14 DAY TRIAL // During the first quarter of the ongoing year, Samsung's Galaxy S smartphones proved far more successful than Apple's iPhone on the market in Japan. This success helped Samsung become one of the four leading handset vendors in Japan, a recent report from Strategy Analytics shows.
Currently, mobile phones running under Google's Android operating system are outselling the Apple iPhone on the Japanese market.
The Japanese market represented a tough market for most foreign vendors, but things are changing fast on the smartphone segment, Tom Kang, Director of the Handset Country Share Tracker service at Strategy Analytics, said.
“First, Apple shook up the market with the iPhone, and now, for the first time, Samsung, is shipping more handsets than most local vendors, such as NEC, Casio and Kyocera,” the continued.
According to Neil Mawston, Director, Strategy Analytics, Samsung's growth on the market in Japan was greatly helped by the increased demand for the company's Android-powered Galaxy S at NTT DoCoMo.
“Samsung is the main player behind surging Android smartphone sales, followed by Sharp,” Neil Mawston continued.
“Japan had always had a unique competitive landscape, but is now looking more and more like any other advanced smartphone market in the world as Android has flown by iOS in just three quarters.”
Apparently, the handset vendor rankings started to change in other markets around the world as well, at least this is what Linda Sui, Analyst at Strategy Analytics, unveiled.
“In China, Huawei surpassed most foreign brands, such as LG and Motorola. Huawei even leaped ahead of local rivals like Lenovo and ZTE, entering the top-5 vendor list for the first time. The growth from smartphones and 3G devices is a serious disruptive force in Asia right now,” she stated.
Additional info on the matter, as well as other details included in the full report, dubbed “Global Handset Vendor Marketshare by Country: APAC: Q1 2011,” can be found on the research firm's website.