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Japan's third-largest mobile operator, Softbank, said on Wednesday it had 229,500 mobile subscribers in June, ahead of the country's biggest operator, NTT DoCoMo Inc., with 164,000. KDDI Corp. ., ranked second, had only 61,300 new subscribers. Softbank is the exclusive iPhone provider in a country where nearly three out of four smartphones are manufactured by Apple.
In April, Masayoshi Son, director of Softbank, said: "The iPhone is selling so well that we feel a real boost." Apple has sold 1.7 million iPhones in Japan, accounting for 72% of all smartphones in the country. Indeed, it is thought that the iPhone has doubled the smartphone segment compared to 2009, according to the the Wall Street newspaper.
Softbank has aggressively marketed the iPhone, using tactics such as TV ads almost anytime, print ads and prizes (like a free 16GB iPhone with a two-year commitment). Phones.
The Japanese government "encourages" cell phone operators to abandon locked handsets to specific providers. This operation, seen as offering more options to consumers, could become a lever for NTT DoCoMo and KDDI to combat the attraction of the iPhone. While unlocking mobile phones is currently voluntary, DoCoMo has announced plans to unlock its phones next April. Although Softbank has so far refused to follow the trend, it is unclear how they will compete without offering the opportunity to Japanese consumers.
[Wall Street Journal]
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