Apple iPhone takes 72% of Japanese smartphone market

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
Apple's smartphone presence in Japan has more than doubled in the last year, with the iPhone taking an estimated 72 percent of total sales in the country.



As reported by Bloomberg Businessweek, Tokyo's MM Research Institute Ltd. issued a report that said Apple sold 1.69 million units in the 12-month period ending March 31. That took the lion's share of the total 2.3 million handsets sold in Japan in the same frame.



Apple's sales in Japan have doubled, while competitors have lost ground. The second-largest smartphone manufacturer was HTC, which took just 11 percent of the market. Toshiba was third with 6.8 percent.



The total is a significant increase from a study released in December 2009, which declared that the iPhone represented 46 percent of all Japanese smartphone sales. That research from Impress R&D found the iPhone 3G took 24.6 percent of the consumer market, while the iPhone 3GS accounted for another 21.5 percent.



Apple's astounding success in Japan has been partially credited to aggressive marketing from exclusive carrier SoftBank Mobile, which has offered competitive pricing and pushed the handset with high profile advertising.



MM Research expects smartphone sales in Japan to exceed 3 million in the next year. The firm expects the next 12 months to be "much more competitive."



Apple's smartphone rival Google has captured about 5.6 percent of the market with its Android smartphones, according to MM Research. That's expected to grow in the next year, with Softbank expanding its Android lineup, along with rivals NTT DoCoMo and KDDI Corp.



Japan is a strong market for Apple. Just this week, in its quarterly earnings report, Apple revealed that it earned $887 million there from Mac sales in the first quarter of 2010, a 51 percent increase from a year ago, with 18 percent growth in Mac shipments. During the company's conference call on Tuesday, Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook revealed that iPhone units in Japan grew 183 percent year-over-year in the last quarter. The Asia Pacific market as a whole saw 474 percent growth over a year prior.



"These are some fabulous numbers we are seeing just incredible demand for iPhones," Cook said.



Bloomberg Businessweek calculated that Japan was responsible for 6.6 percent of the company's revenue last quarter, which was its highest total since 2006.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 101
    Apple (in Japan) is doomed!?



    (Sorry, couldn't resist! )
  • Reply 2 of 101
    addaboxaddabox Posts: 12,665member
    Ah, the Japanese smartphone market. Already teaming with super-sophisticated über-phones and next-gen services that made the iPhone look dated before it ever shipped. The Japanese demanded TV tuners and credit cards and endless customizability in their phones, if I recall correctly.



    Also, last years big numbers? A flash in the pan, since the Japanese phone market is super volatile and last year's smash is this year's dud.
  • Reply 3 of 101
    str1f3str1f3 Posts: 573member
    I'm not exactly sure how seriously this can be taken since almost all of the "dumb phones" in Japan are just as powerful as any smartphone.
  • Reply 4 of 101
    addaboxaddabox Posts: 12,665member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by str1f3 View Post


    I'm not exactly sure how seriously this can be taken since almost all of the "dumb phones" in Japan are just as powerful as any smartphone.



    Which would make them all smartphones. Unless there's some, you know, distinction.
  • Reply 5 of 101
    Apple has 72% of the gaijin phone OS market.
  • Reply 6 of 101
    gqbgqb Posts: 1,934member
    B-B-But the Japanese HATE the iPhone!!!

    How can this be???
  • Reply 7 of 101
    zindakozindako Posts: 468member
    I thought the japanese hated iPhones!!! ah well, I guess no matter who you are, you cant argue with quality.
  • Reply 8 of 101
    quadra 610quadra 610 Posts: 6,757member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by davebarnes View Post


    Apple has 72% of the gaijin phone OS market.





  • Reply 9 of 101
    chronsterchronster Posts: 1,894member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by anantksundaram View Post


    Apple (in Japan) is doomed!?



    (Sorry, couldn't resist! )



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by GQB View Post


    B-B-But the Japanese HATE the iPhone!!!

    How can this be???



    Who the fuck says things like this? Seriously. A few random trolls on the thread? I have a feeling people around here have setup this fake outcry from "those other guys" in order to have a chuckle over how Apple is doing great, and feel like somehow you're rubbing it in their faces.





    ANYWAYS, nobody has mentioned the obvious: Japan is always ahead of us technologically, and here they are being dominated by an AMERICAN device. This is big news! (Also, maybe a vision of things to come HERE.)
  • Reply 10 of 101
    chronsterchronster Posts: 1,894member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by GQB View Post


    B-B-But the Japanese HATE the iPhone!!!

    How can this be???



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by zindako View Post


    I thought the japanese hated iPhones!!! ah well, I guess no matter who you are, you cant argue with quality.



    http://www.appleinsider.com/articles...g_mistake.html
  • Reply 11 of 101
    msanttimsantti Posts: 1,377member
    That total figure of smartphones seems kinda low for a 12 month period?



