That 80% is a shipment number not actual sales. That 80% also includes feature phones not just smart phones.
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iPhone 5s/5c Take 76% of Smartphone Sales in Japan for October
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That 80% is a shipment number not actual sales. That 80% also includes feature phones not just smart phones.
The phones are indeed free. You pay 1/24 the retail price of the phone each month, but the cell provider automatically subtracts that amount from your monthly phone bill. It's a confusing system, but ultimately the phones are free and the data plans are quite reasonable, too.
The drawback, as someone mentioned earlier, is that the "zero-yen" phones remain locked to the provider, even after the contract expires.
If that is the case and you even get an additional $200 cash back at purchase (see below), which means you don't only get the iPhone 5S for free, they even pay you $200 to take it, you start to wonder why the other 24% choose another phone.
Do you get the same deal on the Android flagships?
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That's an often used statement, but what I've read from "neutral" persons from "both sides" is that the Apple way and Android way of measuring doesn't really make a big difference and are more or less comparable.
I am also curious at your definition of a smartphone if you say that some of the Android phones are feature phones and not smartphones. Before mine and the rest of my family's current iPhones we all used different Android phones, ranging from flag ships to the most cheap ones.
My experience is that we could do as much (actually often more) on all of those Android phones as we can do on our iPhones. It's become better feature wise on the iPhones over time and now with iOS 7 I pretty much only miss being able to have a good incoming call look-up/call blocker app (like who is calling/truecaller) since I can't JB my iPhone 5.
However, I think having free messaging through iMessage, Airplay/ATV and better backup/restore functionality with our iDevices makes up for the functions we miss from Android.
Thast was october, the month they actually came out in. I'm sure that market share will plummet in the next few quarters
At some point you have to draw a line. Apple is a premium brand that sells premium products. When you compare the iPhone to other premium phones the story is a lot different. But just touch on how well apple is doing, one phone capturing 1% of the overall market is considered a huge success, apple is now approaching 10%(they must be popping champaign)
Worse than that, the numbers come from the total chipsets being sold by chip makers to OEMs, as that is pretty much the only thing that can be kept track of. Of course the same chipset can be used in ended devices, fridge displays, car video systems -- you name it, and all of it gets counted as Android "phones" and/or "tablets".
Do you really believe that yourself?
That fridges, car systems etc. are included in the Android Phones market share numbers in every report? You don't think they can track actual sold phones without including that other stuff?Source on that please...
There is a storm cloud here:
1. Don't know how many physical units were sold
2. While probably good for Apple, it could show they wanted them first, and there might be no sales of electronics outside of a need-to-get basis in the country.
Why is there storm clouds here, though not necessarily for Apple? Simple; I strongly doubt that it is possible for Apple to have shipped more iphones in Japan than the US-it is smaller-and subsequently the iPhone isn't near that amount I'm willing to bet in the US. Point: No one in Japan is buying smartphones but Apple. That suggests a bad economy.
I currently live in Japan and just moved here in August from the U.S.
If you have an iphone from the U.S. you will not be able to get a sims card for it, for the Japanese carriers have an agreement "NOT" to sell a sims to a phone that is not sold in Japan. I bought an iphone 5 before leaving the U.S. thinking I could get a sims after reading many forums....this is not true.
I had to purchase a new iphone 5s and went with the carrier Docomo and had to wait two months for the iphone to be available when it first came out. Then in November I decided to sign-up for a contact and had to wait two weeks after signing up so they can order an iphone 5s grey 16 gig (standard).
It is true that Docomo lost sales because they did not have iPhones in stock. I almost also went to AU or SoftBank, but my wife already had Docomo, so I went with them.
The article is accurate, for the demand for iPhones in the U.S. was high, therefore shipments to other nations were limited until Apple made a deal with Samsung to make screens. LG could not meet the demand.
If you have an iphone from the U.S. you will not be able to get a sims card for it, for the Japanese carriers have an agreement "NOT" to sell a sims to a phone that is not sold in Japan. I bought an iphone 5 before leaving the U.S. thinking I could get a sims after reading many forums....this is not true.
I had to purchase a new iphone 5s and went with the carrier Docomo and had to wait two months for the iphone to be available when it first came out. Then in November I decided to sign-up for a contact and had to wait two weeks after signing up so they can order an iphone 5s grey 16 gig (standard).
It is true that Docomo lost sales because they did not have iPhones in stock. I almost also went to AU or SoftBank, but my wife already had Docomo, so I went with them.
The article is accurate, for the demand for iPhones in the U.S. was high, therefore shipments to other nations were limited until Apple made a deal with Samsung to make screens. LG could not meet the demand.
It's the same thing over the long term.
They're all smartphones. Even the lower priced ones often have as good or better specs than the original iPhone or 3G or 3GS, which are still considered to have been "smartphones". (Even though the original iPhone didn't support third party apps, and thus was considered a "feature phone" by many at first.)
Of course, it's not "pricey" when it's "free".
Japan itself initially ignored iPhones until they were given away for "free".
Look at world sales maps. The iPhone is "selling" best where it is subsidized, or has trade-in/loan programs available. Which makes sense, considering its high normal price. I'm sure that the highest priced Android phones also do best when subsidized.
Outside of the subsidized areas, Android heavily prevails, because then people really have to consider features vs. upfront price.
None of this is a surprise. People all around the world dislike paying a lot upfront.
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Zero-yen deals and rebates are offered on both iPhone and Android models.
The rebates are meant to offset the cancellation fee associated with switching from another provider and paying the new-contract activation fee. However, if a customer times it right, he or she can switch at the end of a two-year contract, and therefore pocket the rebate. (In Japan, two-year contracts automatically renew unless the customer opts-out during a very narrow window, usually about 30 days.)
