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iPhone 3.0, Palm Pre to drive phone demand

iPhone 3.0, Palm Pre to drive phone demand

iPhones running the OS 3.0 update and the Palm Pre are both likely to spur the next wave of smartphone sales in the next three months, according to a new ChangeWave study. Of those looking to buy a device in the 90 days following the March survey, iPhone demand is technically remaining flat at 30 percent; however, about 20 percent of the total group said they would be more likely to buy an iPhone now that iPhone OS 3.0’s features are public.

Of those whose interest is sparked by the prospect of iPhone 3.0, demand is evenly split by the theoretical capacities of new hardware. About 9 percent would be willing to buy a 32GB iPhone at the $299 price of the current 16GB model, while 11 percent would want to buy a 16GB iPhone if it was lowered to the $199 price of an 8GB version. If a stripped-down 8GB model were available at $99, 8 percent would opt for that model.

Palm remains a distant third in demand but has seen plans to buy one of its phone spike from just 1 percent in December to 4 percent in March based almost exclusively on favorable impressions of the Pre, which brings a new OS and a more modern touchscreen design.

Conversely, demand for BlackBerries has actually cooled over the past 4 months, dropping from 39 percent to 37 percent. The decline is assigned to a cooldown following the launch of the BlackBerry Storm.

ChangeWave warns that Palm may have trouble increasing demand due to loyalty, as only 1 percent of existing iPhone users and 4 percent of BlackBerry users would consider switching to any of Palm’s phones. Just 1 percent are also willing to switch to Sprint for any device.

[Thanks: http://www.electronista.com]

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