Thanks to iPhone, Japan becomes Apple's hottest market
The iPhone and iPad have upended Japan's mobile device market, pushing out traditionally strong Japanese manufacturers and elevating the Land of the Rising Sun to the top of Apple's growth charts, according to a new report.
Japanese customers brave the wind and rain of a typhoon while lining up to be among the first to purchase an iPhone 5s during the phone's September launch.
With an estimated 37 percent of the smartphone market and 50 percent of the tablet market, Apple has seen explosive growth in Japan and the world's third-largest economy is now Cupertino's fastest-growing market, reports the Wall Street Journal.
Apple's sales in Japan soared nearly 30 percent during the last fiscal year, cushioned by margins 15 percent higher than those Apple enjoys anywhere else in the world, according to the report. In comparison, nearby China --?which is regularly cited as an important growth market for Apple by people both inside and outside the company --?saw sales growth of just 13 percent over the same period.
The iPhone's dominant market share is said to be due in part to Apple's brand positioning, which the publication places in the same tier as those of fashion houses Louis Vuitton and Burberry.
Eiji Mori, an analyst with Tokyo-based BCN, Inc., told the Journal that when Japanese consumers choose a new mobile phone, "[the choice is] not about specifications. It's not about rationale. It's about owning an iPhone."
The historically rocky relationship between Japan and Korea, which has given Japanese consumers a deep-seated bias against products from the neighboring peninsula is also cited as a tailwind for Apple in Japan. This cultural rift makes it difficult for Apple's global arch rival, South Korea-based Samsung, to gain a foothold.
Apple's success comes at the expense of stalwart Japanese electronics companies like Sony, Sharp, Panasonic, and NEC. The latter two have been hit so hard that they have chosen to fold and exited the smartphone business entirely, a once unthinkable fate.
Japanese customers brave the wind and rain of a typhoon while lining up to be among the first to purchase an iPhone 5s during the phone's September launch.
With an estimated 37 percent of the smartphone market and 50 percent of the tablet market, Apple has seen explosive growth in Japan and the world's third-largest economy is now Cupertino's fastest-growing market, reports the Wall Street Journal.
Apple's sales in Japan soared nearly 30 percent during the last fiscal year, cushioned by margins 15 percent higher than those Apple enjoys anywhere else in the world, according to the report. In comparison, nearby China --?which is regularly cited as an important growth market for Apple by people both inside and outside the company --?saw sales growth of just 13 percent over the same period.
The iPhone's dominant market share is said to be due in part to Apple's brand positioning, which the publication places in the same tier as those of fashion houses Louis Vuitton and Burberry.
Eiji Mori, an analyst with Tokyo-based BCN, Inc., told the Journal that when Japanese consumers choose a new mobile phone, "[the choice is] not about specifications. It's not about rationale. It's about owning an iPhone."
The historically rocky relationship between Japan and Korea, which has given Japanese consumers a deep-seated bias against products from the neighboring peninsula is also cited as a tailwind for Apple in Japan. This cultural rift makes it difficult for Apple's global arch rival, South Korea-based Samsung, to gain a foothold.
Apple's success comes at the expense of stalwart Japanese electronics companies like Sony, Sharp, Panasonic, and NEC. The latter two have been hit so hard that they have chosen to fold and exited the smartphone business entirely, a once unthinkable fate.
Comments
That’s putting a sugar coating on it. These two cultures despise one another.
"cushioned by margins 15 percent higher than those Apple enjoys anywhere else in the world", if I was Japanese I'd be seriously pissed at the profiteering.
It’s called supply and demand. No one is twisting Japanese arms to buy Apple products. Apple products are not essential to Japanese lifestyle. Apple is not a monopoly in Japan. The Japanese consumer has numerous alternatives to Apple products but they choose to buy Apple at the asking price. Since when is this profiteering. Do you even know the meaning of the word? Selling gasoline at $5/gallon after the 9/11 attacks was profiteering.
Your post is stupid, ignorant, uninformed, useless, baseless, and typical of economically illiterate, uneducated sops and free-tards. It is just as stupid as those who ignorantly claim Apple has an illegal monopoly on its own products. Stupidity knows no bounds.
'After all'
After all what?
Very very true, they really do hate each other. If you ever watch a baseball or soccer game between these two countries you will understand. Now there may be some crossover and appeal when it comes to young people and J-Pop/K-Pop, TV drama's, and other cultural things that appeals to the other country but not when it comes to products like phones or TV's. Japanese will always buy a domestic or Western brand before anything Korean if given a chance.
Now this (^^^) is lazy reporting.
Again, I thought there was no growth for Apple. /s
'After all'
After all what?
That is not what he meant. It is pronounced Yappari which translates as Duh..., or that is obvious, or of course it is that way, or like I thought. No real exact translation but those give you an idea. It is said when you see something that is obvious
It’s called supply and demand. No one is twisting Japanese arms to buy Apple products. Apple products are not essential to Japanese lifestyle. Apple is not a monopoly in Japan. The Japanese consumer has numerous alternatives to Apple products but they choose to buy Apple at the asking price. Since when is this profiteering. Do you even know the meaning of the word? Selling gasoline at $5/gallon after the 9/11 attacks was profiteering.
Your post is stupid, ignorant, uninformed, useless, baseless, and typical of economically illiterate, uneducated sops and free-tards. It is just as stupid as those who ignorantly claim Apple has an illegal monopoly on its own products. Stupidity knows no bounds.
