Online market researcher Interwired has announced the results of a survey on electric money. The company conducted the survey of 6,430 men and women in Japan from December 7 through 12, 2005. When asked about what they associate e-money with, 1,956 of the respondents answered "Edy", followed by "Suica" (603 persons) and "mobile phones" (477). The most popular e-money type chosen by the current users was "Suica" (31.4%), followed by "Edy (card)" 21.4%) and "Web Money" (8.0%).
As for the reason for selecting the type of e-money they use now, 52.0% of the Suica users answered that "they shop frequently at train stations", and 42.0% said "it can be used as a train pass", while more than 30% of the Edy users (both mobile and card) said "there are many ways to be charged", and 36.1% of the mobile Edy users answered "it is easy to check the balance".
When asked about in which situation they wish they could use e-money, 700 users replied "at supermarket", followed by "at convenience store" (446 persons), "for public transportation systems" (427), and "for vending machines" (251).
When asked about if they want to continue using e-money, about 80% of the current users expressed a continued interest, while 36.8% of the non-users said they are interested in using e-money.
