given its strong store locations, wide ranging price points, and stable unit development pipeline.

• Sandler is positive on Nara Bancorp (NASDAQ: NARA), starting shares with a Buy rating and $17 target, based on the company's long-term prospects.

• ThinkEquity believes St. Jude Medical (NYSE: STJ) is poised to take market share in the ICD markets and started shares with a Buy rating and $56 target...

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• JP Morgan initiated Softbank (OTC: SFTBF) with an Underweight rating and Nippon Telegraph & Telephone (NYSE: NTT) with a Neutral rating.

• Goldman reinstated Bausch & Lomb (NYSE: BOL) with a Neutral rating.

• Banc of America initiated PharMerica (NYSE: PMC) with a Buy rating and $18 target.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).

Last week, I was a moderator at a conference called TiECON SOUTHWEST 2006.

The topic was certainly interesting – "The New Internet: YouTube, MySpace and Beyond."

As is always key for a moderator, I was lucky to have a great panel. There was the money guy, that is, a venture capitalist from Softbank, Tarang Shah. The others included company founders, such as Gordon Gould from ThisNext, Eden Jarrin of Be Jane, Michael Sawtell of The Family Post and Erik Hawkins of PureVideo.

For the most part, it was a free-form discussion (there were also smart questions from the audience).

Here are some of my takeaways: