世論 What Japan Thinks

The 50th installment of the regular goo Research mobile upgrade needs, reported on by japan.internet.com as usual, found that price was the most important factor, which goes some way to explaining the 25% drop in mobile sales last year.

Demographics

Between the 26th and 29th of January 2010 exactly 1,000 mobile phone-owning members of the goo Research monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.3% of the sample were male, 1.9% in their teens, 12.8% in their twenties, 36.9% in their thirties, 29.8% in their forties, and 18.6% aged fifty or older.

I met a couple of guys from Nokia this week and they were carrying their latest model of smartphone, the N900, and I want one! I hope Japanese manufacturers can bring out a smartphone that works and addresses customer needs, not the carrier’s wishes.

Research results

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

NTT docomo	49.3%
au by KDDI	28.0%
SoftBank	18.6%
Willcom	4.1%
E-Mobile	0.0%

Q2: Select which of the following are important when upgrading your mobile phone. (Sample size=1,000, multiple answer)

Handset price	71.4%
Design	65.2%
Functionality	35.8%
Size	34.2%
Body style (clamshell, slider, etc)	29.4%
Weight	26.8%
Display	24.7%
Camera spec, functionality	24.2%
Talk time cost	22.1%
Mobile phone carrier	21.8%
Additional functionality (television, GPS, etc)	19.9%
Battery functionality	17.8%
Mobile phone maker, brand	17.3%
Data packet cost	15.6%
Supported services	12.4%
Internal memory size	11.3%
How easy to connect	10.9%
Text input functionality	10.9%
Voice quality	10.4%
Data transmission speed	7.7%
Other	2.0%
Nothing in particular	0.3%

Q3: 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)

One Seg terrestrial digital television reception	31.4%
Memory card	30.7%
Infrared transmission	24.4%
Water resistant, waterproof	19.6%
FeliCa (Osaifu Keitai electronic cash)	16.1%
Music playback	15.9%
GPS	12.6%
Bluetooth	8.7%
Full browser	6.9%
FM radio reception	5.9%
Wireless LAN	5.2%
AM radio reception	3.3%
Document viewer (Excel, etc)	3.1%
Electronic compass	2.7%
Skinnable	1.9%
Digital radio reception	1.8%
Analogue television reception	0.9%
Other	2.3%
Nothing in particular	30.9%

In the following question, the branding refers to using brand names for displays or cameras rather than Gucci mobiles or the like.

Q4: If functionality, design, price are the same, would you choose a branded or unbranded model? (Sample size=1,000, multiple answer)

Branded	36.4%
Unbranded	6.1%
Not bothered	57.5%