Filed under: iPhone
Survey: 91% of Japanese don't want an iPhone
A survey of 402 Japanese internet users aged 20 to 49 conducted by a company called iSHARE suggests that less than a tenth of the market is interested in buying an iPhone. iPhone 3G is set to debut in Japan and about six dozen other countries starting July 11.
The survey was conducted shortly after SoftBank Mobile announced it would offer the iPhone in Japan, but two days before the Worldwide Developer Conference announcement of the iPhone 3G. How that skews the results, I'm not sure.
Of the people surveyed, 36 said they were planning to purchase an iPhone. iSHARE determined, based on other questions it asked, that the iPhone's non-replaceable battery could be weakening purchasing intent.
[Via TechOn]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Mystic said 7:11PM on 6-18-2008
They are the same people who love their PS2 and PS3's. Japanese IMO don't have the greatest taste when it comes to gadgets and electronics.
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chris v said 7:14PM on 6-18-2008
Is this seriously news-worthy?
"A survey of 490 people..."
Ok, Japan consists of 127,433,494 people.
Survey = FAIL.
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chris v said 7:17PM on 6-18-2008
Ok, my bad, 402. >_<
No idea where I got 490.
beerguy said 7:31PM on 6-18-2008
Which means that only 11,469,014.46 people in Japan want one.
I'd be willing to bet that Steve is okay with that.
Jason said 8:33PM on 6-18-2008
Actually,
91% of people saying they don't want an iPhone when 402 people are surveyed out of 127,000,000 people gives a +/- 3%. So you could safely say that between 88% and 94% of Japanese don't want an iPhone.
(http://www.surveysystem.com/sscalc.htm)
So the survey's pretty sound. Not saying the iPhone won't do well, but the sample size and strong preference of people who were asked the question makes they survey look pretty good.
Engadget is the stupidest place in the world!!! said 9:20PM on 6-18-2008
someone wasn't paying attention in statistics class, so allow me to introduce to you the world of random sampling...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampling_%28statistics%29
Anonymous said 7:17PM on 6-18-2008
Japan is very insular--we Chinese/Taiwanese have a word for them--they are very 自大. You could invent a time machine, and just because it is not made in Japan, it won't sell well.
Marketing to Japanese is difficult because most Japanese have the perception that US phones are weaker than Japanese phones. Most people don't even know that it offers a full Web experience compared to the puny mobile web that Japan has.
A lot of people think Japan is very forward thinking with Web technologies. It's not--going to SoftBank's web site, it looks like it was made in the 1990's. 3G features put the US networks almost on the same level as Japan's mobile network.
It might sell well because Japanese/Asians love brand name products (Louis Vuitton, etc) and consider Apple a brand name, but it might not because the Japanese media has always portrayed non-Japanese cellphones as backward.
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Jason Hung said 7:21PM on 6-18-2008
The iPod Touch is a popular selling product in Japan. My hunch is that because iPod has always sold well in Japan (even against the Sony Walkman), the iPhone has a chance. The problem is there isn't enough marketing done yet. Softbank's website doesn't even advertise it. My girlfriend is Japanese and she thinks it will do well (she's got an AT&T iPhone).
matthew said 8:28PM on 6-18-2008
Jitai?
what?
Self-big?
ij487i said 11:44PM on 6-18-2008
自大- zida, meaning "self-important" or "arrogant"
ma said 8:21AM on 6-19-2008
My gosh your statement about Japanese being 自大(arrogant) is ....
Let me ask you this, wouldn't you purchase a Taiwanese PC (Acer, ASUS) when it is superior to a VAIO and it's cheaper? I know I would and same applies to the Japanese.
There are two main reasons as to why we don't easily accept foreign products.
Firstly, most Japanese products are engineered and designed for Japanese market so they take into account our culture and are easier to use compared to products from overseas. For instance, iPhone simply does not take into account the Japanese text messaging culture so realistically speaking, even a mac freak like me wouldn't buy one.
Secondly, Japanese products generally tend to be cheaper, or are at least in the same price range compared with foreign products because they are manufactured by domestic firms. Why would you buy something that is more expensive when it is not easier and better?
I would simply stick with domestic brands that can do the same thing at the same, cheaper price.
It is true that we don't easily accept foreign products, but that is because Japanese products are well engineered and designed, and there is no need for us to accept inferior goods at a higher price. However, when there are good foreign goods, we do accept them. Cars, and insurance companies may be some examples. This has got nothing to do with Japanese being arrogant自大.
