世論 What Japan Thinks

Despite the iPod and iPhone being a reasonable success in Japan, Apple are not seeing the benefit in terms of Mac sales, according to this survey reported on by japan.internet.com and conducted by goo Research into home computers, with a look in particular at the upcoming Windows 7.

Demographics

Between the 23rd and 26th of July 2009 1,086 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.9% of the sample were male, 16.5% in their teens, 18.4% in their twenties, 21.5% in their thirties, 16.2% in their forties, 15.6% in their fifties, and 11.9% aged sixty or older.

I use Windows Vista only at home, which does work well for everything I want to do, so I don’t see any reason why I should bother upgrading to Windows 7, especially given that since I run the Ultimate version as it’s the only one to support multiple languages, the upgrade price will be pretty high, I suspect.
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goo Ranking recently conducted their 10th regular survey into digital terrestrial television, a survey reported on by japan.internet.com.

Demographics

Betwen the 17th and 22nd of July 2009 1,079 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.0% of the sample were male, 16.6% in their teens, 17.8% in their twenties, 21.0% in their thirties, 16.5% in their forties, 15.9% in their fifties, and 1.1% aged sixty or older.

I don’t believe that having the greatest reason for dissatisfaction being DRM, Digital Rights Management, is in itself a condemnation of copy control on digital broadcasts, as I would guess that the vast majority of people are either (or both) unaware of the presence of DRM or never do any activities that run into these restrictions.

Note that analogue broadcasts stop on the 24th of July 2011. One thing that has struck me as odd is that there is very little advertising for converter boxes in Japan; a few thousand yen gives a new lease of life to any television. When visiting my parents back in the UK last year they had a cheap box that produced a very acceptable picture on their 15 year old telly.
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This fun survey from goo Research, and reported on by japan.internet.com, into taking electronic equipment along to the beach indicates that the majority of people who take their laptop computers to the seaside end up dropping them in the ocean!

Demographics

Between the 8th and 13th of July 2009 1,077 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.1% of the sample were male, 16.4% in their teens, 18.1% in their twenties, 21.6% in their thirties, 16.2% in their forties, 15.9% in their fifties, and 11.8% aged sixty or older.

I wonder if the high rate of butterfingered notebook computer owners suggests that those daft enough to take a computer to the beach are also daft enough not to look after it properly! Sand under the keyboard would be enough of a reason for me not to bother, let alone the risk of a briny dunk.

Have any of my readers had electronics destroyed by seawater?

Photo from gamp on flickr.
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Looking at this survey from goo Research and reported on by japan.internet.com into mobile phones, with this particular report focusing on video content, I find it quite surprising that downloaded content is almost as popular as the free over-the-air television broadcasts, and that content converted to mobile format is also not that uncommon.

Demographics

Between the 3rd and 7th of July 2009 1,065 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.4% of the sample were male, 16.5% in their teens, 18.2% in their twenties, 20.9% in their thirties, 16.3% in their forties, 15.6% in their fifties, and 12.4% aged sixty or older.

It is very curious that 16.3% do not have a mobile phone – the usual percentage is around 5%. Has goo Research recently changed the demographic balance of their monitor panel?

My biggest surprise was from Q2SQ2, in that just 15% said they watched while commuting, and even less at other times on the move. I have heard that it is seen as a little embarrassing to be watching TV on the train for some people, but I’d like to see a more detailed survey on that. Indeed, it has been quite a while since I’ve translated a survey on in-train activities.
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With the release of the Apple iPhone 3GS on the 26th of June 2009, goo Research immediately conducted a survey into the iPhone, the results of which have been reported on japan.internet.com.

Demographics

Between the 26th and 29th of June 2009 1,036 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.9% of the sample were male, 16.5% in their teens, 18.1% in their twenties, 21.3% in their thirties, 16.3% in their forties, 15.7% in their fifties, and 12.0% aged sixty or older.

