世論 What Japan Thinks

Another mobile phone technology nearing the 50% barrier is GPS, Global Positioning System, according to this survey from goo Research and reported on by japan.internet.com looking into GPS. Two days ago we saw that contactless IC chip-based electronic money had passed the 50% mark, and another article I read today about One Seg digital terrestrial television for mobile devices had also passed this milestone. (The original Japanese source is here)

Demographics

Between the 16th to 23rd of September 2008 1,056 members of the goo Research monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 60.8% of the sample were male (7 or so points higher than usual, but no explanation is given why), 12.9% were in their teens, 20.7% in their twenties, 20.2% in their thirties, 22.1% in their forties, and 24.2% aged fifty or older.

I’ve never used a GPS in a portable device, but I couldn’t drive without my car navi system. I rented a Prius last month but whatever default settings they had were a bit wonky, wanting me to detour just a little too far just so I could stick to motorways. I did manage to confuse it for a bit by missing a motorway entrance and instead cruised along underneath where I should have been, but it did recover effortlessly, and I made all my destinations with the minimum of drama.

The latest revision of the Prius navigation and entertainment centre also automatically rips CDs to hard disk and labels them using the Gracenote database, but that’s another story entirely!

Research results

Q1: Do you know what GPS is? (Sample size=1,056)

Yes	86.8%
Just heard the term	9.8%
No	3.3%

Q2: Which of the following GPS-equipped devices do you have? (Sample size=1,056, multiple answer)

	Votes	Percentage
Mobile phone with GPS (to SQ1)	478	45.2%
Car satellite navigation system (to SQ2)	470	44.5%
Computer-connected GPS device	42	4.0%
Pedestrian-targetted navigation system	34	3.2%
Digital camera with GPS	13	1.2%
Other	23	2.2%
Don’t have a GPS device	325	30.5%

Q2SQ1: How often do you use your mobile phone’s GPS feature? (Sample size=478, multiple answer)

Almost every day	2.9%
Four to six days a week	1.7%
One to three days a week	10.9%
One to three days a month	22.8%
One or two days every three months	14.2%
One or two days every six months	6.3%
One or two days a year	5.6%
Almost never use it	16.9%
Never used it	18.6%

Q2SQ2: How often do you use your car navigation system? (Sample size=470, multiple answer)

Almost every day	7.9%
Four to six days a week	3.8%
One to three days a week	22.1%
One to three days a month	36.2%
One or two days every three months	14.0%
One or two days every six months	6.4%
One or two days a year	4.3%
Almost never use it	4.0%
Never used it	1.3%