Docomo’s new autumn and winter mobile phone models
AdvertisementDocomo have recently announced their new line up for autumn and winter. There are almost no new phones; most of them are just refreshes of existing products with maybe a higher-end camera here and a few extra lighting effects there. One new one is the SC-01B, which seems to be just a Japanese-targetted tweak of Samsung’s Omnia Pro B7330 with a touch panel, but the B code seems to be trying to suggest to the customer that it’s an upgraded BlackBerry Bold. Anyway, these NTT docomo new models were the subject of this survey from Marsh Inc and reported on by japan.internet.com.
Demographics
Between the 12th and 15th of November 2009 300 members of the Marsh mobile monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sample was exactly 50:50 male and female, 20.0% in their teens, 20.0% in their thirties, 20.0% in their forties, 20.0% in their fifties, and 20.0% aged sixty or older.
The Photopanel 02 is a new one on me, but as the name suggests it is a digital photo frame. There was also a 01, but I’ve never seen that anywhere!
Looking at the old and new phones last weekend I feel docomo’s range is getting too confused. Looking at Panasonic, for instance (most of the Japanese manufacturers suffer from this), they have two basic clamshell designs (there’s also a third slider phone), but mix and match features, so you can have a touch-pad keyboard and two-way opening, but a low-end camera. Go for a higher mega-pixel count and you lose two-way opening and the inward camera, but get more emoji and a cartoon character theme. They all have basically the same price so it’s really an exercise in frustration trying to decide which to compromise on.
Oh, and the older models haven’t had any noticable price reduction even though they’ve been superceded.
Research results
Q1: Who is your main mobile phone carrier? (Sample size=300)
NTT docomo 41.3% au by KDDI 28.7% SoftBank 22.0% Willcom 1.3% E-Mobile 0.0% Don’t have a mobile phone 6.7% Q2: Did you know that NTT docomo had announced their autumn and winter models? (Sample size=300)
Yes (to SQs) 50.3% No 49.7% The report also mentioned that 28.7% knew about au’s new autumn and winter models.
Q2SQ1: How did you find out about NTT docomo’s autumn and winter models? (Sample size=151)
Television 40.2% Internet news 32.7% Newspaper 11.2% In shop 5.6% Advertisement 5.1% Heard from someone 1.9% Magazine 1.4% Other 1.9% Next, 70 people, or 46.4%, thought that the new line-up was good. They were then asked the following.
Q2SQ2: Which models are you interested in? (Sample size=70, multiple answer)
Votes Percentage Sharp SH-02B 15 21.4% Sharp SH-04B 15 21.4% Sharp SH-01B 13 18.6% NEC N-01B 11 15.7% NEC N-03B 10 14.3% Sharp SH-05B 10 14.3% Panasonic P-01B 10 14.3% Fujitsu F-02B 9 12.9% NEC N-02B 9 12.9% Panasonic P-02B 8 11.4% LG L-01B 7 10.0% Photopanel 02 7 10.0% Fujitsu F-04B 6 8.6% Panasonic P-03B 6 8.6% LG L-03B 5 7.1% Fujitsu F-03B 4 5.7% Samsung SC-01B 4 5.7% Sharp SH-03B 4 5.7% LG L-02B 3 4.3% Fujitsu F-01B 2 2.9% Don’t know, none in particular 20 28.6%
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The SC denotes it is s Samsung. The B relates to a version update (?) or something like a second year release (A being year 1).
not sure about that, but all models released have the B suffix, regardless of the maker (Sharp, Panasonic, NEC etc).
Ahh, but there hasn’t been an SC-01A, so that’s why I think customers are going to get confused by the B tag on this one.
… which is why I added the comment about “something like a second year release (A being year 1).”
Last year was the re-branding/naming of all the range (year 1, as it were)… gone were the old numbering system, with numbers like SH904i, and in came the SH-04A
This year is year 2, so B is applied…. perhaps?
Ahh, I see your point! Yes, calling it an A would have confused some people, but I thiknk also calling it a B will confuse others…