Asia’s three major economic powers, Japan, China and Korea, appear to share similar values and trends for cell-phone usage and culture. Users show a significant interest in multi-functionality, even though most of these functions may not even be used at all. When key infrastructure is properly developed for specific, technologically advanced functions, people are relatively quick to adopt and comfortably adapt to the usage of those functions. Examples include web browsing (China, Japan, and Korea) and "Wallet Mobile" (Japan and Korea).
Question 1: What is your gender?
Question 2: What is your occupation?
Question 3: How many cell phones do you use for personal use?
1.) Having multiple cell phones seems to be more common among Chinese users, which contrasts with the more technologically savvy Japanese and Korean users who ironically tend to use only one cell phone.
2.) It is likely that the reason for this is the pay-as-you-go system in versus the monthly payment system common to Japan and Korea.
3.) In all three countries, the rate of cell phone penetration is nearly 100% in all generations; no single generation is characterized by more penetration than another.
Question 4: Who is your wireless provider?
1.) There are three major cell phone service providers in both Japan and Korea, but only two main providers are available to Chinese users. One of the providers is China Mobile and it enjoys a market share of over 80%.
2.) The largest providers are NTT DoCoMo in Japan, SKT in Korea, and China Mobile in China.
Question 5: What cell phone brand do you use?
1.) There are three major cell-phone service providers in each of Japan and Korea, only two main providers are available to Chinese users. One of the providers is China Mobile and it savors a market share of over 80%.
2.) The largest providers for each country are NTT DoCoMo for Japan , SKT for Korea and China Mobile for China.
Question 6: Which of the following functions are supported by your cell phone?
1.) Most cell phones are multifunctional.
2.) The most prominent functions in each country are: Korea: games, Japan: video camera, and China: games.
3.) The main trends in each country are similar except for the Wallet Mobile function.
4.) Japan and Korea have the well-developed infrastructure to support the Wallet Mobile function.
Question 7: Which of the following functions do you use on a daily basis?
1.) In Japan, text messaging is more popular than placing a traditional phone call. This is not a matter of technological advancement, but is also related to cultural idiosyncrasies.
2.) Since 3G has become standard in Japan, accessing the Internet via cell phone has become easy, fast, and widely popular.
3.) Placing traditional phone calls is still more popular in Korea than text messaging.
4.) Placing phone calls and text messaging are almost equally popular in China.
