42 Percent of Shoppers Considering iPhones

A survey conducted just before Apple's 3G iPhone announcement shows that interest in the iPhone was already massive, and that the drop in price may have appeased many naysayers.

Sometimes, when combing through the results of a survey, it’s possible to totally miss the most remarkable tidbits, even though they’re buried implicitly in the results. For instance: When PriceGrabber.com reported that 54 percent of online consumers responding to its survey didn’t plan to purchase an iPhone, that missing 46 percent looked like a throbbing red piece of the pie chart. And indeed it was, since the same survey showed that an amazing 42 percent of survey respondents who didn’t yet have an iPhone were considering buying one, demonstrating monumental interest in a single product.

Even more remarkably, PriceGrabber conducted its Consumer Behavior Report between May 20 and early June 5, before the 3G iPhone was officially announced on June 9, bringing with it a tidal wave of new interest in the faster and lower-priced device.  The unaccounted-for 4 percent was comprised of survey respondents who already owned iPhones.

For potential and existing buyers the iPhone’s fingertip navigation seems to be the primary attractant, as 35 percent of them voted it as the phone’s best feature. Web browsing was second with 17 percent, followed closely by integrated applications like Google Maps, with 16 percent. Interestingly, only 10 percent said that its music and video capabilities were its best feature.

As for the 54 percent of respondents who wouldn’t be buying iPhones at all, 41 percent of them struck down the possibility based on price, while another 22 percent simply favored a carrier other than AT&T. Since the survey was conducted before Apple lowered the price on the iPhone, objections based on price might even be lower in a newer survey.