世論 What Japan Thinks

A recent survey from goo Research, reported on by japan.internet.com, into mobile devices (the fourth time this regular survey was conducted) found that the iPhone far outsold ASUS’s Eee PC, the top netbook.

Demographics

On the 9th of February 2010 1,080 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.1% of the sample were male, 17.0% in their teens, 18.7% in their twenties, 21.2% in their thirties, 16.5% in their forties, and 26.6% aged fifty or older.

It is useful to compare the outcome of this survey and the other survey I published yesterday on mini notebook computers.
Read the rest of this entry »

In the US and the UK I get the distinct impression that the netbook market is in a rush for the bottom, but here in Japan, premium-priced mini-notebooks seem to be the norm according to this recent survey from Media Interactive reported on by japan.internet.com.

Demographics

Over the 16th and 17th of February 2010 1,000 internet users completed a survey, although the means of gathering this sample was not described. 53.1% of the sample were male, 0.8% in their teens, 13.8% in their twenties, 31.3% in their thirties, 28.3% in their forties, 17.9% in their fifties, and 7.9% in their sixties.

I’ve now had my MSI Wind for about four months; I picked it up for under 300 dollars in the US, and it works great as a second PC that I can use when my wife’s busy with the main computer, or for stuffing in my rucksack whenever I have a solo train ride with 20 minutes or more to kill.
Read the rest of this entry »

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.
Read the rest of this entry »

A recent survey from iShare into Windows and Mac usage revealed that Mac users were more interested in new computers and the design of domestic appliances.

Demographics

Between the 2nd and 5th of February 2010 492 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 54.1% of the sample were male, 28.0% in their twenties, 31.1% in their thirties, and 40.9% in their forties.

I did work with Mac OS many, many years ago, but I found it rather disappointing. I felt it was being just too clever, or perhaps the secret to enjoying the Mac is to “Think Different”, and not expect it to be as awkward as Windows.
Read the rest of this entry »

With a couple of digital SLR makers advertising the benefits of movie taking with them, this recent survey from goo Research and reported on by japan.internet.com into digital cameras found that about three in five saw this as useful to some degree.

Demographics

Between the 3rd and 5th of February 2010 1,093 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.2% of the sample were male, 16.6% in their teens, 18.3% in their twenties, 21.4% in their thirties, 16.1% in their forties, 15.6% in their fifties, and 12.0% aged sixty or older.

One of the benefits being pushed for SLR movies is that one doesn’t need to carry a video camera around as well when on holiday. However, the benefit of a dedicated video camera is that they are easier to hold for a longer time, I would guess. Hmm, I wonder if that’s a business opportunity, a handle add-on for SLRs to allow you to hold them one-handed like a video camera.
Read the rest of this entry »

iShare recently surveyed its userbase to find out what they thought of the iPad and other tablet form-factor computers.

Demographics

Between the 29th of January and the 3rd of February 2010 501 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.9% of the sample were male, 34.7% in their twenties, 32.5% in their thirties, and 32.7% in their forties.

I think the iPad will be a relative success in the USA amongst those people who are not interested in computers, but not until it has a camera and can do Skype calling relatively effortless. In Japan - well, I argued the iPhone would fail and I was reasonably correct until they fixed the flaws I had pointed out. I think the iPad, even more than the iPhone, needs a full digital television tuner; One Seg is too low resolution. With that I think they can sell it to people living in a typical shoebox as a reasonable substitute for a television and PC.
Read the rest of this entry »

goo Research recently conducted their third regular survey into consumer games machines, and the report on japan.internet.com had some interesting data regarding piracy.

Demographics

Between the 25th and 27th of January 2010 1,056 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-base questionnaire. 52.9% of the sample were male, 16.4% in their teens, 17.7% in their twenties, 21.7% in their thirties, 16.2% in the forties, and 28.0% aged fifty or older.

Previously I’ve mentioned that I felt surveys covering P2P piracy had under-reported the piracy issue, so I’m very surprised to see so large a self-reported figure here for console piracy. I’m not really too sure of the best way to interpret the difference.

It’s interesting to compare the results here with those from last November.
Read the rest of this entry »

Despite mobile phones reaching pretty much saturation point, according to recent survey into fixed line phones by iBridge Research Plus and reported on by japan.internet.com less than one in five see fixed lines disappearing in the future.

Demographics

On the 25th of January 2010 300 members of the iBridge monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.7% of the sample were male, 16.3% in their twenties, 34.3% in their thirties, 33.7% in their forties, 11.7% in their fifties, and 4.0% in their sixties.

One reason why fixed line phones are not going away, compared to what I imagine trends are in the USA, is that mobile phone deals in Japan contain very, very few free minutes. SoftBank are the most generous, offering basically free calls to all SoftBank phones, and the other two main carriers have free family and friend calls to certain numbers, but otherwise mobile calls are pretty expensive compared to fixed line phones, and calls to mobile numbers also carry a premium.
Read the rest of this entry »

Much like Coke or Pepsi or Kanto versus Kansai, glossy versus matte LCDs, the subject of a recent iShare survey, is an eternal battle with entrenched favourites.

Demographics

Between the 13th and 18th of January 2010 500 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 59.8% of the sample were male, 31.2% in their twenties, 32.0% in their thirties, and 36.8% in their forties.

I’m firmly in the matte camp, although I’ve never actually used a glossy… When I bought my monitor they had both a glossy and matte version on offer, and whilst the colours from glossy were very vivid, I’d heard a lot about issues with reflections, and anyway the matte was cheaper…

Oh, and just to mention the iPad for the first time on this blog (although no doubt they’ll be a million and one surveys over the next couple of months), I hear a lot of people imagining how professionals in the field will use one, but it has a glossy screen which along with the LCD makes it a no-go - and that’s also ignoring that it’s not ruggedised, water resistant or even terribly sturdy-looking.

Read the rest of this entry »

As a sort-of follow-up on a recent survey into internet performance, this time we look with Marsh Inc and japan.internet.com at computer dissatisfaction.

Demographics

Between the 13th and 17th of January 2010 300 members of the Marsh monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.0% of the sample were female, 2.3% in their teens, 17.7% in their twenties, 20.0% in their thirties, 20.0% in their forties, 20.0% in their fifties, and 20.0% aged sixty or older.

I’m mostly satisfied with my setup at home - it’s no speed demon, but it wasn’t bought as one, although it could do with a little bit of extra memory as it gets a bit slow when memory fills up, and the mouse is rather wonky.

Interestingly, in this survey everyone had a home computer, although usually there’s always one or two who do their surveys from the office or an internet cafe - I presume they pre-screened the sample.
Read the rest of this entry »