Tokyo, April 3, 2015 – Rakuten Research carried out an online survey on attitudes toward the use of mobile phones. 1,000 men and women from around Japan aged 20 to 69 were selected from among monitors registered with Rakuten Research (around 2.3 million people) to complete the survey, which was conducted from March 18 to 19, 2015, and the results from the survey are as follows.
More than half of people know about SIM lock. Around 70% of people who know about SIM lock also know about the mandatory unlocking of the SIM lock
In response to the question about whether people know about the SIM lock, more than 50% (50.3%) of people replied that they do (“know a lot about it”: 16.1%; “know a little about it”: 34.2%). Of the people who knew about SIM lock, 27.8% more men (64.2%) knew about it than women (36.4%). In particular, more than 30% (33.0%) of men in their 20s replied they “know a lot about it.” This was the highest proportion among all the sexes and age groups surveyed.
The people who replied they “know about SIM lock” in the previous question were then asked if they know about the mandatory unlocking of the SIM lock, to which over 70% (73.2%) of respondents replied that they did. This meant that 36.8% of all the people surveyed knew about the mandatory unlocking of the SIM lock. Looking at the difference between men and women revealed that 16.5% more men (79.1%) knew about it than women (62.6%), and that as with awareness for SIM lock, men knew about the mandatory unlocking of the SIM lock more than the women. Moreover, the survey revealed that men in their 20s (34.3%) knew about it more than anyone else.
The greatest number of people are paying monthly fees between 10,000 and 19,999 yen. More than half are paying in excess of 6,000 yen. Although only about 20% of the people surveyed want to change their mobile phones, more than 70% feel that their current monthly fees are expensive. 4,000 yen is the borderline above which people begin to feel that monthly fees are expensive
People were asked how much they spend per month on mobile phones, to which the greatest number of people replied that they spend 10,000 to 19,999 yen (11.8%). This was followed by 7,000 to 7,999 yen (11.6%) and 6,000 to 6,999 yen (11.0%). More than half of the people surveyed (54.0%) said they are paying over 6,000 yen.
Looking at the difference between men and women, the greatest number of men are paying 10,000 to 19,999 yen (13.2%), while the greatest number of women are paying 8,000 to 8,999 yen (13.5%).
Looking at the differences between the sexes and age groups, a large number of men aged 20 to 49 are paying 10,000 to 19,999 yen (average of 17.3%), while many men aged 50 to 69 are paying 6,000 to 6,999 yen (average of 15.2%). On the other hand, the greatest number of women in their 20s are paying 8,000 to 8,999 yen (24.7%), while the greatest number of women in their 30s are paying 7,000 to 7,999 yen (18.8%) or 8,000 to 8,999 yen (18.8%). The greatest number of women in their 40s and 50s are paying 2,000 to 2,999 yen (women in their 40s: 13.3%, women in their 50s: 15.5%), while many women in their 60s are paying 1,000 to 1,999 yen (17.9%), revealing that women aged 40 to 69 are paying relatively little.
When asked whether they thought their monthly fees were expensive, more than 70% (70.2%) replied that they thought so (“expensive”: 41.4%; “somewhat expensive”: 28.8%).
It was revealed that 4,000 yen is the borderline above which over half of the people surveyed begin to feel that monthly fees are expensive.
More than 70% of people feel that their monthly fees are too expensive, but only around 20% (23.0%) of people actually wanted to change their mobile phone contracts (“want to change”: 13.6%; “somewhat want to change”: 9.4%).
Regarding mobile phone functions that are used almost every day, the No. 1 purpose of use was “to search for and obtain information using the browser function,” No. 2 was “to use the e-mail service provided by the carrier,” and No. 3 was “to send and receive messages using free communication apps”
The most popular purpose of use was “to search for and obtain information, and read the news using the browser function”
When people were asked how often they used their mobile phones, the phone function that was used almost every day that was way ahead of the other purposes of use was “to search for and obtain information, and read the news using the browser function (52.8%).”
More than half of people in their 20s use free communication apps. The use of webmail is centered on people in their 20s and 30s. There remains a deep-seated popularity for e-mail services provided by carriers among people aged 30 to 59
The survey revealed that functions for online communication through the sending and receiving of messages via e-mails (e-mail services provided by carriers: 36.6%; webmail services: 28.8%) and free communication apps (33.1%) are often used almost every day.
Comparing the different age groups, more than half (51.0%) of all people in their 20s are sending and receiving messages almost every day via free communication apps (Viber, LINE, Skype, etc.), showing a tendency for far greater use of these services than in any other age group (the average for other age groups was 23.5%). The survey revealed that webmail services (@gmail.com, @yahoo.co.jp, @hotmail.co.jp, etc.) are used most often among people in their 20s and 30s (averaging 36.2%, versus an average of 22.9% among people of other age groups). Moreover, e-mail services provided by carriers (@docomo.ne.jp, @i.softbank.jp, @ezweb.ne.jp, etc.) are used most often among people aged 30 to 59 (averaging 40.2%), testifying to the deep-seated popularity of these services among people of these age groups (the average for other age groups was 30.7%).
The only function for which the frequency of use among people in their 60s was higher than in other age groups was the phone call function provided by carriers
Focusing on phone calls revealed that people most frequently made use of the phone call function provided by carriers (28.0%), followed by the use of phone call functions provided by free communication apps (Viber, LINE, Skype, etc.: 16.5%), and the phone call functions provided by fee-based communication apps (2.4%).
Comparing the different age groups revealed that people in their 60s (31.8%) made frequent use of the phone call function provided by carriers, while people in their 20s (24.0%) made frequent use of free communication apps (Viber, LINE, Skype, etc.).
Survey Overview
Area: Japan
Survey target: Men and women aged 20-69
Samples returned: 1,000
Survey period: March 18 to 19, 2015
Organization conducting survey: Rakuten Research
The results of the survey and analysis are available in Japanese at the following link:
https://research.rakuten.co.jp/report/20150403/
*Please note that the information contained in press releases is current as of the date of release.
