Apple's iPhone 3GS is No. 1 in Japan
Sales in Japan (July). Source: Electronista
The iPhone, which has had a tough time competing in the Japanese market, finally broke through in July with the launch of the iPhone 3GS.
According to a report in Electronista, market data from Gfk Japan shows the 32 GB iPhone in the No. 1 spot for July, ahead of Japanese-made phones from Sharp, Panasonic (PC), NEC, Casio and Sony Ericsson (a Japanese/Swedish joint venture).
The 16 GB model came in at No. 9, ahead of the Sharp SH001.
An earlier report from the market research company BCN showing the two iPhone models occupying the No. 1 and No. 2 spots for the week of June 22 to 28 was discounted because that was the week Apple (AAPL) launched the 3GS in Japan. (See here.)
That the 32 GB iPhone ended the month of July in first place is harder to dismiss as a transient, opening day phenomenon.
@Tom Ross,
The sales chart in Japan fluctuates a lot on a weekly basis because every single mobile phone is a carrier exclusive and they launch new phones every 3-4 months.
It is much harder to be number 1 in the US because they count all RAZR phones from all 4 carriers in both CDMA and GSM format as a single model.
You need to sell millions of phones to be ranked number 1 in the US in a single quarter (they don't release weekly sales data). You may only need to sell thousands of phones to be ranked number 1 in Japan for a week.
It doesn't mean a lot that the iphone was ranked number 1 in Japan for a couple of weeks during its initial launch.
Does anyone know if using a foreign iPhone in Japan on global roaming will allow MMS messages to be sent/received?
I live over here and I've definitely seen and felt a growth of iPhones. But the most influencial and encouraging statistic was the fact that the other day I saw an older gentleman, probably in his 60s+ in the train playing with his new iphone.
Janet: Right now the 3G is selling a lot better in Japan than the 3GS. This can only be explained with the long delivery delays for the 3GS that can currently be seen all over Europe and Asia. T-Mobile of Germany reports delivery times of 4 to 7 weeks. I really have no clue what's happenig to all those phones. Maybe there is a problem with exploding devices after all, or Apple is already preparing a new model.
Great to see the news, further laying to rest those bizarre rumors floating around about the iPhone being "hated" in Japan. It's actually a popular phone here, even before the 3GS: last year, the iPhone 3G scored the highest mobile phone customer satisfaction in Japan.
More on the topic here:
http://www.mactivist.com/2009/07/iphone-japan
http://www.mactivist.com/2009/06/iphone-macs-ipod-sweep-2008-customer-satisfaction-rankings-in-japan
Jeff-
Just because its not an iPhone doesn't make it horrible. I don't think the Japanese buy crappy phones just because.
Typical iPhone user response…
I think if you took all Sharp, Panasonic, Sony, NEC, Casio and Apple models group them as what each house have sold, Apple will probably rank at the bottom.
This blog only takes account what each model has done and Apple 3Gs is number one.
I live in Tokyo. I tried to buy a 32GB iPhone yesterday. There is a 3 week waiting list. Also when the phone comes in you have to pick it up within three days or you loose it.
I was in Japan a week before the 3GS was being sold. I only saw about a dozen iPhones through out the country, almost everyone had a Sharp flip phone. Good to see the 3GS is on top. Most of the Sharp phones I saw had horrible UI's.
i see a couple of moves in Japan at least lately; an expensive cover case – more than iPhone itself – and a trial service application for hearing aids. These can lead to our assumption that Japanese are now accepting iPhones as one of they can choose – at least so as to be away from their own Galapogos.
You don't need a lot of cell phone units sold to be ranked number 1 for a month.
And with the number of brand new cell phones on the Japan market every 3-4 months — it really means that if Apple sells a very small number of iphones, it would still be number 1.
We are talking about about Japan having 7-8 cell phone makers, each selling many many models for the Japan market — selling 10000 units of a cell phone would probably be on the top 10 chart.
I think it's a win for Apple. Sure it can be downplayed, but how many other foreign company phones even make the list. I have seen a BlackBerry on the list, but not at number one. Even if the iPhone only stays on the list for a month or two, that still seems a long way from being a failure which every know-it-all that loves WinMo and Symbian cellphones said it would be. All those other cellphones in the ranking are Japanese-made.
It's been claimed that the iPhone really isn't highly advertised in Japan and that people don't care much for switching carriers, so it may take more time for the iPhone to gain favor. At least the Japanese are buying them despite the iPhone lacking so many localized functions that the Japanese rely on.
It shows somewhat that the Japanese do not "hate" the iPhone. And the iPhone has helped the smaller carrier Softbank to gain plenty of new subscribers so it isn't a total loss.
If the iPhone was never on the list before and is now on the top of the list, then this is significant, no matter how the rankings are put together.
All the more so, because many people have claimed that the iPhone would never appeal to the "sophisticated" Japanese mobile consumer.
It’s not difficult to be number 1 in Japan for a week or a month — same as any singer can have a number 1 single for a week and then never heard from them ever again.
New phone models come every 3-4 months and all the phones are carrier exclusives — makes the threshold to be number 1 very low.
It is a lot easier to be number 1 if you don’t count a competitor like AT&T RAZR, T-Mobile RAZR, Verizon RAZR and Sprint RAZR together.
iPhone lost to the Blackberry Curve in the US because the Curve is available on all 4 carriers and is counted as a single model.
This is useless without combing the data of like models. I see 4 Sharp SH-xxx models on the list, while there are only two iPhone models. Did the 4 sharps sell more than the 2 iPhones? No idea from this report.
That Wired article was discredited and they retracted quite some time ago. Sloppy research…
ex ped: The link provided reported the problems with the wired.com piece in full. Did you click on it before calling our research "sloppy"?
Wired.com is not wired at all except for fantasy or attempted manipulative purposes. I hope the you guys that post their fantasy trash wise up and check into the credibility of these morons instead of facilitating their deviant purposes.
I agree with Janet. This study should be interpreted with a grain of salt. It could well be a temporal gust with a help of some sales promotion. The share of ipod3GS is still relatively marginal compared to other models. This is mainly due to 6 significant "flaws" vis-a-vis Japanese user: 1. Lacks compatibility with auto-pay/charged debit cards such as edy/suica (osaifu-keitai) 2. pathetic performance of its camera 3.no digital tv tuner 4. Low battery life 5. high service charge for data and Softbank being the only carrier available, which does not cover the masses. 6. Some cases of hardware/software instability (being a pc based smartphone, instead of phone based smartphone)
Otherwise, I think most Japanese find it a pretty cool phone, but it has some hurdles to overcome.