Microsoft Taiwan: No 360 HD-DVD Add-Ons for Asia

At the end of the year, Microsoft is scheduled to release an external HD-DVD drive for the Xbox 360 to compete with the PLAYSTATION 3's Blu-ray capabilities. Microsoft Taiwan has apparently said the HD-DVD player for the 360 won't be released in Asia. Says tech site DigiTimes Systems:

This is because the external HD-DVD drive is designed to play back movies pre-recorded on HD-DVD blue-laser discs, and the supply of HD-DVD movies in Asia is not sufficient to support the sale of such hardware, for the time being at least, Microsoft Taiwan pointed out.
Odd, because rumblings I have heard here in Japan are that the add-on is scheduled for release. Also remember reading a recent interview with the Xbox Japan boss in which he discussed the product. So either, the article has been poorly translated or Japan is no longer part of Asia. Continental Drift, anyone?