    But maybe not? Whats the population there?
  • Reply 12 of 101
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    The most interesting part of this is that it indicates a switch in Japanese buying sentiment.



    Typically, the Japanese have been very enamored of gadgets and features. The more features in a product the better. In addition, their demand has been volatile - the latest phone does well -for a few weeks or months and then the market moves on to something newer or with some new whiz-bang feature.



    This kind of success for the iPhone is extremely unusual in Japan (at least in recent years). The iPhone focuses on usability rather than the latest features. Its design is stable with no changes at all for the past 9 months and only a speed bump before that.



    Rather amazing result.
  • Reply 13 of 101
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    There is no law of diminishing returns when it comes to this story. Always cracks me up to read about an American cellphone in Tokyo.





    PS: Ai, you should do an article on S. Korea. Their sales of the iPhone are as impressive — if not more — than Japan.



    PPS: Quadra 610, the stock hit $270 today.
  • Reply 14 of 101
    cgc0202cgc0202 Posts: 624member
    Who remembers the Chinese guy and the internet site that made a big splash about Japanese not liking the iPhone, and thus a failure in Japan because Japanese phones are more advanced than any in the world, have features that Japanese cannot live without and blah blah blah...?



    Why buy the iPhone when it lacks or cannot do [please insert your cannot live without feature here] that some other more advanced phones already have, and more?



    CGC



    N.B. The misleading article wirtten by the Chinese guy stirred a controversy because it purported to cite a number of Japanese bloggers to bolster the claims of the author. The said Japanese bloggers countered that they said no such thing and even linked the relevant blogs. Also, others comments in those Japanese blogs (many quite positive) referred to a revered Japanese phone designer who praised the intuitive nature of the iPhone and the ossification (my own word) of Japanese phone design.
  • Reply 15 of 101
    matrix07matrix07 Posts: 1,993member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by davebarnes View Post


    Apple has 72% of the gaijin phone OS market.



    hmm... Toshiba is the third. How is it gaijin?
  • Reply 16 of 101
    quadra 610quadra 610 Posts: 6,757member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    There is no law of diminishing returns when it comes to this story. Always cracks me up to read about an American cellphone in Tokyo.





    PS: Ai, you should do an article on S. Korea. Their sales of the iPhone are as impressive — if not more — than Japan.



    PPS: Quadra 610, the stock hit $270 today.







    Have a look at this:



    http://www.marketwatch.com/video/ass...C-C63EB8FD120F



    I'm not sure what to say. I *think* he's smarter than he sounds, but I'm not really encouraged.
  • Reply 17 of 101
    sheffsheff Posts: 1,407member
    Japanese know their tech, and those who know (and can afford) chose apple.



    That said I think android is gonna grow pretty nicely there too. Japanese seem to prefer their own tech toys unless they absolutely have to swithc (think cars, robots and game consoles) and Android can be installed by local Japanese manufacturers and sold throughout asia. Plus android lets you have a hello kitty dialer. Apple can't do that.



    http://www.androidzoom.com/android_t...pink_fhat.html
  • Reply 18 of 101
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    There is no law of diminishing returns when it comes to this story. Always cracks me up to read about an American cellphone in Tokyo.





    PS: Ai, you should do an article on S. Korea. Their sales of the iPhone are as impressive ? if not more ? than Japan.



    PPS: Quadra 610, the stock hit $270 today.



    I just saw that too ... woooot! My retirement looks better every day So solipsism where are your thoughts on stock split coming soon versus Apple buy back?

    I must dig back through my old posts to the discussion with a well known global mod who argued with me that AAPL would not pass 200 for a few years.
  • Reply 19 of 101
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jragosta View Post


    The iPhone focuses on usability rather than the latest features.



    Fancy that! Someone actually tries that out as a tech product attribute, and people take notice!



    (As an aside, I just bought a Sony blu-ray disc player, with built in wifi. I was stunned by what a tacky-feeling piece of electronics it is, overall. The set-up, incl. the wifi set up was confusing (who writes these manuals and who programs their on-screen menus!?). For instance, you should take a look at their on-screen keyboard -- makes @TV's look like genius. And I still haven't figured out how to get Netflix streaming set up on it (I am too busy or lazy to call their 1-800 number). It offers a gazillion useless features that I'll probably never use.I don't mean to knock Sony, but here's a cutting-edge, global, Japanese electronics company and their cutting-edge product seems to be more about features than usability. People are sick and tired of it).
  • Reply 20 of 101
    quadra 610quadra 610 Posts: 6,757member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jragosta View Post




    The iPhone focuses on usability rather than the latest features.



    Anyone can cram "features" into the latest Frankenphone, as we all know.
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