Digital World Tokyo | Amazing survey says some Japanese might buy an iPhone

Amazing survey says some Japanese might buy an iPhone

June 19th, 2008

In yet another one of those tech surveys that says close to nothing while appearing to contain something of substance, a Japanese probe has found that – shock! – some people here are interested in buying an iPhone.

Don’t be mislead by the headline that claims 91 per cent of Japanese aren’t planning to buy an iPhone – instead, look at the finding that 9 per cent do intend to pick one up when it launches next month.

Frankly, if close to one in ten of the Japanese population does make the switch, Apple will be laughing all the way to the bank. Currently, over 100 million people there own cellphones, so you do the math.

Still, a sample size of just over 400 in the iShare survey can’t really be construed as indicative of anything much. What we do know, however, is that Apple’s decision to go with Softbank as the Japanese carrier severely restricts its chances of landing anything like the above numbers.

The third-largest Japanese network has a touch under 19 million subscribers at the minute, suggesting iPhone sales of anything close to 1 million will represent a good result.

(Crossposted to TechRadar)