世論 What Japan Thinks

This month’s 48th regular survey into mobile phone upgrade needs by goo Research and reported on by japan.internet.com looked specifically at what features people look for in a new mobile phone.

Demographics

Between the 7th and 11th of September 2009 exactly 1,000 mobile phone-using members of the goo Research monitor group completed an online questionnaire. 52.7% of the sample were female, 1.0% in their teens, 15.8% in their twenties, 34.7% in their thirties, 29.5% in their forties, and 19.0% aged fifty or older.

The original Japanese article’s headline was that four in ten teenagers want a waterproof mobile phone, but because the statistic is completely accurate according to this sample, it is highly inaccurate, as there was only ten teenagers in the whole sample, so the margin of error is vast! However, the trend for older people being more interested in water resistance is valid, and is perhaps a reflection on clumsiness increasing with age!

In Q2, one obvious (from a Western phone user point of view, I think) missing feature is synchronisation with calendar or address book applications; Bluetooth support suggests just wireless headphones to me as few Japanese computers come with built-in support. Unfortunately, there’s no “What USA Thinks” or “What UK Thinks” web site for me to cross-reference against, although if any of my readers have data, I’d love to hear it. Also in Q2, you’ll note that the iPhone has only four of the top ten features and none of the top three, whereas most of the higher-end Japanese phones have at least seven of them.

Research results

Q1: Which mobile carrier do you use? If more than one, choose the main one. (Sample size=1,000)

NTT docomo	49.4%
au by KDDI	27.7%
SoftBank	18.7%
Willcom	4.0%
E-Mobile	0.2%

Q2: Select which of the services from the list below whose presence or absense is important when upgrading your mobile phone. (Sample size=1,000, multiple answer)

Memory card	34.7%
One Seg (digital terrestrial broadcast) reception	34.4%
Infra-red	29.4%
Music playback	20.4%
Water-resistant, water-proof	19.5%
GPS	16.1%
FeliCa (electronic cash)	15.9%
Bluetooth	8.4%
Full browser	8.0%
FM radio reception	6.4%
WiFi support	4.9%
AM radio reception	3.7%
Document viewer (Excel, etc)	3.3%
Electronic compass	2.7%
Digital radio	2.2%
Skinnable front-end	2.0%
Analogue television reception	1.3%
Other	2.1%
Nothing in particular	26.6%

Q2A: Is the presence or absense of water-resistance or water-proofing important when upgrading your mobile phone. (Sample size=1,000, by age)

Teens N=10	40.0%
Twenties N=158	15.8%
Thirties N=347	16.4%
Forties N=295	20.3%
Fifty plus N=190	25.8%

Q3: Do you plan to buy a summer 2009 model phone? (Sample size=1,000)

Already bought	3.5%
Definite plan to buy	2.0%
Wanted to buy, but gave up	13.1%
Don’t want to buy	54.7%
Didn’t know about the summer 2009 models	26.7%