14 DAY TRIAL // According to a recent ChangeWave survey, the iPhone's release will have a huge effect both on the industry and the consumers. If rumors turn out to be true and the iPhone's price will in fact fall, there will also be huge demand for the handset.
Around 9 percent of the respondents said that they were 'very' or 'somewhat' likely to buy the iPhone when it is released, while another 7 percent would buy it as a gift.
Moreover, if the 4Gb iPhone's price were to fall below $300 an extra 10 percent would run off to the closest store to get one. Approximately twenty percent of the respondents would buy the 8GB version if it reached the same $300 price.
It was somewhat predictable what impact the iPhone would have on consumers, but what about the mobile industry in general? The report points out that Motorola will be affected the most by the iPhone's release.
While it was the leading manufacturer among mobile phone users taking part in the survey, Motorola is expected to loose as much as 17 percent of its market share on the account of Apple's first mobile phone.
Motorola phones are very popular in the US, but as the iPhone arrives in stores, most consumer will only have eyes for the new and appealing handset, thus ignoring the brands they used to buy.
Other wireless carriers will also record a customer loss, as many people will decide to end their contracts to be able to get an iPhone from At&t. "As more and more consumers switch to the iPhone, we are going to see a huge migration from cell phone manufacturers like Motorola to the hipper, cooler iPhone," said Tobin Smith, founder of ChangeWave Research. "And, because of Apple's deal with AT&T's Cingular as their exclusive service provider for the iPhone, we are also going to see a big migration away from Verizon and other cellular providers."