Apple’s iPhone pushed NTT Docomo past its rivals in new subscribers

Japanese wireless carrier NTT Docomo started selling the iPhone 5s and 5c when it was launched in September of last year. The addition of the iPhone to the carrier’s lineup had a profound effect on the carrier’s subscriber numbers in this period.According to Bloomberg Businessweek, NTT Docomo added more subscribers in the December than its rivals for the first time in two years. The carrier added 279,100 net users last month as compared to 222,600 subscribers for KDDI and 224,300 for SoftBank. NTT Docomo now has 62.2 million customers at the end of the year. “From now, the ranking of the companies will be switching because Docomo offers the iPhone,” Satoru Kikuchi, an analyst at SMBC Nikko Securities Inc. in Tokyo said yesterday. “The iPhone strengthens Docomo’s foundation.” NTT Docomo was the last major Japanese carrier to sell the iPhone when it started offering the 5s and 5c in 2013. SoftBank was the first to jump on the Apple bandwagon in 2008, while KDDI followed in 2011. The next big carrier to watch is China Mobile, which will start selling the iPhone for this time this month. Continue reading →

from iPhone Hacks | #1 iPhone, iPad, iOS Blog » iPhone 4 Camera Beats HTC EVO 4G, Samsung Galaxy, Droid X In Showdown