Survey: Few Ready to Buy iPhone

Unless you've been living in the hills for the last four months without the influence of television, newspapers, or the Internet, you all know about the iPhone. But are you actually going to buy one?

Well, if you're like a majority of respondents to a recent Markitecture survey, the answer is no. The market-research firm asked 1,300 people whether they had heard of the iPhone, and whether they would buy one. While 77 percent said they knew about the iPhone, 66 percent of those people said there was no chance they'd actually purchase one. And only 6 percent expressed a desire to own one. But according to Markitecture, 6 percent may not be as piddling as it sounds. As the firm points out, the ubiquitous Motorola RAZR had about 6 percent of the market at its zenith.

So what did people list as the big deterrent? Price, of course. At $499 or $599, the iPhone costs quite a bit more than most people (myself included) are willing to spend on a cell phone (granted, it pretty much includes an iPod as well). This was followed closely by carrier and contract issues, meaning people who either don't want to or can't convert to AT&T, the phone's exclusive carrier.

http://blogs.pcworld.com/digitalworld/archives/2007/05/survey_says_few.html