High Interest for the iPhone, Few Buyers

IDC has conducted a recent study in order to try to find out just how profitable the iPhone will be for Apple. Everybody wants to know the answer to this question, easy to see from the fact that it is not the first research made in this direction.

Surprisingly or not, it seems that more than 60 percent of the respondents declared to be interested in the iPhone, but only a small number of these actually plans on buying the device. To be more specific, 10 percent of those who have taken part in this survey have declared that buying the iPhone from AT&T under their terms suits them well.

After the release on the 29th of June, the iPhone will be available for full price with a two year contract at AT&T. This means that the buyer will have to pay USD 500 for the 4GB version and USD 600 for the 8 GB one.

The percentage of people willing to buy an iPhone for a lower price of USD300 goes up to almost 18 percent, a considerable improvement, although still far from the 60 percent of those interested in this device. One more solution for making the iPhone reach higher sales would be that of switching carriers. In this case, around 17 percent of the respondents said that they would consider buying it.

"While the allure of owning the next 'cool' device will undoubtedly have early adopters - and die-hard Apple fans - queuing up to get the iPhone regardless of the price, the associated costs of ownership will persuade many others into a 'wait and see' position", said Shiv K. Bakhshi, Ph.D., director of mobility research at IDC.

One important aspect in this matter will be the service plan that the iPhone will come for. This will be revealed only a day before the smartphone's launch, so there are only guesses to be made at this moment about it.

IDC's study has been conducted on more than 450 online mobile phone shoppers that have used a consumer Web site.