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While Google is ruling most of the world, Yahoo is still the number one destination in Japan. The web portal is trying to additionally monetize its leading position and has recently launched an Android app store for users in the Land of the rising Sun.
At the moment, Yahoo’s app store doesn’t provide direct downloads, but only reviews, ratings and links to the Android Market. However, the plan is to change to the full-blown app store from spring of next year.
According to MM Research, Android smartphones are getting increasingly popular in Japan, with more smartphones running Google’s OS shipped during 2010 and 2011 than Apple iPhones. In total, there were 4.91 million Android devices sold compared to Apple’s 3.23 million.
Our take? It’s only natural for Yahoo to further explore monetization options and take advantage of its dominance in the local market. If they manage to keep that position, I wouldn’t be surprised more mobile Yahoo-branded products and services to be rolled out in the months to come. We’ll see…
[Via: MobileBusinessBriefing]
About The Author
Dusan Belic
Dusan has been using smartphones since their introduction and is now following the latest trends in the industry. The "convergence" is what he's most excited about, and writing about it is the next logical thing to do. He thinks that using a smartphone is what everyone who cares about their time should do. In addition to his interests in mobile phones, Dusan also loves to experiment with the latest web and mobile 2.0 services. The idea of accessing and managing your information from any device no matter where you are simply amazes him. Whether it's an online to-do list, note taking service or a video sharing social network, he's there to try it out. He admits though, he's still searching for the ultimate web-based organizational tool, which "sings" perfectly with the mobile PIM application. Dusan used to run SymbianWatch.com which later became part of IntoMobile. He lives in Serbia, South-East Europe, from where he edits the site on a daily basis.
