Study suggests many Americans will delay Phone 3G purchases
While there's no question that lots of people will queue up at Apple and AT&T stores on Friday, even the Cupertino-based iPhone maker isn't immune to the way Americans are feeling about the economy.
According to a study conducted last week by Solutions Research Group, the results of which were provided exclusively to AppleInsider on Wednesday, some 66 percent of Americans are "really concerned" about the rising gas and energy prices.
In that light, it's not surprising that 54 percent of respondents also said they may want to "wait" on purchasing a iPhone 3G until sometime after the holidays.
Only 6 percent said they'll seek out one of the new handsets in July or August. Another 15 percent foresee themselves picking one up in September or November, while the remaining 25 percent expect to buy one in the 7 weeks leading up to Christmas.
According to a study conducted last week by Solutions Research Group, the results of which were provided exclusively to AppleInsider on Wednesday, some 66 percent of Americans are "really concerned" about the rising gas and energy prices.
In that light, it's not surprising that 54 percent of respondents also said they may want to "wait" on purchasing a iPhone 3G until sometime after the holidays.
Only 6 percent said they'll seek out one of the new handsets in July or August. Another 15 percent foresee themselves picking one up in September or November, while the remaining 25 percent expect to buy one in the 7 weeks leading up to Christmas.
Comments
While there's no question that lots of people will queue up at Apple and AT&T stores on Friday, even the Cupertino-based iPhone maker isn't immune to the way Americans are feeling about the economy.
According to a study conducted last week by Solutions Research Group, the results of which were provided exclusively to AppleInsider on Wednesday, some 66 percent of Americans are "really concerned" about the rising gas and energy prices.
In that light, it's not surprising that 54 percent of respondents also said they may want to "wait" on purchasing a iPhone 3G until sometime after the holidays.
Only 6 percent said they'll seek out one of the new handsets in July or August. Another 15 percent foresee themselves picking one up in September or November, while the remaining 25 percent expect to buy one in the 7 weeks leading up to Christmas.
[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]
That may be that case, but people who are looking at a new phone are probably financially sound, and they are most likely willing to fork over the extra $$ for a great device. But just my opinion. I guess we will see. Only time and a quarterly financial call will tell.
Steve
Its pretty probable that Apple will not make the early price drop mistake twice. But they will need something to boost holiday sales. What could that be? Mo memory. Apple has been restricting developers on the size of their add-on apps for the App Store because the internal memory is restrictive. Better apps means bigger apps means bigger bucks for Apple. So why not mo memory for the same "low" price? Why not. Its an easy fix and requires absolutely nothing from any department in terms of implementation.
But make no mistake. Apple still needs to address the following;
Cut/copy/paste
Undo
Voice Dial
Replaceable battery
Interestingly the top two above are another easy fix. Why not? The latter two are going to be
demanded now that laws requiring voice dial are coming on line and the 3G network eats way more power than the Edge network. If the battery life is the same as the first gen iPhone the batteries will not last two years and the "cheaper" price will go up unless one purchases Applecare in which case the price will go up with the upsell.
if you already have an iPhone be a little patient. Wait for the Christmas sleigh!
R
That may be that case, but people who are looking at a new phone are probably financially sound, and they are most likely willing to fork over the extra $$ for a great device. But just my opinion. I guess we will see. Only time and a quarterly financial call will tell.
Steve
One thing I haven't seen mentioned anywhere about the Iphone 3G (at least in the US) is that the new phone plans are eligible for corporate discounts (no doubt Apple is trying to gain the business user and this is an added incentive). Previously in the first generation Iphones, this was not the case, and you would lose all discounts previously on your accounts upon switching to the Iphone service. In my case, I will save 22% each month on my phone plan, meaning the new phone will pay for itself in the long run. Also factor in that I sold my first gen 4 gig Iphone for $200 and the fact that this 3G has a ton my useful features and I'm pretty happy.
Delayed it right until 8:30PM PDST on Friday, July 11!
I mean, seriously, where do they find these morons who make these great predictions?