世論 What Japan Thinks

With tomorrow (July 11, 2008) being release day in Japan of the 3G iPhone through SoftBank, I thought I’d add to the tsunami of articles by adding this survey from BlogCh that looks at, amongst other things, what people feel is stopping them from buying Softbank’s iPhone.

Demographics

Between the 27th and 30th of June 2008 427 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 57.1% of the sample were male, 11.5% in their twenties, 49.2% in their thirties, 32.3% in their forties, and 7.0% other ages. The sample was pre-screened with all selected being holders of personal-use mobile phones.

It’s very interesting to note in Q2 that women seem slightly more interested in the iPhone than men, and in the detailed breakdown by current provider (see original survey for details) I think I could detect some envy amongst DoCoMo users!

One ease of use issue I’ve not seen specifically addressed but which is important in Japan is whether you can write email one-handed hanging off a strap in a crowded train. Inability to be thumb-driven in this fashion will be a black mark among reviewers, I suspect.

Commenting on another blog, I just realised that here about 13.3% are investigating purchasing, whereas earlier this month when looking at all the regular new models from DoCoMo, au and SoftBank just 6.7% wanted to buy any one of all the other summer 2008 phones. Incredible!

I also see that Strapya is already decked out with a few 3G iPhone accessories from Japan!

Research results

Q1: Who is your current mobile phone carrier? If more than one, answer for your main phone. (Sample size=427)

DoCoMo	40.5%
au	28.6%
SoftBank	21.5%
Willcom	6.3%
E-Mobile	0.5%
Other	2.6%

By sex, DoCoMo was more popular with men, au and SoftBank with women. By age, DoCoMo appealed more to older people, au and SoftBank to younger.

Q2: Has your desire to buy the iPhone changed since the price was announced? (Sample size=427)

	All	Male N=244	Female N=183
Planning, investigating buying since before price announced	6.3%	5.3%	7.7%
Planning, investigating buying since after price announced	6.1%	5.3%	7.1%
Planning, investigating buying for other reason	2.1%	1.6%	2.7%
Don’t need it, not interested (to SQ)	85.5%	87.7%	82.5%

Q2SQ: Why don’t you need or are not interested in the iPhone? (Sample size=365, multiple answer)

	All	Male N=214	Female N=151
Prefer my current mobile	29.3%	28.5%	30.5%
Handset is expensive	18.4%	17.8%	19.2%
Been over-hyped	16.7%	15.4%	18.5%
Seems difficult to use	14.2%	14.5%	13.9%
Doesn’t support One Seg digital terrestrial television	12.6%	15.0%	9.3%
Dissatisfied with SoftBank: would buy from DoCoMo	11.8%	13.1%	9.9%
Doesn’t support FeliCa, Osaifu Keitai electronic cash	11.2%	12.1%	9.9%
Only has a touch panel	11.0%	12.6%	8.6%
Dissatisfied with SoftBank: would buy from au	8.8%	7.9%	9.9%
Hasn’t got removable battery	6.8%	6.5%	7.3%
Dissatisfied with pricing plans	6.3%	8.4%	3.3%
Doesn’t support infra-red	5.2%	5.1%	5.3%
Not from a Japanese company	4.9%	5.1%	4.6%
Dissatisfied with SoftBank: would buy from Willcom	3.3%	3.3%	3.3%
Colour, design	3.0%	3.7%	2.0%
Dissatisfied with SoftBank: would buy from E-Mobile	1.1%	1.9%	0.0%
Other	24.7%	22.4%	27.8%
No answer	1.9%	2.3%	1.3%

In the breakdown by current service provider, SoftBank customers were more interested in the iPhone that others. Regarding those uninterested, One Seg was the dealbreaker for 22.5% of SoftBank owners versus 12.8% of DoCoMo and 7.3% of au. DoCoMo users overall had more complaints; for eample the overhyping turned off 20.8% of them versus 14.5% of au users and 11.3% of those with SoftBank.