Apple, DoCoMo Alliance
It has been found that Apple has more than doubled its market share in Japan since its cooperation with NTT DoCoMo, the largest mobile carrier in Japan, to pose a significant challenge to Samsung Electronics’ efforts to penetrate the Japanese market.
Hong Kong-based market research firm Counterpoint Research said on November 1 that Apple’s smartphone market share in the country rose to 34% in September. This means that one out of every three persons who bought smartphones in Japan in that month opted for the iPhone. Apple climbed to the number one spot from the third in just a month, thanks to sales expansion, followed by Sharp (13.6%) and Fujitsu (10.7%).
In July and August, Apple’ share remained at 14% or so. However, it has increased by close to 20 percentage points since the release of the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C. The market research firm said that the boost in sales can be attributed to not only the reputation of the iPhone itself but also NTT DoCoMo.
Until the recent past, Apple supplied the iPhone to runner-ups like KDDI and Softbank, but it has signed a supply contract with NTT DoCoMo at this time. NTT DoCoMo expended great effort to add the latest iPhone to its lineup, making great concessions in terms of sales quota, etc. In addition, it kept itself away from the other handset manufacturers like Samsung Electronics during the selection of flagship smartphone suppliers for this winter.
Samsung Electronics maintained its number four position in September, but its market share fell down to 6.3%, just 0.2 percentage points higher than that of Sony. Compared to August and June this year, its market share dropped one and 3.7 percentage points, respectively. In short, the alliance of Apple and NTT DoCoMo is posing a severe threat to Samsung in the market.