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1 in 5 people in Japan have a smartphone, most are Android

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1 in 5 people in Japan have a smartphone, most are Android
Japan was a bit slow to jump on the smartphone bandwagon, mostly because so-called feature phones in Japan were always pretty feature-rich with games, apps, and even broadcast TV, but the country has gone for smartphones, and the uptake has been impressive. In Japan, DoCoMo's 4G service took just one month to jump from 4 million users to 5 million. 

The most recent data says that 1 in 5 people in Japan has a smartphone, which adds up to just about 24 million people. This is even more impressive given that back in February, there were only 19.3 million smartphone subscribers. Back in February, that number meant that 1 in 5 mobile phone users in the country had a smartphone, but now the number is 1 in 5 people in the country. That's a solid jump. 

Android has been pretty dominant in Japan, again after a slow start. The iPhone took an early lead a couple years ago, but now Android holds 64% of the smartphone market in Japan, which is up 1.9% from March. Apple and Microsoft (the data doesn't distinguish Windows Phone vs Windows Mobile) both dropped in that timeframe, with Apple now at a respectable 32%, and Microsoft well behind at 3%. 

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1. loken posted on 22 Aug 2012, 22:59 7 3

and most might be sony phones :)

4. RangersK posted on 22 Aug 2012, 23:53 7

M/S in 2Q
0. Apple (32%)
1. Sharp (22.6%)
2. Panasonic (13.6%)
3. Fijitsu (11.8%)
4. NEC (8.9%)
then
5. Sony (7.9%)

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57497144-94/android-apple-tops-among-smartphone-users-in-japan/

5. loken posted on 23 Aug 2012, 01:06

thats why i said most :)

18. SleepingOz posted on 23 Aug 2012, 10:15

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/most

=]

10. wendygarett (limited) 6 days ago posted on 23 Aug 2012, 02:19 2 1

wrong most are apple iphone (32%)
i love japan :D

13. ardent1 posted on 23 Aug 2012, 04:41

Wrong - most denotes the majority, not the popular brand.

2. jove39 posted on 22 Aug 2012, 23:00 5 1

That's how Japanese roll :)

17. anywherehome posted on 23 Aug 2012, 06:12

more than 10 year economic stagnation....but still better than US and EU increasing irresponsible debts.....we have voted for them, our fault

3. Lawliet posted on 22 Aug 2012, 23:26 3 1

And each season, their networks offer the best phones in both look and specs

14. ardent1 posted on 23 Aug 2012, 04:46 1 1

Best is debatable; you have to wonder why the modern world smartphone did not originate in Japan. The Japanese phones do have some world class leading features, but that alone does not make them the best phones..

Btw, T. Obata is a great mangaka.

6. Aaron_R96 posted on 23 Aug 2012, 01:35 2

That's cause the Japanese have sense.

7. Seannyc posted on 23 Aug 2012, 01:37 1

Japaneses have their own phones, but it actually looks very nice. The features are also very nice. Every phone is very unique. I heard when our phone was using standard 5mp theirs was at least 12+mp standard.

8. roscuthiii posted on 23 Aug 2012, 02:01 1

I'm very envious of the mobile device world outside of the US... they either seem to get better service, better plans, or better handsets - if not all of the above.

We need to break the carrier's grip on the market over here. My next phone is so so sooooooo (enough o's there?) going to be unlocked right out of the gate.

9. mercorp posted on 23 Aug 2012, 02:09 1

where's samsung and LG?
(Boycott)

11. wendygarett (limited) 6 days ago posted on 23 Aug 2012, 02:26 2 3

4 out of 5 Japanese love features phone :D
They love iphone because it looks like features phone :D

16. pegasso posted on 23 Aug 2012, 05:39 1

you can find some of them here :
http://www.nttdocomo.com/features/handsets_gallery/index.html

12. snowgator posted on 23 Aug 2012, 04:38 1

1 in 5??? Sounds like a wide open market.

Unless they still prefer feature phones.

19. downphoenix posted on 23 Aug 2012, 13:49

well as the article says, their feature phones are better than ours. They actually HAVE features.

21. JC557 posted on 23 Aug 2012, 15:56

Those feature phones from NTT DoCoMo were always several years ahead of feature phones in the US. They had video conferencing, large camera sensors and MP count, email, web browsing, TV... basically a smartphone in its own right.

15. denied911 (banned) posted on 23 Aug 2012, 04:59

1 in 5 mobile phone users in the country had a smartphone, but now the number is 1 in 5
???

20. gwuhua1984 posted on 23 Aug 2012, 14:46

I remember when the SE k800i came out and there's no way to get it here cept to get it unlocked. 8MP camera with front facing camera and 3G capability, while the phone offered here were just 2.0 to 3.0MP with only 2G data. There was a reason why they didn't see the immediate need to change to a smartphone, because their cell phone could do a lot already.

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