14 DAY TRIAL // In December 2013, Japanese wireless carrier NTT DoCoMo has seen the largest number of users since the end of 2011, courtesy of the addition of Apple’s iPhone to its network.
According to a recent article on Bloomberg, the company has managed to add no less than 279,100 net users last month and accounts for 62.2 million total customers at the moment.
The number also represents the highest growth a Japanese operator has seen in December, as KDDI added only 222,600 subscribers in the timeframe, while SoftBank Corp. added 224,300 new customers.
Apple’s iPhone arrived at NTT DoCoMo back in September when the new iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c models were announced, in an attempt to attract more users to its network.
Previously, the company was offering only handsets powered by other operating systems out there, such as Android.
Tomoaki Kawasaki, an analyst at Iwai Cosmo Holdings Inc., commented on NTT DoCoMo’s growth, claiming that the iPhone was the one that determined it.
However, given that all three wireless carriers are currently offering Apple’s device, the competition will turn to connectivity, services, and content offerings, it seems.
The mobile phone carrier also had a series of discounts available for its customers interested in the purchase of an iPhone, which also contributed to the increase in sales.
NTT DoCoMo’s shares also managed to reach their highest point since January 2009, closing in at 1,749 yen ($16.65/€12.25) in Tokyo trading.
Apple’s iPhone had a similar effect at almost all wireless carriers that launched it during the past few years, when Apple finally decided to put an end to the various operator exclusivities it had signed before.
However, Google’s Android platform is still dominating the smartphone market, with Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform trying to catch up. At the moment, iOS occupies a strong second position in this segment, and it might take a while before it loses it to competition.