CIAJ conducted an annual study of cellular phone use and announces the release of this year’s study as follows.
This year’s report strives to accurately capture the most recent user trends by adding questions on smartphones, whose line-up has increased and is pumping new energy into the market. The results indicate that demand for smartphones will continue to grow.
Summary
This study has been conducted since 1998 to capture on-going changes in the domestic mobile communications market.
CIAJ mailed questionnaires to 600 cellular phones users (male: 300, female: 300; by age group, under 20: 100, twenties: 100, thirties: 100, forties: 100, fifties: 100, sixties: 100) residing in the larger Tokyo and Osaka metropolitan areas from the end of March through April of this year.
In past years, the fixed-point study was conducted in April to grasp the impact from the March sales peak.
(1) Actual Handsets Replacement Use of New Purchase Plan
<Use of existing purchase plan>
77.7% of the respondents had used the existing purchase plan. 22.3% had not made replacement or new purchases. Approximately two-thirds of those who had used the new purchase plan chose the “installment plan,” and the remaining approximately one-third chose the “single payment plan.”
<Longer purchasing cycles>
The average replacement purchase span rose 2.9 months from last year’s 28.6 months to 31.5 months.
<Intent to purchase replacement at the end of 2-year contract>
- The replacement purchase span from the end of the 2-year contract under the new purchase plan is becoming longer.
- Respondents who stated they would continue using the same handset after the end of their 2-year contract rose from 24.2% in April, 2008 to 40.8% in April 2009 and to 56.2% in April, 2010.
- The span which they intend to use the same handset after the end of their 2-year contract rose from 10.3 months in April, 2008 to 17.1 months in April, 2009 and to 18.5 months in April, 2010.
<Price becomes more important factor at time of replacement purchase>
- The important considerations at the time of replacement purchase are “will sacrifice design and functions for lower price (46.7%),” “will wait for desired design and/or function model price to become more reasonable (28.3%)” and “will purchase model with desired design and/or functions even if the price is high (20.9%).” Approximately 70% of respondents weigh price as an important factor.
2009
Will sacrifice design and functions for lower price 42.5%
Will wait for desired design and/or function model price to become more reasonable 28.6%
Will purchase model with desired design and/or functions even if the price is high 26.9%
2010
Will sacrifice design and functions for lower price 46.7%
Will wait for desired design and/or function model price to become more reasonable 28.3%
Will purchase model with desired design and/or functions even if the price is high 20.9%
<Important factors at time of replacement purchase>
- Last year, the important factor at the time of replacement purchase was headed by price concerns, but this year the study shows a return towards design and functions.
April, 2008
Focus on design 86.3%
Focus on color 70.9%
Focus on price 59.0%
Focus on built-in camera 58.0%
April, 2009
Focus on price 70.0%
Focus on design 49.8%
Focus on color 35.3%
Focus on size (dimension, weight, thickness) 25.2%
April, 2010
Focus on design 72.0%
Focus on price 70.2%
Focus on size (dimension, weight, thickness) 47.2%
Focus on color 25.1%
(2) Use of Services and Functions of Cellular Phones
- Of the cell phone functions and services used on a daily basis, those which increased over last year included “e-mail,” “decorated e-mail,” “Internet search,” “send photos as e-mail attachment,” “application, game function,” “watching TV,” “watch videos,” “send/receive video as e-mail attachments,” “look at PC files” and “GPS/location information.”
- Newly added choices for this year’s survey “use of electronic dictionary,” “view/make entries to SNS, blog” and “view/make entries to Twitter or similar site” all had almost 20% responses respectively.
- Increases in use of e-mail, camera and the Internet, which all result in packet charges, were probably fueled by the mounting popularity of fixed-price data billing (based on accounting data of telecommunication carriers).
* Numbers in ( ) indicate results from 2009 study.
(3) Use of Smart Phones
- Smartphone users by age groups were “men in their twenties” 23.6%, “men in their thirties” 20.0%, “men in their teens” 16.4%, “men in their forties” 14.5%, “women in their twenties” 12.7%, “women in their teens,” “women in their thirties,” “women in their forties” 3.6% respectively and “men in their fifties” 1.8%.
- 69.1% of smartphone users were “employees,” which was approximately double the overall average of “employees” at 38.8%. 21.8% were “university students,” 5.5% were “Top managers or executives,” 1.8% were “self-employed,” and 1.8% were “high school students.”
- 67.3% of smartphone users subscribed to “Softbank Mobile,” 21.8% to “NTT Docomo,” and 10.9% to “Willcom.”
<Smartphone users by age group>
*The total is 99.8%, not 100%.
<Occupational status of smartphone users>
| Employee (company, government) | 69.1% |
| University student (includes junior colleges, professional schools) |
21.8% |
| Top managers, executives | 5.5% |
| Self-employed | 1.8% |
| High school student | 1.8% |
- “Current users of smartphones” + “Interested in using smartphones” = 36.9%
This is an increase of 20.1 points over the previous year. - 60.7% of smartphone users were “using only smartphone(s),” 37.4% were “using combination of smartphone(s) and standard cellular phone(s)” and 10.7% were “using smartphone(s) with notebook PC(s).”
By age group, 70% of teens and those in their twenties were “using only smartphone(s).” - Smart phone functions which were of interest (already users and those interested in using) to those surveyed included “internet use/web surfing,” “wide range of user-selected applications,” “e-mail,” “view PC files/document creation,” “use as a game player,” “video player,” “updating blogs” and “music player” accounted for a little over 50%.
< Smart phone functions of interest (already users and those interested in using)>
For inquiries, contact:
Mr. Yagi
Products & Technologies Development
CIAJ
tel: 81-3-5403-9358 fax: 81-3-5403-9360 e-mail: t-yagi[at]ciaj.or.jp
For more general inquiries, contact:
Mr. Mano
Corporate Communications
CIAJ
tel: 81-3-5403-9351 fax: 81-3-5403-9360 e-mail: mano[at]ciaj.or.jp