Japanese site, TechOn, reports that a survey from iSHARE shows that 91% of Japanese mobile phone users show a disinterest in purchasing the iPhone 3G. The research had been conducted in the wake of SoftBank Mobile’s announcement that they will carry the device for the Japanese public.
Of the targeted internet users between the ages of 20 to 49, a resounding 91% claim to have no interest in purchasing the iPhone come July 11th. “The survey had been conducted from June 5 to 6, 2008, before pricing for an iPhone handset was announced. Of carriers that the respondents were subscribing to, NTT DoCoMo accounted for 39.8%, followed by au at 26.9%, SoftBank Mobile at 22.9% and the other carriers including Emobile and Willcom at 6.5%. Asked if they have a plan to purchase an iPhone, 36 respondents (8.9%) said “I am planning to purchase one.” Nearly half of these 36 respondents were SoftBank Mobile users,” iSHARE said.
When compared to the previous year, consumer interest has shown a slight weakening. About 9.6 percent were committed in July 2007 to buying an iPhone if made available for their carrier. About 62.2 percent of the survey group was also seriously considering the device after weighing its features and availability.
The company had asked consumers additional questions surrounding the lack of replacement batteries, in which respondents who said “I prefer replaceable batteries” accounted for 77.1%, while those who claimed to “not care if the battery is replaceable or not” drew the remaining 22.9%.
These figures may not seem too surprising, as “Japan has been historically resistant to adopting non-native phones both due to network limitations and for technological preferences. Japanese networks require 3G cellular service both for calls and data, excluding many 2G-only phones altogether.” via Electronista.
Either way, Apple will be eager for success in one of the most sophisticated cellphone markets on the planet. Japan also happens to account for a quarter of global cellphone revenues, according to Eurotechnology Japan. Making the iPhone available to as many consumers as possible is its best shot of grabbing market share quickly.
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6 Comments to “Survey shows that 91% of Japanese are not planning on buying an iPhone.”
This was also before the 3G phone had even been announced. They should have at least done the “Survey” after it was announced at WWDC.
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It was on like a week within WWDC. It was pretty well known that iPhone 3G was going to be released. Apple’s marketing machine isn’t that dumb. Everyone knew.
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Of course it was chatted about, but there were no exact specs on the phone…. why all the news coverage AFTER it was released. I’m sure EVERYONE already knew all the specs about the iphone including the 50%+ reduction in price, GPS, App Store, etc… all things i’m sure that won’t persuade ANYONE who was on the fence.
All to my point that it was dumb to do a survey so close before we knew all the details. if everyone knew it would have made more sense to have the survey after the annoucement
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Brian, I don’t think these surveys mean much. I mean, Japan is definitely a very important market for Apple to penetrate. But they may have products that we have no idea about.
I mean, they could have ultra-mobile (more than the iPhone and Air) devices that capture the hearts of the Japanese. We just don’t know. We’ll have to wait and see.
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totally agree. i just think this survey is pretty bunk all together. but it’s making the rounds all over the net
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That’s because it’s any information about Japan. I mean, I want to know just as much as anybody what the plan is over there. Shareholders or not, people deserve to know plans and information about a company like Apple.
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