iPhone, News/Rumors April 26, 2012

Apple rises in the Japan smartphone market but still not enough to outrun Android

“Smartphones surpassed feature phones as the most acquired device type in February 2012, signaling an important shift in Japan’s mobile market,” said Daizo Nishitani, vice president of comScore Japan KK. “Japanese mobile phone users were already highly engaged with their devices, but with the added functionality and higher levels of mobile media consumption we should expect to see significant changes in behaviour among the Japanese mobile population in 2012.”

Statistics highlight the fact that Google’s Android is first in line in the top smartphone platforms, managing to achieve 61.4% share in February 2012. Android’s growth from November 2011 is quite insignificant with only 0.3 point change. Apple is the second leading smartphone category, managing to rise with 1.3 point change. The reason for the growth is that other platforms like RIM Blackberry and Symbian have decreased and many users begin embracing the iOS platform. Another reason for increasing in sales is the launch of the iPhone 4S and the language support for Siri in the iOS 5.1. Although the iPhone is facing a significant growth in the smartphone market it still does not manage to outrun Android.

According to another analysis, Japanese users take full advantage of their phone gadgets especially when it comes to emails. Japanese make use of emails for over 56.7%, followed by using apps (55.4%). Although it was expected to witness better scores, only 19.5% of owners use their phones for networking or blogging.