Nearly Half of Prospective Smartphone Buyers to Choose iPhone
A survey of over 4,000 respondents conducted by ChangeWave in the days immediately following the announcement of the iPhone 3GS found that more than 14% plan to purchase an integrated mobile device in the next 90 days — the highest percentage ever recorded by the firm.
Of those who said they plan to make a purchase, a resounding 44% indicated that they plan to buy an iPhone, compared to 23% who said they’ll buy a BlackBerry and 8% who indicated they’ll choose a device made by Palm.
That’s a 14 point jump for Apple since ChangeWave’s last survey in March, which appears to have come directly at the expense of Research in Motion, whose BlackBerry demand fell by the same number of points. Meanwhile, purchase intentions for a device made by Palm doubled following the introduction of the Pre.
Entirely believable. I personally know four or five people who moved to the iPhone recently, and not because of the blowout $99 iPhone 3G. They all purchased the higher-end iPhone 3GS model. To boot, all but one of them are new to AT&T.
I know that’s purely anecdotal (and everyone has their own stories), but I’ve talked to so many people who are considering (finally) moving to the iPhone, mostly from BlackBerry devices. It’s scary to imagine what Apple could be doing if they had more than just AT&T selling the iPhone here in the states.
I think that people are starting to realize the iPhone is a bona fide computing platform, not just a mobile phone. It’s a slow realization, and people probably can’t articulate it, but it’s happening. If you have any doubts about this, the App Store begs to differ.
Check back in three years, and I think you’ll see the iPhone leading the smartphone market, perhaps convincingly (depending on new/alternative carrier developments).
Mobile computing is the 1980’s PC war reincarnate, and this time we’ll see if Apple has learned from its prior missteps.
