世論 What Japan Thinks

This topic seemed a little dull when I first picked up this report to translate, but after a little web searching I found some rather interesting information related to a survey conducted by goo Research and reported on by japan.internet.com on the topic of mobile phones, and on non-standard designs in particular.

Demographics

Between the 10th and 14th of September 2007 1,092 members of goo Research’s online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.8% of the group was male, 17.6% in their teens, 19.1% in their twenties, 15.8% in their thirties, 17.1% in their forties, 18.4% in their fifties, and 11.9% aged sixty or older.

Did you know that four years ago NTT DoCoMo launched the WRISTOMO, a wristwatch-styled mobile phone? Or even more interestingly, SMS Technology Australia have just released this month a real wristwatch-sized mobile phone, the rather uninspiringly-named M500 with MP3, video, BlueTooth and Java all stuffed into a 60 gramme package.

Research results

Q1: Which of the following types of cell phones would you want? (Sample size=1,092, multiple answer)

	Votes	Percentage
Wrist-watch cell phone	350	32.1%
Really thin roll-up cell phone	209	19.1%
Headset cell phone	156	14.3%
Glasses, sunglasses-style cell phone	121	11.1%
Ring-type cell phone	62	5.7%
Implanted cell phone	24	2.2%
Don’t want any of them	481	44.0%

Q2: Do you know the “WRISTOMO”? (Sample size=1,092)

Yes (to SQ1)	16.6%
Just heard the name	28.1%
Don’t know it	55.3%

Q2SQ1: Did you buy a WRISTOMO? (Sample size=181)

Yes	1.7%
No (to Q2SQ2)	98.3%

When the three purchasers were asked what points they’d like to see improved, all said weight reduction, and one each chose to make the device more compact and to make the display larger.

When the remaining 178 were asked why they didn’t buy it, the top reason, with 21.9% selecting it, was that they didn’t like the design. Next, 20.8% said they felt it would be embarrassing to wear, 19.1% said it was too big, and 16.8% said they were waiting to see what the next model would bring.

Finally, these 178 were asked the following question:

Q2SQ2: If the size and design of a wristwatch cell phone was comparable to a Casio G-SHOCK, would you buy it? (Sample size=178)

Would buy	14.2%
Would want it, but wouldn’t buy	20.6%
Wouldn’t buy	32.4%
Don’t know	32.8%

I’m not really sure about the motivation behind the second answer!