Which FeliCa-equipped mobile phones are users buying? What services are they using? Network and Security Research Institute conducted a survey.

Which FeliCa handset is popular?

Network and Security Research Institute have made public the results of a survey on usage trends of FeliCa-equipped mobile phone handsets. The survey established such things as which are the popular handsets and what services users are anticipating.

In response to the question of which FeliCa handset they use, the two most popular handsets among users were the Panasonic P506iC and Fujitsu F900iC, which attracted 34.3% of responses each. The Sony SO506iC and Sharp SH506iC were used by 20.7% and 10.7% of users respectively, indicating that there is quite a gap between popular and non-popular handsets. According to Network and Security Research Institute, there were no significant trends in the popularity of handsets with respect to gender.



Asked whether the ability to use FeliCa influenced their decision to purchase a FeliCa handset, 34.3% of users replied that "it wasn't the only factor but it was important", 17.9% said that "it was a consideration when purchasing" and 17.1% said "FeliCa was the only reason for purchasing the handset". Combining the results, it is clear that approximately 70% of handset purchases were the result of an interest in FeliCa.

Using "Edy", waiting for "Suica"

Asked whether or not they had actually used FeliCa, 58.6% of users replied "Yes" and 41.4% of users replied "No". From this, it can be seen that approximately 40% of users aren't using FeliCa services.

The most cited reason for not using FeliCa was "uncertainty about security" (32.8%). Remaining responses were evenly divided between "no services I want to use" (31.0%) and "no services available close by" (31.0%).

When asked what service they used, an overwhelming majority of i-mode FeliCa users (76.8%) answered "Edy" (an electronic debit card service). 32.9% also replied that they used the "eLIO" credit service, indicating that payment services are popular.



Also, the FeliCa function that most users (74.4%) are looking forward to is the "Suica" electronic train ticket function. Other anticipated functions were video rental membership (61.0%), company ID pass (46.3%) and key (e.g. apartment door key) (39.0%) functions.

The survey was conducted among members of BizMarketing Internet Research nation-wide. It was conducted from 8 - 14 October and 140 valid responses were received.

Inspired by:
http://www.itmedia.co.jp/mobile/articles/0411/10/news062.html