Everyone knows about the iPhone - well quite a few anyway

M:Metrics, the mobile market authority, today released its findings from its April Benchmark Survey surrounding consumer awareness and intention to purchase an iPhone. The measurement firm found that 56 percent of British and 64 percent of American mobile phone users were aware of the iPhone. In the U.S., where the device will launch first, 14 percent of those who had heard about the iPhone reported they would be highly interested in buying one.

"This data confirms that the iPhone has sparked the imaginations of consumers and is not merely a topic of conversation among insiders and technology enthusiasts," observed Mark Donovan, senior vice president and senior analyst, M:Metrics. "19 million Americans reported strong interest in purchasing an iPhone - an impressive figure, when you consider that the installed base of most high-end devices rarely approaches one million and respondents were informed of the price point as well as of the AT&T exclusive."

While AT&T has a five-year exclusive on the device in the United States, 67 percent of those who were most inclined to purchase an iPhone are subscribers on other carrier networks. "This is an early indication that AT&T's strategy to use the device to lure customers from competitors could pay off," commented Donovan.

Among the UK subscribers who were aware of the iPhone, 30 percent, or seven million, reported strong interest in buying one, even though a launch date in Europe has yet to be announced.

"We expected that mobile users in the UK would be more inclined to buy an expensive device, since smartphones are twice as popular in the UK as in the US. These figures are very impressive, although respondents in the UK were not presented with a launch price or any restriction of mobile phone carrier as in the U.S." said Paul Goode, vice president and senior analyst, from M:Metrics London office. "It's also interesting to note that in both geographies, 64 percent of those with a strong interest in buying an iPhone already own an MP3 player, compared to a market average of 30 percent for other music phones owners, so it will be interesting to see at what rate consumers replace their digital music player with an iPhone,"

Source: M:Metrics. Survey of UK mobile subscribers for April 2007. n=5,293 mobile subscribers.

Source: M:Metrics. Survey of US mobile subscribers for April 2007. n=11,060 U.S. mobile subscribers. 

"While other devices-some of them already on the market-have features equal or better than the iPhone, such as 3G, superior cameras, and the like, the iPhone has been the first mobile device to create widespread consumer excitement around a mobile phone," commented Donovan. "This has the potential to increase consumer demand for more expensive, fullfeatured phones across the board as OEMs and other operators respond to AT&T/Apple's marketing juggernaut."