5. Measurement & Limitations of the Study
5.3. Statistical Analysis
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questionnaire was posted on Facebook and also sent by e-mailing for collecting respondents’
answers from different countries and nationalities. A Facebook survey event was created and posted out at various Facebook groups; e.g. Taiwanese live in the Netherlands, Taiwanese live in Germany, expats live in France, Expats live in UK and others.
Before respondents start the survey, the purpose of this survey was explained. All the respondents were voluntarily participated in this study survey including world-wide population; not limited to Taiwan population only. A total of 291 respondents anticipated in this survey, 6 of them is invalid because the respondents who do not own/use a smartphone;
therefore, 285 valid questionnaire was collected.
5.3. Statistical Analysis
After removing 6 non-smartphone users’ invalid survey data, 285 respondents’ answers and data were collected and analyzed with IBM SPSS Statistics 20 software. The total number of samples was 285; 130 male respondents (45%) and 161 female respondents (55%). The majority of the nationality is Taiwanese which are 165 respondents contributing 58% of the completed nationality; the next is 5% from 15 Canadians and the other 5% from 13 Americans. Among all the anticipated nationalities, 154 people (54%) currently live in Taiwan; 33 people (12%) live in the Netherlands, and 20 people (7%) live in Germany now.
Age levels between 24-30 years accounted for the most; constituted 30%; followed by 31-35 years accounted for 28%. Education background with college or university contribute the most, 138 people for total 48%; the next one is graduate school and above which include 127 people constituting 45%. Most of respondents are students which accounted for 30%; and 33 sales people contributed 12%.
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Due to students contribute a big portion of all the respondents, it also reflects on the monthly income which below NT 25,000/Below EUR625 (US835) accounted for the most, 95 people constituting 33%; and the second large portion is 19% for salary among NT 25,000 – NT 39,999/EUR625~EUR1000 (US835~US1350). As for purchasing locations, phone shops can be found easily nowadays, 141 out of total 285 smartphone users bought their smartphones from phone shops which account for 49%; and the second choice is telecommunication bureau which account for 25%.
For the smartphone price, 22% users paid NT 5,000~10,000/EUR125~EUR250 (US170~US335); 14% paid NT 10,000~15,000/EUR250~EUR375 (US335~US500); 21%
paid NT 15,000~20,000/ EUR375~EUR500 (US500~US665); 24% paid NT 20,000~25,000/EUR500~EUR625 (US665~US830); 11% paid NT 25,000~30,000/
EUR625~EUR750 (US830~ US1000) and 8% paid above NT 30,000/ Above EUR750 (US1000) (See Table 5.1).
Table 5.1: The Cost of Respondent’s Current Smartphone 11. How much did you pay for your current smartphone?
NT 5,000~10,000 / EUR125~EUR250 (US170~ US335) 63 22%
NT 10,000~15,000 / EUR250~EUR375 (US335~ US500) 39 14%
NT 15,000~20,000 / EUR375~EUR500 (US500~ US665) 59 21%
NT 20,000~25,000 / EUR500~EUR625 (US665~ US830) 69 24%
NT 25,000~30,000 / EUR625~EUR750 (US830~ US1000) 32 11%
Above NT 30,000 / Above EUR750 (US1000) 23 8%
(Source: Own source from this study questionnaire, June 1, 2013)
Although 24% of smartphone users paid NT 20,000~25,000/EUR500~EUR625 (US665~US830) for their smartphones, only 6% of respondents consider this price range NT 20,000~25,000/EUR500~EUR625 (US665~US830) is reasonable for smartphones. 32% of
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smartphone users consider NT 5,000~10,000/EUR125~EUR250 (US170~US335) is reasonable pricing for smartphones; 30% agrees on NT 10,000~15,000/EUR250~EUR375 (US335~US500); and 29% approves on NT 15,000~20,000/ EUR375~EUR500 (US500~US665) (See Table 5.2).
Table 5.2: Respondents’ Ideal Smartphone Cost
12. In your opinion, what price range is considered reasonable for a smartphone?
NT 5,000~10,000 / EUR125~EUR250 (US170~ US335) 90 32%
NT 10,000~15,000 / EUR250~EUR375 (US335~ US500) 85 30%
NT 15,000~20,000 / EUR375~EUR500 (US500~ US665) 82 29%
NT 20,000~25,000 / EUR500~EUR625 (US665~ US830) 17 6%
NT 25,000~30,000 / EUR625~EUR750 (US830~ US1000) 7 2%
Above NT 30,000 / Above EUR750 (US1000) 4 1%
(Source: Own source from this study questionnaire, June 1, 2013)
As the real smartphone prices are much higher than what customers hope for, only 13 people out of total 285 smartphone users change their smartphone less than 1 year which account for only 5%. Most of people change their smartphone among 1-3 years; 35% of users change every 1-2 years; and 39% of users change every 2-3 years. And 42% of users are currently using iPhone, 20% of users are using Samsung; and 18% of users are using HTC.
