Japan - mobile handset users

Survey: Less Than 20% Japanese Use Cellphone as Contactless IC Card, GPS

MyVoice Communications Inc has announced results of its survey on the use of mobile phone capabilities. The company conducted the survey using the Internet from March 1 to 5, 2008, and received responses from 14,786 people.


Current mobile phone's carrier

Asked what carrier's mobile phone or PHS handsets they are using now, most 43.5% respondents answered NTT DoCoMo, followed by au (28.5%), SoftBank Mobile (20.7%) and Willcom (2.2%). Respondents who said "I am not using any" reached 5.0%.


The functions that respondents use

When the company asked respondents who are using mobile phone or PHS handsets if they have ever used their handsets' camera, calculator, alarm clock and other "tool" functions (multiple answers were allowed), most respondents (84.0%) cited camera function. Next most cited were "calculator" (77.3%) and "alarm/timer" (71.1%).

Respondents who have ever used "barcode reader" and "infrared communications" accounted for about half the all respondents, 51.6 and 51.0%, respectively. Meanwhile, the ratios of respondents who have used "GPS (global positioning services)" and the "Osaifu-Keitai/FeliCa (contactless mobile IC card)" functions were low at 18.7 and 15.5%, respectively. Respondents who have "never used any of tool functions" constituted 4.3% of all.

As for sound, video and other "media" functions, those related to ringtones and music playback occupied upper ranks (multiple answers were allowed). Ranked top was "ringtone" function (52.5%), followed by "Chaku-Uta" (songs that can be set as ringtones) function (32.3%) and "music playback" (27.8%).

Those who have used "1seg capability" came to fourth at 24.3%. "Radio," "melody call/standby song" and "video clip" functions followed at 10.0, 7.0 and 5.9%, respectively. On an overall basis, respondents who have used any of media functions reached 70.7%, whereas those who have "never used any of them" rose to 28.2%.

To a question asking what Internet access capabilities they have used before (multiple answers were allowed), most respondents (79.4%) cited "i-mode / Ezweb / Y! (Yahoo!)" mobile Web browsing services. Respondents who have ever used so-called "appli" functions (mobile applications) made up 43.6% of all respondents, and 15.6% said they have used "full browser / PC site viewer / PC site browser" functions that allow mobile phones to browse PC Websites.

Satisfaction with the handset's performance including response speed

Furthermore, to a question how far they are satisfied with speeds that their mobile phone and PHS handsets display, change screens and respond to button operations, 47.7% of all respondents said they are "satisfied." Respondents who said they are "neither satisfied nor dissatisfied," "dissatisfied" and "very dissatisfied" reached 29.9, 13.1 and 2.9%, respectively.