Wow, just wow….. Calm down.
Who took the jam out of your doughnut?
Take a deep breath, ok and now take another, let the anger flow from your body.
Feel better? I hope so.
Ok, perhaps profiteering was not the correct word. And you are correct, no one is forced to buy Apple products. I concede being able charge one set of customers far more than other customers for the same product and getting away with it makes good business sense.
And perhaps the fact that in the UK we get regularly shafted by Apple, although usually by only 8-10% as opposed to 15% is why I feel for Apple’s customers in Japan.
You see, it’s annoying and does tend to make one look for alternatives, I accept that the world is not fair and despite your feelings about me I am not actually naïve, or stupid or…. Whatever else your triad cared to mention.
I am a strong supporter of Apple as a company, heck if I was on commission basis for the number of people I have switched to the Mac alone I’d be quite a bit better off financially.
But you see, for me personally I find that going from an average of 30-35% mark up (which is already the highest in the industry by a huge margin all by itself) to 50% mark up just because you can as greedy and abhorrent.
Sure, I will continue to buy Apple’s products for as long as I feel they remain the best, but don’t expect me to feel the same way as you do about their pricing strategy.
It’s called supply and demand. No one is twisting Japanese arms to buy Apple products. Apple products are not essential to Japanese lifestyle. Apple is not a monopoly in Japan. The Japanese consumer has numerous alternatives to Apple products but they choose to buy Apple at the asking price. Since when is this profiteering. Do you even know the meaning of the word? Selling gasoline at $5/gallon after the 9/11 attacks was profiteering.
Nah, the gas hike after 9/11 was child's play compared to the monumental war profiteering done by Halliburton, KBR, et al.
Privatized war is the big casino of profiteering... a few bucks on an iPhone is chump change.
I guess you don't buy Starbucks, Coke, Wine, etc.
"cushioned by margins 15 percent higher than those Apple enjoys anywhere else in the world", if I was Japanese I'd be seriously pissed at the profiteering.
This might be one of those "not believing everything you read" situations - it was said the increase in price was due to the drop in the value of the yen. There's a lot of "noise" out there...
http://www.indexmundi.com/xrates/graph.aspx?c1=USD&c2=JPY&days=5475
http://www.maclife.com/article/news/japanese_buyers_now_paying_more_apples_ipad_ipods
Means - As I thought! Tongue in cheek. Japanese no longer supporting japan product to be number one.
It's all the more precious to them. Status symbol, not specs.
Thanks! Learn something everyday.
edit: that 'after all' came from Bing, which is most likely to be the same from Google Translate.
Japanese people value premium brands. They value ethics, honor, and craftsmanship. All the things that Samsung isn't. Its not about Samsung being Korean. Its that Samsung is a cheap imitation.
If anything the Japanese would be biased against the USA. After all they dropped nukes on them. By the way I'm part Japanese and Apple doing well is not a surprise. Unlike other cultures where saving a buck is honorable, in Japan working hard and buying the best is honorable.
Also they appreciate art and have good taste in electronics. Naturally they rejected the overly large and ugly Samsung phones and choose the iPhone which is finely crafted not unlike a samurai sword.
No, their problem is related to the fact that companies like Samsung and LG really destroyed everything Sony once dominated, besides what Apple did with the music industry (I mean, Walkman+Sony having the rights and names of many brands while Apple had nothing and then, boom: iPod and iTunes).
Even on the auto-industry Japan is losing relevance while KIA is on the way up.
Every single Japanese company sucks at software, so in this day and age their products have nothing going for them. But they still value design, thus Apple going up.
Wow, just wow….. Calm down.
Who took the jam out of your doughnut?
Take a deep breath, ok and now take another, let the anger flow from your body.
Feel better? I hope so.
Ok, perhaps profiteering was not the correct word. And you are correct, no one is forced to buy Apple products. I concede being able charge one set of customers far more than other customers for the same product and getting away with it makes good business sense.
And perhaps the fact that in the UK we get regularly shafted by Apple, although usually by only 8-10% as opposed to 15% is why I feel for Apple’s customers in Japan.
You see, it’s annoying and does tend to make one look for alternatives, I accept that the world is not fair and despite your feelings about me I am not actually naïve, or stupid or…. Whatever else your triad cared to mention.
I am a strong supporter of Apple as a company, heck if I was on commission basis for the number of people I have switched to the Mac alone I’d be quite a bit better off financially.
But you see, for me personally I find that going from an average of 30-35% mark up (which is already the highest in the industry by a huge margin all by itself) to 50% mark up just because you can as greedy and abhorrent.
Sure, I will continue to buy Apple’s products for as long as I feel they remain the best, but don’t expect me to feel the same way as you do about their pricing strategy.
Are you reading this article to claim that Apple adds markup on all products to hit 50%? There is no reference backing up that claim of 15% better margins. I'd sure be interested in how it would have happened if it did. I'm taking that number in the article with a grain of salt.
Means - As I thought! Tongue in cheek. Japanese no longer supporting japan product to be number one.
We were told when the first iPhone hit Japan years ago that it will big failure!!
Talking about Japanese products.. It is interesting that the Playstation 4 will not be available in Japan until February 2014 while it will be released in US and Europe this month. If I was in Japan I would be pissed.
I imagine that China will be even bigger.