In Japan, Samsung Galaxy S beats the iPhone

Samsung’s Galaxy S, arguably the most successful consumer smartphone powered by Google’s software, has outsold Apple’s baby for the first time in Japan where the iPhone has been a huge hit. The achievement has enabled Samsung to climb on the list of Japan’s top handset makers to the fourth slot, ahead of local vendors NEC, Casio and Kyocera. Furthermore, Android has flown by iOS in just three quarters and Android smartphones are now outselling iOS smartphones in the country. That’s the gist of a Strategy Analytics survey of Japan’s smartphone market based on first quarter shipments. Their director Neil Mawston explains in an InfoMobile story:

Strategy Analytics believes that the healthy demand for the Android-powered Galaxy S at NTT DoCoMo drove Samsung growth in Japan. Samsung is the main player behind surging Android smartphone sales, followed by Sharp. 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.

He is predicting a rapid rise of Android in Japan as local vendors realize embracing Google’s operating system with 300,000+ apps is much more beneficial compared to their reliance on proprietary mobile platforms. A MMI Research Institute survey of the Japanese market indicated the iOS/Android monopoly in the making, probably a sign of things to come in other markets. Other handset makers are already being pushed aside as Apple and Google battle it out for the dominance in the mobile space. MMI Research Institute counted 4.91 million Android shipments in the first quarter of this year versus 3.23 million iPhones. The results equal to the 57 percent quarterly market share for Android and 38 percent for iPhone, leaving little room for Nokia, Research In Motion, Windows Phone and others.