With many mobile phones both here in Japan and abroad sprouting touch panels and full keyboards, this recent survey by goo Research and reported on by japan.internet.com into mobile phone input facilities revealed a few interesting statistics about them.
Demographics
Between the 12th and 17th of February 2009 1,074 members of the goo Research monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.2% of the sample were male, 15.5% in their teens, 17.9% in their twenties, 21.7% in their thirties, 16.6% in their forties, 15.9% in their fifties, and 12.4% in their sixties.
The survey also investigated voice input, but it is just the simple pattern matching for speed dial, I believe, a feature standard on many phones. I believe the next big feature for Japanese phones will be the dictation of email messages, but I also believe it won’t work very well and will not find any significant mainstream use.
If I had the money, I’d really love to upgrade to the Sharp S004, featuring all three of the features asked about here, a full keyboard, a touch panel, and an accelerometer. Read the rest of this entry »
Here’s a survey I translated last month but it fell through a crack and I forgot to publish it! It was performed by DIMSDRIVE Research, and looked at book purchasing.
Demographics
Between the 29th of October and the 13 of November 2008 9,566 members of the DIMSDRIVE monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.2% of the sample were male, 1.1% in their teens, 12.8% in their twenties, 31.3% in their thirties, 31.4% in their forties, 16.1% in their fifties, and 7.3% aged sixty or older.
This was one of these surveys that I really liked the idea of, but as I started translating it I realised it wasn’t living up to my expectations, thus I ended up laying it aside and forgetting about its existance!
Note that books here include manga comics in book form, I believe. I’d have loved to have seen the average spend per person per month on books, how many of their monthly book purchases are from second-hand stores, and how often people swap or borrow books with friends or from libraries. Read the rest of this entry »
Looking at my recent statistics, everyone seems pretty much ad-blind on WJT, so looking at this recent survey from goo Research and reported on by japan.internet.com into internet advertising, their third regular survey on this subject, it looks like I need to get more goo monitors visiting my site!
Demographics
Between the 2nd and 5th of February 2009 1,092 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.2% of the sample were male, 16.5% in their teens, 18.1% in their twenties, 21.4% in their thirties, 15.9% in their forties, and 28.0% aged fifty or older.
I think one can infer that the 15.3% in Q1SQ1 who find advertisements useful includes most if not all of the 14.3% in Q1SQ2 who purchased items as the result of a click. Although one in seven have made a purchase through a search click, there is no information to the total number of clicks to total number of purchases. In addition, not all clicks are through to purchases; indeed I’ve just blocked one advertiser who is promoting their site that contains nothing but stolen content (in fact, twice-stolen, most likely), which I thought was against the Google AdWords rules. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s now about a year since acTVila launched, a facility for using your television as a media centre, allowing download of movies (and other contents) on demand for both free and pay contents. This recent survey from Marsh Inc and reported on by japan.internet.com looked at this subject of acTVila.
Demographics
Between the 12th and 15th of February 2009 300 members of the Marsh monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.0% of the sample were female, 20.0% in their teens, 20.0% in their twenties, 20.0% in their thirties, 20.0% in their forties, 14.l7% in their fifties, and 5.3% aged sixty or older.
I’m very surprised to see that a quarter of all digital television watchers have plugged their television into the internet. Although my HDD player is network ready, I’ve never had the urge to plug it in as I don’t really see what the point is. It would enable me to program it remotely from a mobile phone, but I’ve never been in the situation where I thought this might be useful.
On the other hand, I have got a bunch of ideas about what features might encourage more people to plug in which I plan to talk about at work next Monday, so I’d better not say anything here as my employer will no doubt want to bury them in the patent process.
Oh, and sorry for the delay in posting, but I’m in Athens on a business trip, and I couldn’t get my internet to work in the airport lounges along the way! Read the rest of this entry »
Today is the Day of the Cat in Japan, since the 22nd of the 2nd month may be read as “nyan nyan nyan”, the Japanese equivalent of “meow meow meow”. So, to celebrate, goo Ranking looked at strange but cute cat actions.
Demographics
Between the 22nd and 26th of January 2009 1,071 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private online questionnaire. 51.8% of the sample were male, 6.9% in their teens, 14.3% in their twenties, 28.9% in their thirties, 27.8% in their forties, 11.3% in their fifties, and 10.8% aged sixty or older. Note that the score in the results refers to the relative number of votes for each option, not a percentage of the total sample.
For reference, two years ago the cat survey was on cats’ cutest actions, without the strange clause.
Most of the animal shows on Japanese television have regular segments featuring cute but strange cats, so here’s three entertaining clips from YouTube:
With the economy tanking, and with many firms announcing pay freezes if not cuts, this survey conducted by iBridge Research Plus and reported on by japan.internet.com into wives and foreign exchange is rather timely.
Demographics
On the 2nd of February 2009 300 married women from the iBridge monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 7.3% of the sample were in their twenties, 44.3% in their thirties, 32.0% in their forties, 13.0% in their fifties, and 3.3% in their sixties.
