Apple's Classy iDevices are in Huge Demand in Japan
In February of this year we reported that Apple had struck gold in Japan with the iPhone taking top spot in Q4 2012. Tonight, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that the iPhone was Japan's best-selling smartphone, with a 37% market share in the six months ended Sept. 30, according to Tokyo's MM Research Institute.
Apple's iPad also garnered more than 50% of Japan's tablet-computer market in the fiscal year ended March 2013, said MM Research.
The Wall Street Journal reports that in the past two years "Japan has emerged as Apple's fastest-growing region, far outpacing its home market and the booming economies of Greater China and the rest of Asia. Japan is also home to Apple's biggest profit margins, and the only one of Apple's five regions where operating profit grew in the past fiscal year."
A Tokyo-based analyst at BCN stated that "The iPhone has propelled Apple's success in Japan, supported by heavy marketing and rich subsidies from telephone companies. Apple's brand is just overwhelming here. It's not about specifications. It's not about rationale. It's about owning an iPhone."
Sales got another boost in late September when NTT DoCoMo, Japan's largest wireless carrier, began offering the iPhone for the first time to its 61.8 million customers. For more on this, see the Wall Street Journal's report titled "Apple Finds Surprising Growth Market in Japan."
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