世論 What Japan Thinks

In early December NEPRO Japan looked at the usage of video-enabled mobile phone calls amongst the Japanese mobile-phone using population. They surveyed 4,575 people across the country, 59% female, and 42% in their twenties. The participants were self-selected by means of a link available for just one day from the iMode, Vodafone live! and EZweb service provider’s portal web site.

This survey is self-selecting, so the accuracy is somewhat suspect. For iMode users, most of DoCoMo’s new sales are of phones with video calling features, and users of these new 3G phones tend to choose fixed price plans, so use iMode more, thus are more likely to find these surveys, biasing the survey towards the heavy user, I suspect.

Personally speaking, my current phone has no video calling facility, and I have no real desire to use the feature even if available, as mail is usually sufficient, and it’s a bit embarrassing, plus I don’t know what happens about sound quality if you have to hold the phone twenty or thirty centimetres away from your face. Perhaps a headset becomes necessary for proper use, therefore since BluTooth has only now just started appearing in a significant number of phones we may see an increase in users this year?

Q1: Does your mobile phone have a video call function? (Sample size=4,575)

Yes	53%
No	46%
Don’t know	1%

Q2: Have you ever made a video-based call? (Sample size=4,575)

Often	3%
Sometimes	23%
Rarely	27%
Never, but I have the capability	17%
Never, and have no capability, but want to use it	30%

In Q2, 30% say they have no capability to make calls, but in Q1 46% of people say their current phone does not have the capability to do so. Is this due to people downgrading their phones, or just people trying out the functions in shops?

Q3: About how long is your average video call? (Sample size=4,575)

Never used video calling	67%
Less than a minute	6%
One to three minutes	11%
Three to five minutes	7%
Five to ten minutes	5%
Ten to fifteen minutes	4%
Fifteen to thirty minutes	1%
Over thirty minutes	1%

Now we have 67% claiming never to have made a video call whereas in Q2 47% said they had not! Perhaps those choosing “Rarely” are discounting the once or twice they may have made calls?

Q4: If you were to make video calls, in what sort of situation might you want to? (Sample size=4,575, multiple answer)

Talking to far away family, friends or lover	70%
Checking on children’s safety	34%
Other	22%
Remote medical diagnosis	20%
When at home	16%
Language lessons or other education	8%
Business meetings or study	7%

Q5: Why have you never performed a video-based call? (Sample size=4,575, multiple answer)

I have made a video call	23%
My phone doesn’t have the capability	34%
Voice calls and email are sufficient	20%
Call charges are expensive	16%
Don’t think I want to use	16%
Close friends don’t have compatible phones	13%
Don’t know how to use	5%
Other	4%

Now we are back to 23% having had made calls! Perhaps there has been a lot of people who chose “No answer”, and they have been filtered out?