There’s now yet more evidence that the iPhone will become one of Apple’s most successful products ever, with a just-released M:Metrics survey revealing that more 19 million Americans and almost 7 million Britons have a strong interest in buying an iPhone.

The finding comes from a survey of 11,060 mobile phone subscribers in the US and 5,293 mobile phone subscribers in the UK in April of this year. The survey also found the 64% of Americans and 56% of Britons were at least aware of the iPhone.

While the iPhone is set to launch in the US on June 29, a date has not been set for the iPhone launch in the UK. 

The retail price of the iPhone in the US will be US$499 for the 4GB version, and US$599 for the 8GB version. At these prices, iPhone users will be bound to a two year service contact with mobile phone network AT&T, which has a five year exclusive deal with Apple to distribute the iPhone in the US. Details of the service contracts have not yet been released.

Mark Donovan, senior vice president and senior analyst at M:Metrics, believes that these surveys show the iPhone has the potential to become a huge success. 

“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,” said Donovan.

“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.”

According to the survey, 67 percent of those who were most inclined to purchase an iPhone are subscribers on other carrier networks. Donovan believes that the iPhone will help AT&T steal customers from competitors.

“This is an early indication that AT&T’s strategy to use the device to lure customers from competitors could pay off,” he said.

While there is still some doubt about whether the iPhone will live up to expectations, it’s getting pretty clear that the iPhone really is the most anticipated gadget of all time. Apple will have to really screw up the actual iPhone itself for it not to be a huge success.

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Entry was posted on Saturday, June 16th, 2007 at 1:22 pm under Apple, Cell phones.

Read more entries by John Pospisil.
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