High interest in new iPhone

The new iPhone has captured the attention of many in the UK with one in five mobile owners saying they would be interested in purchasing the new handset on one of the new handset / tariff packages within the next 6 months. A further 7 per cent said they would also be interested in getting the iPhone 3G, but not at the current tariffs.

FIG 1. Research carried out by GfK Technology also found that 16% of pre-pay users would consider taking up the iPhone, with the majority of these prefering an 18 month pay-monthly contract.

 
Anders Nielsen, Director at GfK Technology comments, "The message from the research is very clear; the blend of handset subsidies, sensible tariffs and the improved technical specifications will combine to really drive demand. For O2, this is not just about selling new connections, though; the research shows that the improved iPhone offers will help convert some pre-pay users to 18 month contracts which, in turn, will benefit O2 customer retention and ARPU levels”

Awareness of the new Apple iPhone 3G is mostly centred on the new handset features.

The iPhone 3G may not have generated quite the same level of publicity as the first iPhone, but nevertheless almost a third (32 per cent) of UK mobile phone owners are aware of the new Apple iPhone 3G. Amongst these, awareness is centred on the new handset features, with over half being aware of the improved 3G data speed (56 per cent) and the improved memory of 8 or 16 GB (54 per cent), but there is also good awareness of the different range of tariffs and handset prices on offer.

About the survey:

The survey was conducted by GfK Technology between 4-6 July and consisted of 750 online interviews, weighted to give a nationally representative sample of UK mobile phone owners