When the iPhone was launched, analysts had claimed that the device will find it difficult to break into the highly competitive technologically advanced Japanese smartphone market. However, Apple has proven it’s critics wrong by garnering a lot of attention in this market. iPhone’s launch in Japan has led to shifting of subscribers between the providers.

According to the Japanese business journal Tech-On

By carrier, SoftBank Mobile Corp continued to top at 215,400 subscriptions, followed by NTT DoCoMo Inc’s 94,200 and Emobile Ltd’s 65,000 subscriptions.

The Japanese mobile market is known for its superiority in the area of mobile networks and phone hardware, especially in comparison with the U.S. market. Earlier, iPhone 3G’s predecessor could not be used in Japan as the 2G GSM service is not available in Japan. Moreover, Japanese manufacturers skipped the second generation and went ahead directly with the deployment of the 3G technology almost a decade back. Besides, cultural differences in tastes were sighted for example the use of “emoji”, a set of pictographs Japanese think as essential in text messaging.

Besides, it was seen that earlier sales attempts in Mac and Microsoft’s Xbox game were met with luke warm reception pointing to the fact that Japanese tastes were different.

However, it is evident that iPhone has won the hearts of the Japanese with it’s breakthrough Internet device. Moreover, with it’s strong brand image the iPhone 3G is a force to reckon with. Another reason that has proved helpful is the iPod is already very popular, and it’s no wonder that the Japanese have taken to the iPhone like fish take to water.