The government of Japan wants wireless carriers to stop bundling the cost of smartphones into fixed-term monthly service fees in a move that could hurt Apple's iPhone.
Apple just issued a press release, announcing that it will begin offering NTT DoCoMo versions of its iPad Air and Retina iPad mini in Japan next month. The carrier, which is the largest in the country, began offering the iPhone for the first time last fall.
The new iPads will be available for pre-order starting June 2, and will officially launch in retail stores a week later on June 10. Those interested in picking up one of the tablets can choose from a variety of purchase plans, some of which call for $0 down...
NTT DoCoMo, Japan's top wireless carrier with about sixty million subscribers, accounts for more than half of that country's market for cell phones. Apple products - the iPhone in particular - are tremendously popular with the Japanese so fans will be delighted to learn that NTT will soon open sales for Apple's new iPad Air.
The confirmation came via a senior DoCoMo executive who said in Tokyo that his company will start carrying the iPad Air "in the not-too-distant future". I guess you could say the development's been in the cards ever since Apple announced an iPhone distribution agreement with the carrier in September...
According to market survey, Apple has a slightly bigger market share for iPhone in Japan than it does in the US, as the WSJ reports:
Even before that, the iPhone was Japan's best-selling smartphone, with a 37% market share in the six months ended Sept. 30, according to Tokyo's MM Research Institute. That's comparable to the iPhone's 36% share in the U.S. in the third quarter, according to Kantar Worldpanel ComTech.
The market share in Japan is also expected to grow a bit due to the fact that carrier NTT DoCoMo started offering the iPhone for the first time in late September.
Apple is having great success in Japan. Not only is the iPhone maker surviving one of the most competitive tech markets on the planet, but breaking sales records. The company's smartphone now has 34 percent of the country's market, new research shows.
The figure - more than double that of just months ago - shatters a sales record that's stood for ten years. Apple's success in Japan even overshadows the world's largest market, China...
Did Japan's largest carrier wait too long to offer the iPhone? That's the impression after NTT DoCoMo lost a record 66,800 net users in September, dropping its market share to 46 percent. By comparison, KDDI and SoftBank, which sold iPhones soon after its 2007 introduction, gained ground adding 270,700 and 237,700 users respectively.
DoCoMo blamed customer loss on inventory shortages and consumers who waited until Apple's iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c September 20 sale date. Hoping to regain some momentum, the nation's largest carrier announced opening online sales of the iPhone 5s to all customers. Meanwhile, in India things have gotten a little tricky for Apple's $100 cheaper colorful iPhone 5c...
The iPhone has fueled smartphone sales by Apple's latest U.S. carrier partner, Deutsche Telekom-owned T-Mobile USA. In the three-month period ended in August, the service provider saw its share of domestic smartphone sales jump to 13.2 percent, up 1 percent.
According to a report released Monday, the carrier began in April attracting owners of feature phones upgrading to smartphones. Now, however, 56 percent of consumers buying an iPhone from T-Mobile are coming from another smartphone. Indeed, more than 38 percent of T-Mobile's smartphone purchasers previously owned Android handsets...
Would you brave a tornado or hurricane to be first in line for Apple's newest iPhones? That was the situation in Japan, where Tokyo consumers camped out in front of the local Apple Store ahead of Friday's iPhone 5s/5c launch. Luckily, Apple employees let the fans inside just before a typhoon struck.
Along with shelter from the storm, drenched fan boys and girls were given complimentary water, according to a local report. Customers were "so moved" by Apple's gesture, according to a YouTube user who uploaded a video of the weather. Japan's largest carrier NTT DoCoMo becomes the latest provider in that country to sell the Apple smartphone...
Although it wasn't mentioned at the iPhone event, Apple announced today that it has partnered up with Japan's NTT DoCoMo to offer the iPhone this fall. The company just issued a press release confirming the deal with the carrier.
DoCoMo was the last major provider in the country to not offer Apple's popular handset, after years of failed negotiations. But it appears someone gave in, because the carrier will be selling both new iPhones on September 20th...
After years of negotiations, it looks like Apple and DoCoMo have finally reached an iPhone deal. Reuters is reporting this afternoon that the company will join KDDI Corp and SoftBank Corp this fall as the last major Japanese carrier to offer the popular smartphone.
The news comes just a few weeks after Bloomberg ran a report claiming that DoCoMo was ready to consider carrying the iPhone, as long as Apple was willing to concede to a few demands, such as allowing it to preload custom apps. So the question is, who gave in?
A new report gives a bit more hope to Apple's push to widen its base of iPhone global carrier partners. The finance head of Japan's largest carrier NTT DoCoMo hints Apple's upcoming colorized iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C models could be sold in this tech-obsessed nation to its customers. However, if Apple wants this plum, it may have to play second fiddle to its Android rival, Samsung.
Although most recent attention has been on China, NTT DoCoMo is the lone hold-out in Japan, making the iPhone sold by every major Japanese carrier. In September, Apple is expected to unveil its next-generation iPhone 5S and possibly the budget-minded iPhone 5C in September...
Japan's top wireless carrier NTT DoCoMo still doesn't carry the iPhone, a decision its executive Katzuto Tsubouhi defended in an interview with the Wall Street Journal by arguing that Apple's device is no longer "the god of all smartphones."
For DoCoMo, Google's Android software provides more opportunities to customize the experience by preloading the handsets with a flurry of the carrier's many services and applications, something Apple strictly prohibits.
But holding out on the iPhone has come at a price as NTT DoCoMo since the iPhone's inception lost 3.2 million users of its 60 million subscribers to rival telcos who sell the iconic smartphone. In pointing the finger of blame at Apple the carrier told Reuters that the California firm wouldn't let it put its logo on the device and preload its lifestyle apps...
