14 DAY TRIAL // A recent Piper Jaffray survey took a close look at the teen's interests and found numbers that speak very well for Apple. While not an exhaustive survey, the nearly 500 teenagers in 11 high schools across the United States showed buying patterns and brand preferences that are likely to be found across the population at large.
Firstly, the market share for the iPod rose to 82 percent in spring 2007 from 79 percent in fall 2006, which shows that the iPod sales are not slowing the way many have been speculating.
Secondly, study showed that 84 percent of students surveyed had heard of the iPhone, a wireless Internet device and cell phone. While 25 percent said they would shell out $500 to buy the device, which is set for release in the U.S. in June.
The continued interest in the iPod, as well as the anticipation for the iPhone shows that Apple hardware will continue to do well. Even though teenagers might not be able to afford the iPhone, this interest is in line with that reported by Cingular, and suggests that Apple's estimate for 10 million units might have been conservative.
Furthermore, Apple should also be happy about the music buying preferences of the teens. According to the survey, 36 percent of the teens that download music online said they purchase music legally from stores like Apple's iTunes... iTunes held a commanding market share lead over its rivals according to the survey, with 89 percent of the teens who buy online music saying they go to iTunes for it. Tragically enough, 'Other' held second place with 7 percent, while only 3 percent of the teens surveyed said they are Napster users. Rhapsody and Yahoo brought up the rear with 1 percent.
Apple's position with the iPod and iTunes Store seems to be unthreatened, and the arrival of the Apple TV as well as the upcoming iPhone will only further cement it.