世論 What Japan Thinks

japan.internet.com released the results of a survey by JR Tokai Express Research conducted on the first of August into opinions on Smartphones. They interviewed 331 members of their monitor group, 58.3% male, by means of a private internet survey. 13.9% were in their twenties, 36.3% in their thirties, 29.3% in their forties, 13.0% in their fifties, and 7.6% in their sixties. Note that JR Tokai Express Research’s monitor group seems to have a disproportionately high number of business people, so the results should be read in that light, so the knowledge and usage of Smartphones and PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) is probably higher than in a truely random sample.

Despite, or more likely because, standard phones in Japan having very high specification level, the market for Smartphones seems very limited. There have been a few models released, but they have a niche market and are rarely promoted in the high street shops. I’m surprised a full QWERTY keyboard came so low in the ranking, but perhaps people were imagining that only pinkie-sized could be squeezed into a mobile. However, I still have fond memories of my Psion Series 5 (I lost it in Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam) and its amazing mini keyboard. Something like that with BlueTooth support for a voice headset would be wonderful. Anyone know where to buy a second-hand Psion in Japan?

Q1: Do you know what a “Smartphone” is? (Sample size=331)

I have one	1.5%
I know what it is but don’t have one	20.8%
I’ve heard the term but don’t really know what it is	23.0%
Never heard of it	54.7%

Q2: Do you have a PDA? (Sample size=331)

Often use one	4.5%
Sometimes use one	3.9%
Have one but don’t use it	4.2%
Used to have one	10.3%
Know what they are but never had one	33.2%
Heard the term only	17.2%
Never heard of it	26.6%

Q3: From this list of Smartphone features, select up to three that you would like to see on standard mobile phones. (Sample size=331, up to three answers)

	Votes	Percentage
Touch panel	86	26.0%
Windows OS	83	25.1%
Full-spec browser	79	23.9%
VGA resolution display	69	20.8%
Advanced scheduling application	47	14.2%
Word processor document editing	30	9.1%
Full QWERTY keyboard	28	8.5%
Spreadsheet editing	22	6.6%
User application support	7	2.1%
“Intel Inside”	0	0.0%
Nothing in particular	23	6.9%
Don’t know what a Smartphone is	117	35.3%
Other	1	0.3%

Note that in Q1 54.7% didn’t know what a Smartphone was, but by Q3 19.4% seem to have learnt about it, or at least chose to answer the question positively!

Although a quarter want a Microsoft operating system (or nearly two in five, if you discount the don’t knows in Q3), in the first quarter of 2006, in the worldwide mobile phone marketplace, the most popular operating system in terms of units was Symbian OS at about 70%, with Microsoft having an almost insignificant two or three percent. However, the popular (most popular?) Japanese Smartphone model, the Sharp’s W-ZERO3, runs Windows Mobile 5.0.