The iPhone is Japan’s most popular smartphone, and its hold on the Japanese public is expected to only grow. A recent survey concluded that 37 percent of smartphone users in the Land of the Rising Sun own an iPhone. The phone’s launch on NTT DoCoMo, Japan’s biggest carrier, means we can expect an even greater share down the road.
The 37 percent figure only includes data through the end of September, when the iPhone arrived on DoCoMo, a carrier boasting 61.8 million customers. The full extent of the phone’s availability on that network was not realized in that initial report. Compare the number to a similar survey conducted for the US smartphone market, and we actually find a greater percentage of iPhone users in Japan. The number is close, though. The iPhone accounts for 36 percent of smartphone users in the States.
How big could the iPhone get in Japan? Analysts believe Apple could sell as many as 12 million phones in the country this year, more or less double the sales of 2012. In 2014, the figure could grow to 20 million and account for 50 percent of the Japanese market.
[via WSJ]
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