A usual trend in business is that a company is at its strongest in its home country. Apple sells the most iOS and Mac units in the US. Nokia does far more business in Europe and that Nintendo’s popularity trumps the Xbox in Japan. Following this often correct rule, you would assume that Sony’s mobile efforts which currently have little to no presence in the US would also be vastly higher in Japan, their home country but you’d be wrong.

Despite being a brand that’s born in Japan and continues to development most of its electronics there, for many years, Sony smartphone sales began to lose ground to Apple. While on its on, this might seem like a huge ordeal, it’s even a bigger cause of concern when you are accustomed to the Japanese culture and their tech habits. To them, the idea, the idea of iOS and the simplicity it offers is often times an alienating thing. For every time you may have used a Sony device and cursed its UI, remember that this was developed in Japan and always well received. Now, things are beginning to look a lot rosier for Sony.

According to Bloomberg, Sony has more than doubled its share of shipments to 36 percent in the past four weeks as Apple dropped to 25 percent in the same period. This puts Sony’s smartphone market share to a three-year high. Sony has been able to achieve this rise by partnering with DoCoMo, the countries largest carrier with more than 60 million subscribers in a country of 127 million people. It’s also worth noting that the iPhone is not carried by DoCoMo.

Keita Wakabayashi, an analyst at Mito Securities Co. based in Tokyo said;

 Xperia sales are rising thanks to DoCoMo’s promotion of the new smartphone 

The mentioned promotion is a new initiative by DoCoMo where the company focuses on one or two smartphones to reduce costs. In this case, the promotion is split between the Sony Xperia A and the Samsung Galaxy S4. Though not neatly as influential, Sony has partnered with T-Mobile as the exclusive carrier of the Xperia Z in the US. While T-Mobile is the smallest of the four big carriers in the US, this marks the first time Sony has partnered with a US carrier which is an encouraging sign for them if they wish to have any meaningful marketshare in the West.

Discuss:

What does Sony need to do to win over more customers?