With rumours of an iPod phone by Tuesday and more apparently leaked pictures surfacing we thought it would be useful to do some research into exactly who would buy an iPod phone and just how big the market is likely to be for such a device.
Solutions Research Group from Toronto has just completed a study into the Americans who would be likely to invest in an iPhone and what they would be likely to use it for.
The key findings were:
- 16% of Americans aged 12+ (about 40 million) say that an iPod phone is a great idea
- 24% of Americans aged 12+ (or 28% of cell users) own a Motorola phone and Nokia is used by 17%.
- 20% of Americans 12+ (about 50 million) own an Apple product –
- This could increase to 30% within 18 months of the introduction of a new iPod phone
Who would buy an iPod phone?
- 53% of likely buyers are women and 47% are men
- The average age of likely buyers is 35, with 40% over the age of 40.
- Sprint/NexTel and T-Mobile customers are more enthusiastic than average.
- African-American and Hispanic Americans show above average interest.
Most buyers are likely to be looking to download music and movies so Apple will be able to subsidise the cost of the phone via its online music store iTunes.
The biggest driver of potential sales seems to be the image of the phone while the biggest barrier is perceived issues with battery life. Apple are rumoured to have solved this with the addition of a second battery.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
You’ve likely got one thing backwards. Apple makes very little money off iTunes store download sales. Rather it uses the convenience of the integration with the store to drive hardware sales — on which it does make a lot of money. so with the phone, Apple’s income is likely to come from sales of the phones themselves, which will almost certainly be sold at a premium price. and if they work really well, they will sell. I’ve been waiting years for a decently designed phone.
Maybe. I’m not sure what the margins are in iTunes sales.
Selling somebody a device that allows them to purchase songs from iTunes with a few clicks has to be good. The networks make money off the bandwidth and will subsidise the phones even more.