7th
iPhone No.1 in Japan, and other twisted statistics
There was much rejoicing amongst Apple fans as CNN Money posted the results of a survey by market researchers BCN of 2300 retail stores which indicated the iPhone was the number 1 selling phone in Japan. The survey was jumped on and republished all over the internet by the likes of Mashable and CrunchGear. The iPhone had finally cracked the Japanese market, there, that shows those cocky Japanese and their toy cellphones who is boss. Or does it?
Unfortunately an important fact conveniently overlooked by iPhone fans as they dance on the grave of Japanese mobile is that the ranking is a weekly ranking and that it spans the period of June 22nd to June 28th. Interestingly the iPhone 3GS went on sale on the 26th therefore it is not surprising that during its launch week the iPhone outsold all other models.
If we base market domination on the sales data compiled by BCN of a product during its launch week, then the Sony Network Walkman would be the number 1 music player in Japan as results of a survey published by BCN on April 26, 2005 show Sony trumped Apple with 59% of total music player sales over just 23% for Apples iPod. We all know how that battle turned out.
Lets not place too much faith in weekly rankings especially when taken during the launch week of a new product shall we?
A more complete analysis of the survey has been posted by Akky Akimoto at Aisiajin.
