How Apple Dominated Japan

Over the past decade, Apple has ended up dominating Japan. Capturing 65% of their smartphone market, a number that Apple hasn’t reached in any other country, including the US. And that may seem a little odd considering Japan’s reputation for being the technological powerhouse of the world. Igniting the MP3 player era with the Walkman, and inventing the pocket calculator, DVD player, DSLR camera, laptop, blu-ray player, and more. Plus, Japanese people are known to try to buy products from their own country rather than those from overseas. So how did Apple, an American company on the other side of the world, manage to dominate Japan; a country filled with tech products of their own? Well, that’s exactly what I’m going to explain in this video.

Music: Bensound - Piano Moment

[moalester]

Fun fact: iPhones sold in Japan with a Japanese SIM card will not let you shut off the shutter sound when taking a picture. Even in silent mode.

[nobj]

As a Japanese watching Japan's smartphone trends, I'd say most Japanese people buy iPhone because "most people have it, " It's funny but it's the reason. All the other reasons seem secondary to me.

[thomson]

Fun fact: a lot of emojis are japan themed because they had emojis before unicode was a thing, in their old system they had a few empty spaces and decided to fill them up with emojis. When unicode came around, they kept the emojis and extended the collection.

[Kwizt_]

I worked in Japan for 2 and a half years. I rarely saw people using a phone other than iPhone. its crazy.

[Wendy_O.]

A few weeks ago, I watched a documentary about Steve Jobs that was produced by NHK World Japan. They interviewed people who owned lacquerware and other traditional craft shops, who talked about how fascinated Jobs was with the aesthetics of Japanese art. He truly loved Japan and the culture. Truly heartwarming.

[wooferjr]

Samsung took it too far when they replaced the Japanese flag emoji with the South Korean flag.

[dwnetwrok]

‘Generic gray tower’
Eiffel Tower: Am I a joke to you?

[四季-ik]

As a Japanese, this video is amazing and I just want this video to have Japanese subtitles so that the Japanese people would watch this! It explains how and why Japanese people ends up with an iPhone when buying a new phon.

[pokepress]

The Japan/Apple relationship goes back even further. The Color Classic Macintosh was a big seller there in the 90’s due to its compact size. They also partnered with Bandai on the infamous Pippin.

[shubhsharma]

The face that Samsung is Korean brand is enough to prevent it from beating Apple in Japan

[lizpaperdeco]

Samsung: *censores emoji*
Japan: It's treason then.

[useroftheinternet]

Imagine being the guy that decided to change the emojis and completely ruin your company’s reputation in one of the most important tech markets in the world

[Sacto]

One thing you forgot to mention: Apple's dominance in Japan wasn't complete until 2016. Reason: the Japanese market version of the iPhone 7, which added support for the Sony _FeliCa_ RFID standard. With _FeliCa_, the iPhone could take advantage of NFC-enabled payment systems used in Japan such as Mobile Suica, which tremendously expanded the iPhone's popularity in Japan.

[augustinechinyama]

“Steve has a soft spot for Japan"
Weebs: he's one of us

[uthmanbaksh]

Even looking at anime over the years, they went from using those flip phones and netbooks in the late 2000's to early 2010s to everyone using iPhones and other Apple Products. Having your products featured in anime is probably the highest praise for your products!

[OtakumaVII]

I lived in Japan during the surge of Apple and it was CRAZY to see unfold in front of my eyes.

[phonepup]

Apple also supports Suica. Which is really important for both transit and contactless payment. Suica is also able to use the express transit and power reserve features.

[noupot]

I know a little bit Japan where I did travel several times. I know they were very sensible to the fact that Steve Jobs loved Japan and its products.

[mattflammger]

I find it extremely funny that companies in Japan thought the exact same thing that companies in the US thought when the iPhone came out. “That thing is a fad, there’s no way it will ever succeed, we’re just going to keep making our outdated thing until it goes away.”

[shirokohiro]

I've been living in Japan for more than 10 years now and I've never used a samsung. In fact, my very first phone is an iPhone 4s. It was an iPhone. And today I'm using an iPhone 12 pro and still living in Japan. ❤️