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Apple’s quarterly results hinted at hefty growth in Japan, and to corroborate, the MM Research Institute has established that there are 2.34 million iPhones in Japan, constituting 72.2% smartphone market share. If these numbers are true, iPhone’s 2009 growth in Japan is double that of last year. HTC, the runner-up, nabbed only 11.1%, followed by Toshiba at 6.8%, and RIM and Sony Ericsson tied at 4.3%.
These numbers surprise me a little bit, since I was under the impression that resistive touchscreens and styluses made for ideal character recognition in Japan and China, which was a big problem for keyboard-based devices like BlackBerrys and devices with capacitive screens like the iPhone. In any case, within the overall mobile marketshare, Apple held less than 5.5%, and considering how mind-blowing Japan’s feature phones are, I have a feeling the iPhone will have a harder time competing at the lower-end.
[via Electronista]
About The Author
Simon Sage
Simon Sage’s education largely surrounded writing, technology and online community, leading him to begin his blogging career at www.BlackBerryCool.com and to quickly discover a vibrant and active community surrounding BlackBerry and mobile technology. In exploring RIM’s platform, he has learned what enterprises are looking for in mobility as well as what makes the innocuous BlackBerry so appealing to them. Recently Simon’s been covering RIM’s gradual move into an already-crowded consumer market, and the impact of burgeoning challengers, such as the iPhone, as well as long-time leaders, like Nokia, on BlackBerry’s advancement. With plenty of content under his belt, Simon will be branching off a bit to see what other smartphone manufacturers are working on while still using BlackBerry as a barometer. At IntoMobile, you can count on his posts being even-handed, well-informed and thought-out.