Being not well-recognized/well-known by consumers is a critical factor for smartphone producers because 148 respondents (52%) agree that brand is one of the main factors when they select a smartphone. Question# 14 approves that brand is an key factor for the success of Apple iPhone because 256 smartphone users (90%) agree brand is one of the reasons many users like Apple iPhone; even though the pricing is not really attractive, only 8% of users consider Apple iPhone pricing is one of the main reasons users select iPhone. Beside of the brand, respondents also believe in operation system and interface (187 respondents), phone
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design & look (161 respondents), available software (140 respondents), and touch screen capabilities, high pixel cameras / video Function (131 respondents) are other winning factors for Apple iPhone.
At present, the market leader of smartphones is Samsung. On this study research, the questionnaire also asks the respondents what are the key factors that users like Samsung smartphones and the answers are big screen (186 respondents), pricing (161 respondents), operating system and interface (101 respondents), phone design & look (95 respondents), brand (91 respondents), and high pixel cameras / video Function (80 respondents). If we combine the top 5 of selecting Apple iPhone and Samsung factors, the results are brand, operating system and interface, big screen, phone design & look, pricing, available software, touch screen capabilities, and high pixel cameras / video function. These criterions match with the answers of question# 16; respondents select pricing, operating system and interface, brand, phone design & look, high pixel cameras / video function as the top 5 main factors when it comes to select a smartphone.
Question# 17 indicates the smartphone brand our respondents currently use; HTC is on the 3rdplace. Though HTC is an international brand from Taiwan, 33 people out of these 285 smartphone users are not aware of HTC is from Taiwan which account for 12%. Among these 33 people, 6 of them are from Taiwan and 22 people are from other nationalities and under age 35. This information shows HTC is not well-recognized in many countries including homeland Taiwan; also indicates HTC hasn’t campaigned the brand well in the world (See Table 5.3).
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Table 5.3: Respondents Who Do Not Know HTC is a Mobile Brand from Taiwan
1. Gender 2. Nationality
3. Residence
Female Argentina Argentina 18 – 23 NO College or University Male Australia Japan 24 – 30 NO College or University
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Female Thailand Thailand Under 18 NO College or University
Female
The Netherlands
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Netherlands 24 - 30 NO College or University
Male
The Netherlands
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Netherlands 18 - 23 NO College or University
Male UK UK 18 - 23 NO College or University
Female UK USA 24 - 30 NO Senior High School
Female USA USA 31 - 35 NO College or University
Male USA Japan 24 - 30 NO College or University
(Source: Own source from this study questionnaire, June 1, 2013)
Question# 18 asks respondents’ opinions about HTC smartphones 35% of people consider HTC smartphones are good price and good quality, 21% of people consider HTC is good pricing but bad quality. 26 people selected others because 19 of them never used HTC smartphones before, 3 consider pricing and quality are alright; 2 consider HTC is good quality but unknown price, 1 never heard of HTC, 1 do not use China product. Among 285 respondents, the ratio of considering HTC smartphone on their next purchase is almost 50/50;
54% respondents will consider HTC and 46% will not.
In order to understand more about why respondents do and do not consider HTC on their next smartphone purchase, our question# 23 & 24 ask respondents to select the reason and the results indicate around 25% of smartphone users say they would consider HTC because they would like to support Taiwanese brands, they also like the phone design & look, operation
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system and interface, brand and pricing; however, 17% of people do not like HTC because HTC claims themselves it’s a brand from Mainland China and 15% points out that HTC does not offer the best package for home market Taiwan. As pricing concerns, only 12%
respondents consider HTC has expensive pricing. Though pricing is one of the key considering factors when it comes to consumers’ decisions, this survey result shows that consumers are willing to pay higher pricing as long as the quality of the smartphones is good;
only 8% of users consider Apple iPhone pricing is one of the main reasons users select iPhone (Result of question# 14); 120 of 285 (42%) respondents currently use Apple iPhone (Result of question# 17).
As the respondents’ personal information, the data results comprise of various nationalities and ages; the information meets with statistical demands. The statistical analysis result is shown in Appendix.