When comparing smartphone platforms it’s tempting to consider the global market as unified and commonly addressable. However, when you look at individual countries some strange patterns of behavior emerge:
- Indonesia, the fourth most populous country in the world (230 million people) loves Nokia’s Communicator. It’s the ultimate mobile status symbol.
- Japan had one of the largest installed bases of Symbian phones. The version running in Japan is not compatible with versions elsewhere. Famous for its Galapagos mobile culture, the iPhone is changing what the Japanese consider the basis of phone performance. Continue reading “Smartphone parochialism: How operator policies prevent or promote platform adoption”