There was an interesting story recently on Asiajin (and other places) about how the iPhone 3GS popped up into first place in the sales rankings on release. Although there was discussion about the validity of the ranking, what was missed out was the Blackberry Bold being in 6th place, an extremely dubious positioning in my view. Looking further at the list of companies they survey for the sales figures, they do not survey the official carrier’s own shops, which in my view makes the data extremely inaccurate.

Looking at the charms of the iPhone, the big, big surprise for me is that the browser comes so low! If I were to get one, that would be the one function I would be purchasing it for.
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goo Research recently conducted their 47th regular mobile phone upgrade needs survey.

Demographics

Between the 22nd and 26th of June 2009 exactly 1,000 mobile phone-using members of the goo Research monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.6% of the sample were female, 1.8% in their teens, 18.5% in their twenties, 34.0% in their thirties, 26.8% in their forties, and 18.9% aged fifty or older.

I’ve had a look at this summer’s models, and the first one to catch my eye was the Toshiba T-01A offered through docomo, but it doesn’t fit into my hand and feels cheap and flimsy, and it’s not up to spec for Japan; it looks like a rebadged US phone, but apparently it isn’t. Next is the new HTC HT-03A, the very first Google Android phone for Japan, which is extremely comfortable to hold, but again it is missing most of the standard Japanese features like One Seg television, FeliCa electronic cash, and emoji. I also had a look at the Biblio also from Toshiba and au, touted as an electronic book reader as well as a phone, but I was struck by how heavy it felt. It looks like I’ll be keeping my very old P702iD for a few more months until one of the Japanese manufacturers comes out with a proper Android phone with all the add-ons we expect to see in Japan.
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Considering how wired the country is, with the lowest cost/performance ratio for consumers in the world, the lack of availability of public wifi always surprises me; this recent survey from goo Research and reported on by japan.internet.com into wireless LANs shows ignorance of their very existance is still quite high.

Demographics

Between the 17th and 21st of June 2009 1,079 members of the goo Research monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.9% of the sample were male, 16.1% in their teens, 18.4% in their twenties, 21.4% in their thirties, 16.3% in their forties, 15.8% in their fifties, and 12.0% aged sixty or older.

In Q3 it’s perhaps surprising to my overseas readers that games machines were the most popular device other than laptops that were used to connect to wifi hotspots, but to residents here, especially anyone who has visited a Pokemon Centre (the third most popular tourist attraction in Japan!) and seen the numbers hanging out with their DSes. In addition, McDonalds have recently announced wifi hotspots in their restaurants for DS owners.
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There’s nothing really startlingly new from this recent survey into security software from goo Research and reported on by japan.internet.com, but I’ll translate it anyway.

Demographics

Between the 11th and 15th of June 2009 1,083 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.0% of the sample were male, 16.3% in their tweens, 18.4% in their twenties, 20.9% in their thirties, 16.3% in their forties, 15.8% in their fifties, and 12.3% aged sixty or older.

In Q2, it would have been useful to know if any of the people with viruses got them despite having virus software installed.

In Q2SQ, it’s interesting that so many used free software to remove the infection – I wonder how many only discovered they were infected when the bot scanner from Windows Update ran? You may wish to cross-reference this with another survey earlier this year that discovered a large number of people pay for security software.
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Given the high level of ownership of digital cameras reported in this survey from goo Research and featured on japan.internet.com, one has to wonder, as the question wasn’t answered in the article, why almost half the people manage less than 5 gigabytes of stored images.

Demographics

Between the 4th and 9th of June 2009 1,042 members of the goo Research monitor group completed an internet-based questionnaire. 52.5% of the sample were male, 16.3% in their teens, 17.7% in their twenties, 21.3% in their thirties, 16.3% in their forties, 15.6% in their fifties, and 12.8% aged sixty or older.

On the other hand, Q3 asks specifically about photographs one has taken oneself, and since it is the wife who usually uses the camera, probably less than 2 GB of the 20 GB or more is actually mine…
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They’re calling them 自画自賛, jigajisan, or tooting one’s own horn. The first three (conducted in conjunction with the Yomiuri Shimbun) are on Tokyo hotels people want to stay in, foreign cars people want to ride, and favourite coffee shops.

I’ll be Twittering them for your enjoyment.