[HIDE]Not
nearly as popular as Apple would like. It wasn't
until the 3GS launched last December that the iPhone got significant traction in the Japanese market. The 3G did so poorly that
at one point Apple had to give it away.
Basically, Apple
is dominating Japan's slowly-growing smartphone market, but since Japanese feature phones are so kickass, Japan has one of the smallest smartphone markets in any first world country. To put it another way, even at current sales rates, iPhones only account for
5% of all new handsets sold in Japan.
Apple also was basically the
first smartphone for sale in Japan. A lot of Japanese phone manufacturers launched their first smartphones to start competing with the 4G this year, like
top carrier NTT DoCoMo's Xperia. It's anyone's guess whether Japanese consumers will continue to embrace the iPhone once there are domestic options available. We've already seen how Android handsets eroded Apple's market presence in the US.
So doing stuff like cross-promoting with beloved domestic Japanese brands like Kamen Rider and Gundam is a way for Apple to make itself appear less foreign and, obviously, more desirable. I have to guess, though, that this is product placement meant more for the parents and maybe older kids watching than the target audience of little boys. In the US, most little kids are far more likely to end up with an iPod Touch than an iPhone.[/HIDE]
in shorter terms please
