Survey: GPS Usage on Mobile

NEPRO Japan published a report [in Japanese] giving results of a study into mobile phone GPS usage. At the moment, KDDI/au has more than 15 GPS-enabled models (DoCoMo has 2; Vodafone has none). In December 2003, au introduced their NAVI-Walk personal navigation service with an aggressive TV campaign presenting the advantages of mobile-phone GPS.

Below are outlined the results of the survey:

Of the 5654 people interviewed.
Female: 61%
Men: 39%

Age class.
under 10: 9%
20’s: 45%
30’s: 35%
40’s: 9%
50 or above: 1%

Do you know what a GPS is?
yes: 68%
no: 32%

Are the GPS functions useful?
yes: 49%
no: 9%
don’t know: 42%

How often do you use the GPS in your phone?
Frequently: 1%
Occasionally: 6%
Almost never:6%
Never:5%
Don’t have one: 82%

Would you like a GPS in your phone?
Yes: 29%
No: 17%
Don’t know: 28%
I have one: 26%

What single service would you most prefer to be offered with the GPS? (choice given)
Area daily life + entertainment infos: 16%
Area traffic infos: 16%
Lost phone recovery: 19%
Road guide, Navi: 22%
Emergency location: 20%
No preference: 7%

What services would you use? (free answers)
Location check for myself, familly and friends: 44%
Road navi: 21%
Other uses: 14%
Transportation schedule, weather updates etc…: 13%
Pricing and interface are too complicated: 8%

Docomo knows that those ads work for them too; will they release all their new phones with a GPS? Will they come up with services that AU doesn’t already have or will they pass this opportunity like Sony did with the LCD screens and fall behind this too (I haven’t talked about Flat Rate packet download yet)? Note that in the year 2003, and for the first time, AU subscribed more new customers than Docomo.

Via: in-duce.net