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]