74 percent of European Apple faithful seek iPhone
During this month's Apple Expo in Paris, analysts from PiperJaffray polled 50 European Apple customers about their interested in an iPhone that holds 1,000 songs and found that 74 percent indicated they have a highly likely of buying such a product.
"Price is clearly a consideration, however, and many customers indicated that they feel that an iPhone has the same value as Apple's high capacity iPods," Sr. analyst Gene Munster wrote in his second research note of friday morning. "Specifically, the 74 percent who would be highly likely to purchase an iPhone said that, on average, they would pay $285 for such a product. This is consistent with our thinking that Apple must price an iPhone in the $300 range to gain significant traction with the product."
The analyst, who also asked customers about their iPod purchase habits and Mac buying intentions, said less than half have upgraded to an Intel-based Mac. "Of the 50 European Apple customers we spoke with, only 44 percent have upgraded to an Intel Mac," he wrote. "Of the 56 percent that have not made the transition, half expect to upgrade in the next 6 months."
Munster said several Apple customers are waiting for Adobe's fully optimized Creative Suite before they will upgrade to the new Intel systems. "We had expected that a higher percentage of these loyal customers would have already made the move to an Intel Mac and we see this as a sign that Apple has so far just scraped the surface of the Mac transition opportunity," he said.
On average, Munster also found that Apple's most loyal european customers owned an average of 1.6 iPods over the last five years, and that most purchased their first iPod 2.5 years ago.
"Given Apple's most loyal customers in Europe, on average, bought their first iPod within the last 2.5 years, the average European Apple customer likely bought their first iPod within the last 1-2 years," he wrote. "In other words, we believe iPod/iTunes is still in early growth stage in Europe, similar to the U.S. iPod market 4-6 quarters ago."
Munster maintains an "Outperform" rating on Apple shares with a price target of $99.
"Price is clearly a consideration, however, and many customers indicated that they feel that an iPhone has the same value as Apple's high capacity iPods," Sr. analyst Gene Munster wrote in his second research note of friday morning. "Specifically, the 74 percent who would be highly likely to purchase an iPhone said that, on average, they would pay $285 for such a product. This is consistent with our thinking that Apple must price an iPhone in the $300 range to gain significant traction with the product."
The analyst, who also asked customers about their iPod purchase habits and Mac buying intentions, said less than half have upgraded to an Intel-based Mac. "Of the 50 European Apple customers we spoke with, only 44 percent have upgraded to an Intel Mac," he wrote. "Of the 56 percent that have not made the transition, half expect to upgrade in the next 6 months."
Munster said several Apple customers are waiting for Adobe's fully optimized Creative Suite before they will upgrade to the new Intel systems. "We had expected that a higher percentage of these loyal customers would have already made the move to an Intel Mac and we see this as a sign that Apple has so far just scraped the surface of the Mac transition opportunity," he said.
On average, Munster also found that Apple's most loyal european customers owned an average of 1.6 iPods over the last five years, and that most purchased their first iPod 2.5 years ago.
"Given Apple's most loyal customers in Europe, on average, bought their first iPod within the last 2.5 years, the average European Apple customer likely bought their first iPod within the last 1-2 years," he wrote. "In other words, we believe iPod/iTunes is still in early growth stage in Europe, similar to the U.S. iPod market 4-6 quarters ago."
Munster maintains an "Outperform" rating on Apple shares with a price target of $99.
Comments
As for the transition to intel macs (wow, they talked to 50 people!), I think 44% is a good number for apple. Not everyone just junks their old computers when new ones are released. And you'd think a lot of people would be hesitant, knowing that there tends to be issues with series 1 machines.
And let's not forget how much money it costs to buy a mac in Europe!
I don't think that any kind of meaningful stats can be gathered from 50 people. To extrapolate that to the entire European Mac market which is in the millions is ludicrous.
Actually, that's not true. Assuming that your set is sufficiently random (though I'm assuming this set isn't), you only need 40 people to make statistically sound extrapolations to larger quantities. After that, adding more people is unlikely to significantly offset your findings.
Hell, I'm American faithful and I seek the mythical iPhone. At the moment I happen to need a new iPod and a new phone - the iPhone would be perfect.
I'm European, but I too both need and want an iPhone, as I just sold my iPod 30Gig, and have a piece of shit Razr. This iPhone must be durable though!!
These are mostly hardcore users and probably not consumers.
Considering less than 50% of Apple's core market has switched to intel, this means much of the sales growth we have seen may be coming from outside their core markets.
These were all people attending Apple Expo, not a random sampling of euro mac users.
These are mostly hardcore users and probably not consumers.
Considering less than 50% of Apple's core market has switched to intel, this means much of the sales growth we have seen may be coming from outside their core markets.
..read the title.
Jeez. This is such a bald indicator of Apple's utter reliance on Adobe. They need to consummate some kind of closer partnership or get some blindingly competive Apple programs out there to make a clean break with 'em.
No one can make a clean break. PS is as entrenched in its industry as Office is in its.
I think someone needs to proofread the article. There are a few punctuation errors and missing words.
I though the same thing when I read it.
What a pointless poll. That's like saying "74% of MS faithful can't wait for vista!"
Actually, it's more like saying 74% of the sort of industry people who would go to a Microsoft Expo can't wait for a Windows Mobile-powered Smart Phone. Truth is that one is already out and not many wanted it. The Apple phone will undoubtedly have great functionality, unlike MS's efforts, and if it is beautiful, it will sell like wildfire.