Latest Japan Mobile Users Survey by D2C
New survey done by D2C on Japan smartphone market share shows an 11% increase, now at 36%, over 6-month period: http://bit.ly/TBJo0W
Plenty of interesting material to troll through below.. a couple interesting points for us is to note: LINE at about same adoption rate as Twitter and Facebook – w0w – and Google (Android) passed Yahoo for search [Eds]
Survey on Mobile Usage Trends (August 2012)
– Smartphone User Ratio at 36.4%, General level of rapid adoption. Percentage of female users rises –
D2C Inc. has conducted a survey on usage trends in increasingly adopted smartphones. A nationwide questionnaire survey of 3,096 male and female owners of mobile phones, PHS devices, and smartphones ranging in age from 15 to 69 was conducted over the PC-based Internet in August 2012 with information compiled regarding usage trends for feature phones and smartphones. Survey results affirmed the following four points.
Survey on Mobile Usage Trends (August 2012), 4 Major Points
[Point I.] Percentages of Feature Phone and Smartphone Users
~ Smartphone User Ratio at 36.4%. Proportion of female users continues to rise. Increases among homemakers~
[Point II.] Usage of major smartphone websites and applications
~ Google and Yahoo! Japan are the 2 leaders. Usage of service providers’ portal sites also increases~
[Point III.] Feelings towards viewing PC and smartphone websites with a smartphone
~ Websites for smartphones receive higher ratings than PC websites from the viewpoint of operability and ease of viewing ~
[Point IV.] Communication tool usage
~ Smartphone users show highest usage rates for free e-mail and service provider e-mail, followed by LINE. ~
[Point I.] Percentages of Feature Phone and Smartphone Users
~ Smartphone User Ratio at 36.4%. Proportion of female users continues to rise. Increases among homemakers ~
Overall smartphone ownership rate rose to 36.4%%, up 10.9 points from 25.5% in the February 2012 survey. Ownership patterns show 31.0% for smartphone-only users, 5.4% for those who use both a smartphone and feature phone, and 63.6% for feature phone only.
Compared with the February 2012 survey, smartphone-only use rose 12.0 points from 19.0% and dual users of smartphones and feature phones fell 1.1 points from 6.5%.
Composition of smartphone users by sex and age group shows the female ratio at 42.5%, a 1.8- point increase from February 2012, among which the highest increase occurred among the female 30-39 age group at 2.7 points.
The breakdown of smartphone users by type of work shows increases from the February 2012 survey of 2.2 points for vocational school and university students and 1.9 points for homemakers.
[Point II.] Usage of major smartphone websites and applications
~ Google and Yahoo! Japan are the 2 leaders. Usage of service providers’ portal sites also increases~
In response to questions about which major smartphone sites and applications they use, 85.8% of respondents mentioned Google followed in order by Yahoo! Japan at 76.8%, service providers’ portal sites (55.1%), Twitter (47.3%), LINE (47.3%), and Facebook (46.4%).
Major changes from the February 2012 survey were LINE, which moved into 4th place after not being asked about before, and service providers’ portal sites, which increased 6.1 points. For responses that mentioned usage of “10 times or more per day,” LINE had the highest value with 9.5%.
* Users’ total: For questions related to frequency of use for individual sites and services, the ratio of respondents who chose frequencies between “10 times or more per day” and “several times per month” or “less than the above.”
[Point III.] Feelings toward viewing PC and smartphone websites with a smartphone
~ Smartphone websites receive higher ratings that PC websites from the viewpoint of operability and ease of use ~
After smartphone users were presented with reference images from corresponding sites for their impressions of viewing PC sites (sites in which pages intended for PCs are displayed without modification) viewed and smartphone sites (sites adapted to smartphones) by a smartphone, many respondents found PC sites to be better suited for a “large volume of information” (67.3%), “necessary information is well-arranged” (60.5%), and “information is easy to search” (36.2%). From these results, we see a pronounced trend of greater satisfaction with the information on PC sites.
On the other hand, many respondents found smartphone sites more suitable for being “easy to click” (64.0%), “easy to view” (59.1%), and having “easy-to-see images” (52.5%), leading us to recognize the high satisfaction with smartphone sites for operability and ease of viewing.
Also, when asked about the deficiencies of viewing PC websites with a smartphone, 69.2% of respondents selected “small text is hard to see”, followed by “zooming in and out with your fingertips is troublesome” (56.1%), “possibility of clicking in the wrong place makes it stressful” (52.7%). There is an apparent trend that many users find the difficulty of viewing and operability to be deficiencies. On the other hand, “no particular feelings” received 10.8% of replies and nearly 90% found some type of deficiency in viewing PC sites with a smartphone.
[Point IV.] Communication tool usage
~Smartphone users show highest usage rates for free e-mail and service provider e-mail, followed by LINE. ~
In response to questions about “widely used communication tools” and “most-used communication tools.”, smartphone users cited the Gmail free mail service (67.7%); service provider e-mail from NTT DOCOMO, au, and Softbank mobile (61.1%); and LINE (37.5%). Feature phones users cited Gmail free mail service (57.1%); service provider e-mail from NTT DOCOMO, au, and Softbank mobile (51.2%); and other e-mail (26.5%).
An overall trend is seen that for each tool, smartphone users have higher usage rates than feature phone users. In particular, the usage rates of smartphone users exceed the comparable rates for feature phones by 35.4 points for LINE, 19.8 points for Facebook, and 15.1 points for Twitter.
(For reference) Share by smartphone OS and carrier
Examination of OS share for smartphone users shows Android at 61.1% as it continues to increase its share since the January 2011 survey. In share by carrier, NTT DOCOMO was the highest at 40.3%. NTT DOCOMO has increased its share by 8.9 points since the February 2012 survey, showing large share growth in 2012.
(For reference) Profile of respondents (sample size = 3,096)
Survey period: August 31, 2012
Survey method: PC Internet survey
Subjects: Recruited Internet research monitors
Male and female owners of mobile phones or PHS (including smartphones), age 15 to 69, who use their device for private use
No. of samples: 3,096 (allocated proportionally by sex and age group)
Survey company : Macromill, Inc.
* Compilation of survey results is backweighted by sex and age group distribution of mobile and PHS users (including smartphone users) based on a separate survey.