iPhone Dominates Japanese Smartphone Market

Apple's iPhone shipments to Japan more than doubled last year, capturing 72 percent of the country's smartphone market, according to a BusinessWeek report.

Shipments of the iPhone, which began selling in Japan in July 2008, climbed to 1.69 million units in the year ended March 31, Tokyo-based MM Research Institute Ltd. said in a report yesterday. That raised the total to 2.3 million, Hideaki Yokota, an analyst at the research firm, said by telephone today.


"Last year was just the beginning of the smartphone competition, which is why Apple did so well," said Calvin Huang, who rates iPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. "buy" at Daiwa Securities Group Inc. in Taipei. "This year will be much more competitive."

HTC came in second with 11 percent of the market followed by Toshiba at 6.8 percent.