Apple iPhone & iPod Touch Register Huge Growth in Japan

Apple's iconic smartphone, the iPhone, has registered significant growth in major markets worldwide with the Japanese archipelago posting some impressive figures in 2009.

Daa released by mobile ad firm Admob show that iPhone and iPod Touch users are still predominantly in the US with 50 percent of the global user base - not a surprise considering that Admob caters primarily for the US market.

Japan comes second with 17 percent of the user base; the country had also registered a 350 percent growth in 2009, outrunning second place France where the number of users tripled over the same period.

The Ad Mob research, which covered data from January to November 2009, also points out to the fact that the percentage of iPhone OS users located outside the US rose from 39 percent to 50 percent.

More than 18 million iPhone and 7.3 million iPod Touch devices were counted, which is roughly about a third of the number of iPhones and iPod Touch currently on the market. In addition the number of countries that have at least 100,000 iPhone & iPod touch users has reached 23.

An interesting point to note though is that there Admob's data come from its own advertising network and therefore does not depict a totally accurate picture of the market even though it should, in theory come close.