Japan’s NTT DOCOMO was the last of the major Japan carriers to start offering the iPhone, although they did kick that off with Apple’s new iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c. One of the reasons the carrier decided to sign on with Apple was because they were tired of losing subscribers to their rivals, such as KDDI and Softbank who offered the iPhone way before NTT DOCOMO did. Unfortunately it seems that despite offering the new iPhones, NTT DOCOMO is reportedly still losing subscribers to their rivals and they are blaming limited stock as the reason. According to a report from Reuters, the carrier saw a drop of 66,800 subscribers in the month of September which is a stark contrast to those of KDDI and Softbank who saw an increase in subscribers.
We’re not sure how the other two carriers are enjoying success while NTT DOCOMO isn’t. It is not news that the iPhone 5s is currently experiencing shipping delays due to its production not going as well as it should have, with some blaming the Touch ID sensor as one of the reasons why production is slow and supply is constrained. Either way or the folks at KDDI and Softbank were allocated more units, or NTT DOCOMO underestimated the demand. In any case this is not a short-term solution for the carrier and the benefits will probably show up in the long-run, but for now it does not look like they are off to a good start.
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