ASUS reportedly outsold Apple in the Japanese tablet market

According to figures released by market research company BCN, Asus sold more tablets than Apple during the first half of 2014 in Japan. Asus’ market share rose 8 percent year-over-year during the first half of 2014, the report claims, giving it a 38.9 percent portion of the tablet market in Japan. Apple, on the other hand, holds a 36.4 percent share (via Nikkei). This is the first time Asus has ever held the top spot in Japan, according to the report. The BCN research consists of sales data of 117 “leading digital electronic products” from 22 mass retailers. Price, of course, plays a big factor in Asus’ success in Japan. The Asus-made Nexus 7 costs 20,000 yen in Japan, while Apple’s iPad costs 40,000 yen. The budget MeMo Pad tablet, priced at 20,000 yen, was also apparently very popular. The report also cites Asus’ wide variety of products as a reason for its success, noting that the Android-based Nexus 7 and other various Windows-based tablets were very popular. Apple held strong in smartphones sales, however, according to the report. The company maintained a better than 50 percent share of the market, while NEC Personal Computers led the way in laptop sales. Overall, however, the report notes that smartphone and notebook sales were slow during April through June, with notebook sales declining 15.8 percent and smartphones 30 percent during the period.