Justin Bell said 3:04PM on 6-20-2008
ma: I also think text messaging might have something to do with it (assuming the survey isn't tripe). It's also big in NZ, so it will be interesting to see how well the iPhone does here, especially with the kids who seem to be constantly texting away like machine guns. Still, I'm sure they're going to sell well pretty much everywhere. The virtual keyboard is fine for the amount I send, plus I'm already attached to using qwerty thanks to my Treo 600 -- number pads are for numbers!
TUAW: What is with you guys recently? This place is supposed to be a professional blog, yet as others have already pointed out, you've made serious errors. Sorry for bitching about it so much, but it's starting to get silly.
User said 5:58PM on 6-20-2008
Japan is extremely forward thinking with their technological development. I can't even believe you would think they're not given that you come from a "Chinese/Taiwanese" background. China is well known through US intelligence to have an enormous amount of spies placed in high technology companies.
This business model is a large reason why we see Chinese manufacturing plants that were contracted to produce parts for BMW now producing their own "knock-off" vehicles.
That's why us graduates from top business schools are so weary to contract informationally sensitive products out to China now. The Chinese business model is to profit from others' spending on R&D.
We Americans, and apparently also Japanese, have another phrase: Quality over quantity. Perhaps that explains why products from Chinese companies don't sell well here and in Japan.
And by the way, I am of Asian ethnicity. Stop making us look bad. Lose the racism. I am an American first and foremost and I don't care if someone has German, Chinese, Japanese, or Korean blood. The way your face and skin looks has NOTHING to do with the way you act.
But if you want to talk about cultural differences, I don't believe you should tell us you're Chinese and then put down Japanese culture. From my experiences with traveling to both Japan and China for business and leisure, the first world country (Japan) has a much more developed culture than the second world country (China.) But from what I hear on NPR, Chinese culture is slowly becoming more similar to the cultural model of first world countries. So I guess according to your ideals, your country will also be "arrogant" in a matter of time.
Sources: (Here are the facts for you, buddy. Be sure to read the BBC article. That one's the best.)
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/11/15/us.china.tech.ap/index.html
http://blogs.wsj.com/biztech/2007/12/03/chinese-spies-allegedly-hack-rolls-royce-shell-others/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4704691.stm
Artr said 7:23PM on 6-18-2008
The iPhone will sell well in Japan... considering that they ONLY have a 3G network there, i'm surprised nobody picked up on that and treated it as a confirmed iPhone 3G.
They actually use alot of the 3G features, and constantly you see people watching videos on trains on their massive Panasonic phones.
Also when I went there last, all the phones from all the manufacturers looked the same :S
But yeah, considering how many stores Apple has there and the business of the stores, iPhone will do well.
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Jason Hung said 7:28PM on 6-18-2008
YouTube and all the third-party apps will offer some pretty interesting 3G experiences. Given that games will be only $9.99 (not sure about Japan), I think this will replace the Nintendo DS for many people. Japanese people don't like to bring too much with them.
Market the iPhone like they have with iPod touch, and they'll sell a lot. Ironically, while the iPod touch isn't doing so well in the US, it's been selling like hotcakes in Japan.
Phil Hodgen said 7:26PM on 6-18-2008
Let's take the "glass half full" approach here for a second.
If (a big assumption, I know) the survey is at _all_ accurate, 9% of the phone-buying public in Japan WANTS an iPhone.
That might make Apple very happy, wouldn't you think? Grab 9% market share at launch? What's not to like?
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Phillip Black said 7:30PM on 6-18-2008
Very misleading headline, the survery said only 9% wanted and iphone others did not even know it existed, which is very different then not wanting one.
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Robert Palmer said 7:32PM on 6-18-2008
Not true: from the whatjapanthinks.com site, 91 percent answered "Don't plan to buy" to the question "Do you want a SoftBank iPhone?" The word "want" was right in there.
Akamas said 7:49PM on 6-18-2008
All the surveys that Starbucks commissioned told them that the Japanese would not accept coffee in paper cups, that Japanese do not like "take-out" coffee, that Starbucks would have to change their interior designs to suit Japanese taste---in other words, forget it. Well....as of this year, Starbucks Japan generates more revenue than all other Starbucks combined.
I imagine Apple isn't much concerned about this or any other poll.
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Zak said 7:53PM on 6-18-2008
I'd bet 3G has a lot more to do with it than a replaceable battery does. And since that survey was taken before the 3G iPhone was announced, you can pretty much dismiss it altogether.
The most you could possibly get out of it is "91% of people surveyed said they did not want a NON-3G iPhone", since that is the only kind of iPhone in existence at the time of the survey.