世論 What Japan Thinks

Between the first and fifth of March this year, yet another survey that MyVoice conducted was into the matter of water-resistant mobile phones.

Demographics

15,771 members of their online community successfully completed the survey. 54% were female, 2% in their teens, 19% in their twenties, 39% in their thirties, 26% in their forties, and 14% in their fifites.

I must say this is perhaps the oddest mobile phone topic I’ve translated! The only waterproof mobiles I know are the rather chunky and masculine G-Shock watch-inspired G’zOne Casio mobile phones, although I don’t know what the situation is regarding just splash resistance in other handsets. I’ve never given mobile phone waterproofing any thought, myself, and quite frankly I worry about those people who seem to want to read ebooks on their mobiles in the bath, and I hope there is no intersection between the group wanting to use in the bath and those wanting to take photos!

Survey results

Q1: Which mobile phone service provider do you primarily use? (Sample size=15,771)

NTT DoCoMo	44.1%
au by KDDI, TU-KA	28.4%
SoftBank	19.7%
WILLCOM	2.4%
Other	0.1%
Don’t have a mobile phone	5.3%

Q2: Is your current mobile phone water resistant? (Sample size=mobile phone users)

Is water resistant	3.0%
Is not water resistant	76.2%
Don’t know	20.5%
No answer	0.3%

Q3: What degree of water resistance would you expect to see in a mobile phone? (Sample size=mobile phone users)

Withstand 30 minutes at one metre deep	14.4%
Withstand submerging in sink	34.3%
Withstand shower	17.2%
Withstand wet hands	20.7%
Don’t care whether water-resistant or not	8.6%
Don’t need water resistance	3.2%
No answer	1.6%

Q4: If your phone was water resistant, where might you use it? (Sample size=mobile phone users, up to three answers)

In the rain	52.6%
In the bath	30.8%
In the kitchen	30.3%
In the sea, swimming pool, marine sports	28.5%
Working around water	28.5%
In the washroom	22.6%
Doing water sports	20.2%
Doing outdoor sports	14.7%
Other	1.4%
No particular place I want to use	11.5%
No answer	1.0%

Q5: If your phone was water resistant, what kinds of things would you want to do in wet locations? (Sample size=mobile phone users, up to three answers)

Email	57.9%
Talk	53.6%
Watch One Seg television	29.9%
Listen to music	20.0%
Surf web	15.5%
Take photos	13.9%
Use timer functions	8.8%
Play games	7.6%
Listen to radio	6.8%
Use calculator	3.2%
Read ebook, comic	2.2
Other	0.9%
No particular function I want to use	13.6%
No answer	0.9%

Q6: What sort of features would you hope for in a water resistant mobile phone? (Sample size=mobile phone users, up to three answers)

Small size, weight	44.5%
Shock-resistance	41.5%
Better design sense	26.9%
One Seg functions	24.6%
Many makers producing them	24.3%
Female-oriented design	17.9%
Many colour variations	13.1%
GPS functionality	12.6%
Other	1.6%
Nothing in particular	14.9%
No answer	1.4%

Q7: How important will water resistance be when buying your next phone? (Sample size=mobile phone users)

Important	3.9%
A little important	25.6%
Neither important nor not important	29.7%
A little unimportant	24.8%
Unimportant	12.0%
Don’t know	2.6%
No answer	1.3%