世論 What Japan Thinks

MyVoice carried out a survey at the start of February to find out about the image of various mobile phone companies. This is the fifth time they have carried out this survey, but the first time I have translated one! They interviewed 16,172 members of their MyVoice community by means of an internet questionnaire. 46% of the sample was male, 3% teenagers, 24% in their twenties, 38% in their thirties, 24% in their forties, and 11% in their fifties.

vodafone really has a terrible reputation in Japan, certianly amongst the English speaking community, mainly based around their reception coverage, as they apparently measure reception at the city office of each district in Japan, and if they get a signal there they claim to have coverage for the whole district, or so I have heard.

Note that this survey was taken before the recent news about Vodafone pulling out of the Japanese market (probably) broke.

Q1: Which mobile phone company do you currently use? (Sample size=16,172)

NTT DoCoMo	44.5%
au	24.1%
vodafone	19.5%
TU-KA	3.0%
WILLCOM	2.8%
Astel	0.0%
DoCoMo PHS	0.0%
Don’t have a mobile phone	6.1%

Over the five surveys, once per year, au has doubled, DoCoMo has increased by about 25%, vodaphone has barely changed, and the number of non-users has steadily dropped from 17.1% to the current 6.1%

I presume people with contracts with more than one provider chose the one they use the most.

Q2: Which mobile phone company’s television commercials do you think leaves the best impression? (Sample size=16,172)

au	46.7%
NTT DoCoMo	34.2%
vodafone	15.9%
WILLCOM	1.4%
TU-KA	1.3%
Other	0.0%

Over the past five years, au’s image score has doubled, almost exclusively at the cost of vodafone.

Q3: Which mobile phone company do you think is the most advanced? (Sample size=16,172)

au	47.3%
NTT DoCoMo	32.7%
vodafone	14.3%
WILLCOM	4.9%
TU-KA	0.9%
Other	0.0%

Here, au has vastly improved its technologically advanced image, at the cost of both DoCoMo and vodafone.

Q4: Which mobile phone company do you think is the most reliable?

NTT DoCoMo	64.3%
au	25.7%
vodafone	7.1%
WILLCOM	1.9%
TU-KA	0.0%
Other	0.0%

DoCoMo has mostly retained its dependable image, whilst au has gained at the expense of vodafone. “Reliable” here covers both the trustworthiness of the company and the quality of their service, I believe.

Q5: In the future, three new mobile phone companies, BB Mobile, eMobile and IP Mobile are scheduled to debut. Do you know about this? (Sample size=16,172)

I know a lot about this	21.9%
I think I’ve heard about it	50.6%
Don’t know about it	27.2%
No answer	0.4%

Q6: If these three new companies enter the marketplace, which mobile phone company do you think you would want to use? (Sample size=16,172)

NTT DoCoMo	39.2%
au	28.5%
vodafone	13.7%
BB Mobile	6.8%
WILLCOM	3.5%
TU-KA	1.4%
eMobile	0.9%
IP Mobile	0.1%
Don’t want to use any	5.7%
No answer	0.2%