Bluetooth in Japan: very little usage reported
I get the distinct impression in the USA and Europe that Bluetooth is a must-have feature for mobile phones, but in Japan a recent survey said only 5% wanted Bluetooth on their next phone, versus 22% after infra-red. This survey reported on by japan.internet.com and conducted by Cross Marketing Inc into Bluetooth confirms this lack of interest in Bluetooth.
Demographics
Over the 6th and 7th of February 2008 300 members of the Cross Marketing monitor pool successfully completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The group was split 50:50 male and female, 20.0% in their teens, 20.0% in their twenties, 20.0% in their thirties, 20.0% in their forties, and 20.0% in their fifties.
Only a few selected models of mobile phones come with Bluetooth these days, and I’ve never seen anyone in Japan using these earpiece Bluetooth accessories that I saw quite a few times when I was in the USA. I may have once seen someone with Bluetooth headphones, but that’s about it. It might be an interesting survey to discover why exactly people don’t use them.
Q1SQ2 shows how low usage of Bluetooth really is. Although 22.7% of people said they owned a Bluetooth device, these 68 people owned 95 Bluetooth-capable devices between them, making about 1.4 devices per person. From these 95 devices, 79 were master devices, leaving just 16 accessory-class devices, and just four of them had potential to be used with mobile phones.
Oh, and just in case you are in the 43.7% according to this survey, Bluetooth is a short-range low-power wireless standard most often found in (non-Japanese!) mobile phones.
Research results
Q1: Do you know about Bluetooth? (Sample size=300)
Know it well (to SQ1) 7.7% Know something about it (to SQ1) 28.3% Just heard the word (to SQ1) 20.3% Never heard of it 43.7% Q1SQ1: Do you have a device that supports Bluetooth? (Sample size=169)
Yes (to SQ2) 40.2% No 54.4% Don’t know 5.3% This means that from the original sample, 22.7% own a Bluetooth-capable device.
Q1SQ2: What sorts of Bluetooth-capable devices do you have? (Sample size=68, multiple answer)
Votes Percentage Mobile phone 52 76.5% Notebook compter 20 29.4% Mouse 5 7.4% Wireless headphones 4 5.9% USB adapter 3 4.4% Keyboard 3 4.4% Desktop computer 2 2.9% Car navigation 2 2.9% Wireless headset 1 1.5% Other 3 4.4%
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Durf said,
February 19, 2008 @ 15:47
Not quite so much demand for wireless earsets when so many people use the phones as mobile mail terminals while on the go? Not sure about that. It would be nice to see more BT options out there, if for no other reason than I’d like to tether one to my laptop and get online that way when needed.
Nick Ramsay said,
February 20, 2008 @ 09:48
So Bluetooth let’s you use an earset. What other benefits does it offer? We’ve got that infrared thingy on Japanese phones for transferring contact details, gadgets for driving hands-free, and of course we have internet access, so what need is there for Bluetooth?
Crom said,
February 21, 2008 @ 10:08
Not suprising considering how taboo it is in Japan to even use a completely normal mobile phone in public.
I can’t imagine how people would react to someone walking down the street in their borg headset, having a conversation with themself.
Patrick said,
February 21, 2008 @ 18:47
Nick: No idea how it works in Japan, but in Europe (where bluetooth is a must have feature for any phone) it’s used for any communication to of fro the phone and another device. So apart from a (stereo) headset the handsfree in the car uses bluetooth, the computer does so you can edit your photos, upload your music and ringtones, sync you addresses and calendar, etc. I also use it to withthe GPS I have in the car. The navigation software runs on the phone and I get much better reception than the built in GPS module because of all that metal in a car. I haven’t touched the IR in the phone ever, bluetooth is considerably faster and doesn’t need line of sight.
Nick Ramsay said,
February 21, 2008 @ 20:35
Thanks Patrick, I like the sound of wirelessly connecting to the computer.
Monchan said,
August 7, 2008 @ 13:12
The only problem about BT is that sometimes it can be a pain-in-the-ass to connect some things together and battery life can be short. In addition, there are still quite a few things that aren’t bluetooth compatible… But yea, I definitely hope that BT continues expand their products because it’s definitely a cool and efficient technology.
Infrared top means for exchanging email addresses » 世論 What Japan Thinks said,
August 7, 2008 @ 22:41
[…] not being used is that it is far from standard on mobile phones. I’ve looked before at Bluetooth in Japan, but why it has never taken off is a mystery to me, although the fact that infrared was already […]