Sales of Sony’s MP3 Walkman outsold iPods for the first time in Japan for the first time since 2005.
Research firm BCN Inc. found that Sony’s share of the portable music market share rose to 43 percent last week, creeping above Apple’s 42.1 percent.
The uptick in sales is attributed to the W Series pictured above, which sells for under 10,000 yen ($108). Sony’s answer to the iPod shuffle is a 2G wearable headset that has generally met with favorable reviews.
But Sony MP3 players might not be as big in Japan as they seem. As Bloomberg notes, the jump can be at least in part attributed to people ditching iPods for the iPhone, so Apple wins either way.
Via Bloomberg
