Survey Says: 91% of Japanese Won’t Buy iPhone

Prior to the big announcement of the 3G iPhone, iSHARE conducted an internet study among adults aged 20 to 49 trying to gauge the interest of the Japanese in the phone, now that it is on its way to Japan.

The biggest shocker was that only 9% of those surveyed said they were planning on buying one.

The survey was conducted from June 5-6, right before phone availability and pricing were set. Compared to a study from a year ago, it seems that Japanese interest in the phone has dropped immensely. One reason the study points to is the lack of ability to replace the battery in the iPhone.

Softbank Store

Softbank is slated to offer the iPhone in Japan, which came as a surprise to most considering Softbank has the fewest customers out of the major wireless carriers there. Pricing is not official yet, though UV broke news today about rumored packages available for iPhone purchase, including the ability to pay the cost in 24 monthly installments.

Follow the link to get all the scoop on the different questions asked and how the respondents answered.

via TechOn

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Posted on 18 Jun 08 - Filed in Apple, Wireless - Comments - Written by bradmolen

  • shonankuma
    absolutely no surprises there... Im surprised it is as high as 9% in the target demographic. Japanese need Japanese phones... for no other reason than functionality in japan, wave to pay, one seg tv, emoji and a place to put the ridiculous phone strap. (hey I have one too).

    As for UV breaking the news on the price - even your article links to the blog that did... and then that blog links to the Japanese blog that did.. so credit where it is due huh!!
  • The survey is useless: it has too few respondents, was taken only a day after SoftBank announced but before the iPhone 3G was even confirmed to exist, at a time when no one knew what features or pricing it would have. Useless.

    But even if it's true, 9% said the "plan to buy one"--that's a plan to buy, not a faint, conditional interest, and that represents millions of people "planning" to buy an iPhone before most people in Japan had even *heard* of the iPhone. Once it starts selling and gets a lot of publicity, sales should go up. Like with the iPod in Japan, it will be a bit slow to catch on at first, but will then take off quickly. I doubt that as many as 9% will buy it, even in the first 2 years--but if even half that number buy an iPhone in the first year after it is released, it will be a huge success for Apple.

    Why don't people reporting on this bogus survey get these points? They should be obvious....
  • According to the study Apple will sell 8 million iPhones in Japan next year. That is a huge number. I can't believe the negative spin!!!
  • shonankuma
    It is 9% of the target demographic (around 20m) not 9% of Japanese phone users ~ so we are talking less than 2 million phones..
    but further analysis is due
    it should also be noted that the survey was primarily about replaceable batteries.

    Interest is high in the phone - but I have not met a single person who said they are going to buy one.. And I speak to well over 300 Japanese every week. Even I, a total self confessed Mac Head am having second thoughts... the phone is just not up to scratch in Japan - lacking some of the features I mentioned above.

    It is also nearly double the cost per month (for me and Im a reasonably heavy user), locked into a contract for 2 years... making it difficult to upgrade to a new handset next year.

    Ultimately I think that the iPhone in Japan will be about status and brand... and not about functionality... so it will depend how much people are willing to pay for that... And Im not sure it is worth the 115/month.
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