Sub-$100 iPhone wanted by over one in four Japanese
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After one year of the iPhone in Japan, how is it viewed? This was the question posed by iShare when they conducted a survey into the iPhone.
Demographics
Between the 7th and 10th of July 2009 568 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.7% of the sample were male, 35.6% in their twenties, 29.2% in their thirties, and 35.2% in their forties.
I’ve not actually touched an iPhone, although I do feel it would be nice from certain points of view, but I’m not really that big an Apple fan, and as most of my email is emoticon, emoji and decomail-ridden I don’t think that the iPhone is the best fit for me.
However, I am looking forward to Japanese manufacturers bringing out their own Android-based mobiles but… ah, I’ll stop there.
Research results
Q1: Have you ever used an iPhone? (Sample size=568)
All Male
N=305Female
N=263Yes, and own one (to SQ3) 3.7% 5.2% 1.9% Yes (to SQ1, SQ2) 13.4% 15.4% 11.0% No (to SQ2) 82.9% 79.3% 87.1% Q1SQ1: What were your impressions after using an iPhone? (Sample size=76, multiple answer)
All Male
N=47Female
N=29New sensation 47.4% 42.6% 55.2% Amazing 38.2% 36.2% 41.4% Would want it if it were cheaper 34.2% 38.3% 27.6% Don’t think it’s a mobile phone 26.3% 19.1% 37.9% Like a toy 23.7% 17.0% 34.5% Exciting 22.4% 21.3% 24.1% Expecting something similar from domestic makers 19.7% 25.5% 10.3% Looks breakable 13.2% 8.5% 20.7% Seems difficult to use 7.9% 4.3% 13.8% Other 14.5% 14.9% 13.8% Q1SQ2: At what iPhone handset price would you investigate buying one? (Sample size=547)
All Male
N=289Female
N=258Under 10,000 yen 27.8% 27.7% 27.9% Under 20,000 yen 11.3% 12.8% 9.7% Under 30,000 yen 1.8% 2.1% 1.6% Price is not one of my criteria for investigation 59.0% 57.4% 60.9% Q1SQ3: Are you satisfied with your purchase of the iPhone? (Sample size=21)
All Male
N=16Female
N=5Satisfied 71.4% 75.0% 60.0% Somewhat satisfied 19.0% 12.5% 40.0% Somewhat dissatisfied 4.8% 6.3% 0.0% Dissatisfied 4.8% 6.3% 0.0%
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Yes, I have an iPhone, and I love it, but I’m not sure why everyone is focusing on evaluating it and not other phones. It’s almost bewildering to see all these people that don’t like Apple products pay so much attention to the iPhone? I see so many people evaluating the iPhone, and don’t care about it, yet they don’t seem to evaluation or criticize other phones like they do the iPhone…. I love Apple engineering and the products they come out with. Seems like people specifically target the iPhone? I’d agree, it’s not just a phone, it’s more than that, and It’s possible that people target it because they think it’s a phone [only a phone], yet it has more capabilities than just being a phone. For me it’s like having my laptop computer where ever I go, but not being able to run photoshop, illustrator or indesign, so I have to bring my laptop anyway. As for the emoicon, emoji, it’s interesting because I’ve had the iPhone since it came out with the first one, and I’ve only just started using the emoicon, but I have used the emoji since because of my Japanese dictionaries and Japanese texts that I’ve been using ever since they came out as apps. Is it a toy? I suppose it could be considered and “adult” toy, like driving in a BMW, Mercedes over a Ford designed product, but those are all personal choices people make. If you don’t like a BMW get a Ford, if you don’t like a Ford get a Mercedes or whatever other product you prefer, but most of all it depends on your needs and what you need it for and can you pay for it.
Docomo seems to carry an Android phone. I’d like to try it out, but I have no idea what their policy is for installing your own apps on it. If I can’t write my own stuff for it that removes a lot of the appeal, frankly.
Janne, the current Android phone from HTC, the Magic as it is called elsewhere, allows you to install whatever you like on it. It also has basically zero standard Japanese phone features: no One Seg, no Felica, no iMode, no emoji, etc, etc.
As for docomo’s plans, I saw an interesting article on a set of slides presented by docomo last week where they want to have their own Android Market+Windows Marketplace download service in addition to the official services and unofficial routes. I’ll dig out the URL on Monday at work and post it here.
Here’s the link:
http://k-tai.impress.co.jp/docs/event/wj2009/20090724_304726.html
All in Japanese, but lots of interesting info! Also useful info on the upgrade cycle, from just under two years at the start of the decade to just under three years now.
The iphone seems to be doing pretty well in Japan at the moment and probably has something to do with SB success for the last quarter. While I am not a big fan of SB..or any of them actually, I do enjoy the Iphone!