Honestly, it’s not just because I’ve recently launched a Japanese emoticon and smiley dictionary that I’m picking up a number of surveys like this one from Point On Research and reported on by japan.internet.com into mobile phone email use, with the focus for this report on textual and graphical emoticons.
Demographics
On the 15th of February 2009 exactly 1,000 mobile phone users from the Point On Research monitor pool completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.0% of the sample were female, 20.0% in their teens, 20.0% in their twenties, 20.0% in their thirties, 20.0% in their forties, and 20.0% in their fifties.
Even though I have produced the above-mentioned emoticon dictionary, I don’t actually use text emoticons in my mobile email! Most of the time it is the built-in emoji graphical icons. I’d use more decomail (larger-sized, on the whole, animated gifs) but my phone is one of the first models to support them, so the user interface is pretty awkward to say the least.
I don’t get enough mobile emails to use any other pattern than immediate reply, but my blog email is another matter altogether… Read the rest of this entry »
I’ve not actually been into a clothes shop to get stuff for myself for a couple of years, although the last time I did go it was to a Uniqlo, the shop that comes out way on top in this recent survey from MyVoice into casual wear shops.
Demographics
Over the first five days of January 2009 13,923 members of the MyVoice internet community successfully completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 54% of the sample were female, 2% in their teens, 13% in their twenties, 36% in their thirties, 31% in their forties, and 18% aged fifty or older.
I usually buy casual wear at Passport, as they have a nice (read “cheap”) line of hannari tofu clothes. Otherwise I leave the casual shopping up to the wife, who uses mail order on the whole. Read the rest of this entry »
Valentine’s Day may have seen a number of weddings proposed, so it is quite timely too look at this recent survey conducted by iBridge Research Plus and reported on by japan.internet.com into engagement rings and other associated matters.
Demographics
On the 9th of February 2009 300 unmarried women from the iBridge monitor group completed a private online questionnaire. 50.7% of the sample were in their twenties and 49.3% in their thirties.
As I typed the introduction paragraph I started wondering if Valentine’s Day (or the counterpart White Day) is such a significant date for proposing marriage in Japan. Indeed, that would be a very interesting topic to have a search for, when and how people proposed. The only survey I can remember doing on that topic found that a depressingly-high 30.3% of people in their twenties find a shotgun prodding them down the aisle!
We chose our engagement and wedding rings together, with wifey having the final say, of course, as I’d probably have been too stingey if I’d been let loose on my own. We bought from Exelco, who are relatively reasonable as they sell direct, and sell diamonds and the rings separately, so there’s much more freedom to get something that fits your budget. Read the rest of this entry »
With the date for the 12,000 yen handout to all residents of Japan getting closer (perhaps…), here’s a short look at opinions on the cash handout in a survey conducted by goo Research in conjunction with the Mainichi Shimbun.
Demographics
Betwen the 23rd and 25th of January 2009 1,056 members of the goo Research monitor panel aged 20 or older completed a private internet-based questionnaire. No further demographic information was given.
This whole cash handout business has been nothing but a farce since it was first announced. Originally it was going to be a tax cut, but that does not benefit non-taxpayers, so it became free money. However, some of the issues that have come up are the method of distribution – currently it is envisaged that everyone has to go to their local city office, but that means cities need to employ lots of extra staff, and it’s been estimated that another 25% or so overhead is needed to get it distributed. Then the Prime Minister himself first said he wouldn’t take it, then he was saying he hadn’t ruled out that he would, then he would, and I think the latest situation is that he is undecided again.
One of the blogs I regularly read on Japanese politics talked about this in detail; a representative article on this matter from GlobalTalk 21 is here. Read the rest of this entry »
With many mobile phones both here in Japan and abroad sprouting touch panels and full keyboards, this recent survey by goo Research and reported on by japan.internet.com into mobile phone input facilities revealed a few interesting statistics about them.
Here’s a survey I translated last month but it fell through a crack and I forgot to publish it! It was performed by DIMSDRIVE Research, and looked at 
Looking at my recent statistics, everyone seems pretty much ad-blind on WJT, so looking at this recent survey from goo Research and reported on by japan.internet.com into 
It’s now about a year since acTVila launched, a facility for using your television as a media centre, allowing download of movies (and other contents) on demand for both free and pay contents. This recent survey from Marsh Inc and reported on by japan.internet.com looked at this subject of 
With the economy tanking, and with many firms announcing pay freezes if not cuts, this survey conducted by iBridge Research Plus and reported on by japan.internet.com into 
Honestly, it’s not just because I’ve recently launched a 
I’ve not actually been into a clothes shop to get stuff for myself for a couple of years, although the last time I did go it was to a Uniqlo, the shop that comes out way on top in this recent survey from MyVoice into 
Valentine’s Day may have seen a number of weddings proposed, so it is quite timely too look at this recent survey conducted by iBridge Research Plus and reported on by japan.internet.com into 
With the date for the 12,000 yen handout to all residents of Japan getting closer (perhaps…), here’s a short look at 
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