I did that when I bought my first Softbank iPhone a few years back. My DoCoMo contract had just ended, so I faced no cancellation fees. I got a zero-yen iPhone 3G plus 15,000 yen cash.
As I mentioned before, it's a highly confusing system. But it's a system that can work to the customer's advantage if he or she figures it out.
You needed to research the options a bit more. It is indeed possible to buy a SIM from an MVNO such as b-mobile. Pop one of those into a phone purchased outside of Japan, and you're good to go.
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They demanded the best and they all bought the best. Well the smart ones in their country did. The rest of the people around the world need to do the same and only demand the best. And quit buying all the garbage they do.
And you know the sad thing? They are thrilled to bits about their over priced garbage they buy.
Were talking about phones on the market, not discontinued phones. It's is not the same thing long term, some phones just do not get sold to a consumer.
As the article points out, the iPhone 5S has been free on their major carriers for the past few months.
As for technology, the iPhone didn't do very well in Japan at first, precisely because it was both expensive and missing a lot of tech that the Japanese were used to... such as built-in TV receivers, mobile payments, and emoji support.
It wasn't until alternatives for those common features were figured out (or added by Apple, in the case of emoji), and the iPhone was offered for free, that it started to take off in Japan.
Sure, towards the the end of a model's life, no doubt some don't get sold to an end user. Of course, by then, retailers aren't buying a lot of that model, so the effect is negligible. Retailers try not to buy products that are not selling.
In addition, as more markets and retailers come online, extra sales occur to those extra retailers just to fill their inventory. For example, last quarter Apple announced sales of 33.8 million iPhones. However, 3.3 million of those sales that quarter went to filling retailer inventory, not to end users.
That's normal. The only time there's a real issue, is if retailers end up with lots of product they can't sell. E.g. if it's a flop from the beginning, or people stop buying later on for some reason, such as a better model being announced ahead of time.
What's wrong with what he said? Duh, Apple sells more iPhones on iPhone release months than do other companies. Other popular companies probably sell more than Apple on their own release months.
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Well you know the stereotype about Japanese tourists: huge, expensive cameras.
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Probably counts cereal box phones running Android 2.0 sitting in drawers. Scroll down to "mobile devices" here, and look at those graphs! There are fewer iOS phones, but they're overall used a lot more. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_operating_systems I mean you don't have to if you don't want to.
Source that shows that iOS phones are "overall used" a lot more?
Those graphs shows web browser percentage. They show that iOS users use their iPhones a lot more to browse the web than Android users. I almost never use my iPhone to browse the web, probably less than 1% of what I use my phone for. I believe that web browser share is poor proof when one want to show "overall smartphone usage".
And as a person who in the past personally have had several Android phones (both the cheapest and the flagships) and with several family members with android phones, the "cereal box" comment shows you don't know what you're talking about when it comes to cheap Android phones. Most of those cheap phones can do as much or more than most iPhones in terms of functionality. They aren't as fast or smooth, but that doesn't mean they are not smartphones. I still miss functions on my 900$ iPhone that my moms 90$ Samsung have.
Apple is absolutely doomed. Samsung released a press release today mocking Apple's failure to 'capture' 100% of the Japanese market.
"Free on contract" has always meant you don't pay for the handset upfront. It is standard practice in most places. I'm sure most people know what they are getting into and what it means. Some networks will even allow you to upgrade your phone before the end of the contract period.
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The "?" is China. Can they capture enough of that market.
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Can you now use the iPhone as a TV tuner?
I know in certain parts of the world like in Africa people use mobile phones in place of credit/debit cards. They will use a mobile to for example pay for groceries inside a store. And these aren't even smart phones but regular dumb phones.
So this is how you spin a story - The iPhone 5sc was the most popular phone in the US and Japan and thats the numbers we see here. What is not mentioned is that the iPhone 5sc cannot convince consumers on a global level, the iPhone 5 still outsells the iPhone 5sc in rest-of-world. Making the iPhone 5sc introduction a bit lackluster.
Kantar says iPhone 5s, 5c release not as successful as iPhone 5
see the real story here: http://www.zdnet.com/kantar-says-iphone-5s-5c-release-not-as-successful-as-iphone-5-7000023813/
Oh snap - again a doom story
Kantar says iPhone 5s, 5c release not as successful as iPhone 5
see the real story here: http://www.zdnet.com/kantar-says-iphone-5s-5c-release-not-as-successful-as-iphone-5-7000023813/
Oh snap - again a doom story
http://ben-evans.com/benedictevans/2013/11/20/the-meaning-of-really-cheap-androidDo you really believe that yourself?
Source on that please...
Because no one except Apple gives out actual sales numbers, the only hard number analysts can get about Android is sales of chipsets to OEMs and they extrapolate from that.
Chip sales are hardly the only source that analysts use. The firms that have been in business a long time, also have sources inside factories, shipping companies, and even counting boxes at import warehouses.
Some do exit polls at stores. Some even have their own group of tens of thousands of users, who report what they buy and use, for years on end. (They don't show immediate sales data, but are great for showing long term trends and shifts in device popularity.)
It depends on which analyst firm you're talking about, and what kind of measurements they specialize in. For example:
- Surveys of buyers. For example, Kantar Worldpanel.
- Units currently in use. For example comScore and Nielsen survey data.
- Units sold to the channel. For example sales reported by companies such as Apple. Also IDC’s estimates for phone units sold.
- Units sold to end users. For example NPD or GfK data of retail transactions. Also Gartner’s estimates for phone units sold.
Apple's top executives often quote IDC, Kantar and others during their quarterly revenue calls.