It is safe to say that Apple’s iPhone is without a doubt popular regardless of wherever you go, although its market share will vary from country to country. However it seems that with the recent launch of the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c in Japan, especially with NTT DOCOMO finally coming on board and offering the device to their subscribers, Apple’s iPhone has managed to capture a fairly significant amount of market share. This is according to research consultants, Counterpoint Research, who has found that Apple managed to capture 34% of the 2.8 million mobile sales in Japan this September, a very sizeable and noticeable increase from its estimated market share of 14% in July and August.
According to Counterpoint’s director, Tom Kang, “This is the first time any handset brand has crossed the 30% mark in the last decade in one of the most modern digital handset market in the world, Japan.” Kang notes that is particularly impressive due to the numerous brands available, not to mention how the three major carriers in Japan control these brands which would ultimately make it pretty hard for a single brand to dominate. NTT DOCOMO had recently revealed that despite offering the new iPhone that they were still bleeding subscribers, but hopefully as stock begins to stabilize that they will start seeing the numbers they desired.