The folks at JapanConsuming let us know about an interesting article published last month about Apple and the iPod mini in Japan. The article is based on an editorial in August issue of JapanConsuming and looks at how Apple is redefining consumer technology marketing as a fashion market and why this redefinition is ideally suited to the Japanese market. “More than 1,500 eager customers queued for the launch of a little music player called the iPod mini and the store sold out within a day,” notes the story. This is the stuff of legendary fashion superbrands, not a store selling boxed silicon. The ability to generate such enthusiasm for a small aluminum tube containing a chip, some memory and a bit of software is clearly a marketing phenomenon worth considering. Is it the brand? The function? The fashion? Most likely a bit of each.”