Apple for the first time in 15 years has become the leader of the mobile market in Japan

For the first time in the history of the mobile market in Japan local brands lost leadership of the foreign company. In the final quarter of 2012, the Japanese market leader in smartphones and multimedia phones became Apple. Cupertino company's share is 16%, according to Techcrunch, with reference to the analytical agency Counterpoint Research.

By slowly retreating into the background a multimedia phone with touchscreen devices are equipped with a QWERTY-keyboard, but do not have on-board operating system Android, Windows Phone or iOS and do not support the installation of third party applications. These devices are quite popular among the Japanese.

The study Counterpoint Research, Apple is the leader of the Japanese market and for all in 2012 (share of 15%). The assets of local brands Sharp and Fujitsu was listed by 14% of the supply of mobile devices in the past year for.

Japanese company Sharp held championship six years in a row, but this time it was forced to cede the position of producer iPhone. In total, foreign brands accounted for about half of the mobile market in Japan. Rapidly gaining momentum and Chinese players, who in the last quarter increased their presence in almost three-fold.

Previously, Apple has provided on top of the mobile market in Japan, but very briefly. Typically, this was due to the launch of the new model. For example, in 2011, sales have soared after the iPhone 4S.