世論 What Japan Thinks

japan.internet.com reported on goo Research’s fourth regular survey into consumer games machines, my favourite current goo Research series.

Demographics

Getween the 2nd and 6th of April 2010 1,059 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.9% of the sample were male, 16.1% in their teens, 17.8% in their twenties, 21.5% in their thirties, 16.2% in their forties, and 28.3% aged fifty or older.

I’ve never actually heard of the torne. I know when the PS3 first came out it was seen as a backdoor way of getting Blu-ray into Japanese homes, but now, with the digital switch-over a mere 15 months away, perhaps it is too late? On the other hand, the device by definition will have a digital decoder, and the PS3 already has an analogue output, so it seems also to be being sold as a decoder. Perhaps I’ll soon see a question on this in that other current goo Research series into digital television?
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With Panasonic due to start selling their 3D Viera on the 23rd of April, this recent survey from goo Research was on television in general, but the short report on japan.internet.com focused on the timely 3D aspect.

Demographics

Between the 18th and 20th of March 2010 1,079 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.9% of the sample were male, 16.3% in their teens, 18.4% in their twenties, 21.7% in their thirties, 15.9% in their forties, 15.5% in their fifties, and 12.2% aged sixty or older.

As a cross-reference, you might like to look at an earlier survey from iShare on the same subject.

I’m not interested in 3D television, myself. I did notice a couple of days ago in central Osaka the local cable company were promoting their upcoming 3D broadcasts, and there was quite a long queue in front of the demostration stand, but perhaps people were just lining up for whatever freebies they were handing out…
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This recent survey from goo Ranking into the iPhone turned up not only an interesting figure on penetration of the device amongst SoftBank users, but also a pretty impressive high level of desire for Apple’s new iPad.

Demographics

Between the 24th and 27th of March 2010 1,084 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.3% of the sample were male, 16.5% in their teens, 18.1% in their twenties, 21.4% in their thirties, 16.3% in their forties, 15.3% in their fifties, and 12.4% aged sixty or older.

I certainly don’t want an iPad, but I can see it doing quite well in Japan, although the size is just slightly too large for usage on a commuter train, especially with having to hold it up for a reasonable amount of time. Perhaps one of the most popular accessories we’ll see in Japan is a lap stand?

And don’t ask me why one person didn’t know whether or not they had an iPhone…
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Recently japan.internet.com reported on a survey conducted by Marsh Inc into car (satellite) navigation systems.

Demographics

Between the 11th and 14th of March 2010 300 driving license-holding car owners completed a private internet-baed questionnaire. 50.0% of the sample were female, 20.0% 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.

In the west I have been getting the impression recently that dedicated car navigation devices are being pushed out by smartphones with often free navigation software. However, in Japan the market is quite well-established with large-screen feature-filled system the norm, so perhaps smartphones will have less of an impact here. That would be an interesting aspect to perform a survey on.

The report does note that compared to just seven months ago (September 2009), the share of owners has gone up by five percentage points.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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