世論 What Japan Thinks

NEPROJAPAN recently published the results of a survey they conducted into how mobile phones have changed their lives. A similar survey was conducted last year. Respondents were solicited by means of an option through the menuing systems of the three main mobile phone service providers, namely DoCoMo’s iMode, SoftBank’s Yahoo! Keitai, and au’s EZweb over a two day period from the 8th to 9th of February.

Demographics

Of the 3,746 who successfully completed the survey, 56% were female, 3% in their teens, 36% in their twenties, 44% in their thirties, and 17% in their forties. Note that due to the self-selecting nature of the survey, heavy users of mobile phones will most likely be over-represented in the figures.

Recently, the one thing that I’ve started using much more, now that both my wife and I have a phone that supports it, is Deco-Mail, HTML mail for mobiles, which basically means lots and lots of animated GIFs in mail.

Survey results

Q1: Do you think that life has changed due to mobile phones? (Sample size=3,746)

Yes, strongly think so	48%
Yes, sometimes think so	40%
No, don’t really think so	10%
No, not at all	1%
Don’t know	1%

Those agreeing with the proposition has increased 3% points since last year.

Q2: Each day, for about how long in total (calls, email, games, web broswing, etc) do you use your mobile phone? (Sample size=3,746)

One to thirty minutes	12%
Thirty minutes to one hour	24%
One to three hours	35%
Three to five hours	16%
Five to eight hours	7%
Eight to ten hours	2%
Over ten hours	4%

This has basically not changed since last year.

Q3: What services do you often use on your mobile phone? (Sample size=3,746, multiple answer)

Shopping, auction	40%
Music	38%
Blog	16%
PC functions	16%
Reading ebooks, newspapers, magazines, etc	16%
Watching television	6%
Osaifu keitai (electronic wallet)	5%
Share dealing	2%
Other	34%
Nothing other than talk or mail	16%

PC functions may include using a full broswer, viewing PDF or other desktop application files, etc.

Q4: What things don’t you do now you have a mobile phone? (Sample size=3,746, multiple answer)

Writing and sending letters and postcards	65%
Meeting and talking to people	11%
Buying CDs or DVDs	9%
Reading books, newspapers, magazines, etc	6%
Watching television	3%
Going shopping	3%
Going outdoors	3%
Carrying a wallet	1%
Other	8%
No particular change	27%

Q5: In what ways do you feel that life has changed thanks to the mobile? (Sample size=3,746, multiple answer)

Become easier to change meeting times	69%
Don’t remember phone numbers any more	68%
Become easy to obtain information	54%
Become easier to keep in touch with family and friends	54%
Don’t need to carry a watch or notebook any more	53%
Increased my expenditure on phone and packet charges	45%
Eliminated boredom	39%
Can now get in touch regardless of the time of day or night	34%
Increased the number of friends	14%
Other, no particular change	4%