Apple HDTV would lure about 1 in 2 iPhone owners, survey says
According to the results of a recent survey, about half of people who own iPhones would buy a TV set if Apple made one.
If you own an iPhone, you're pretty likely to buy Apple's much-rumored TV set, according to the results of a new study.
Market research firm Strategy Analytics today released findings from its 2012 ConsumerMetrix survey, which says "nearly half" of those who already own an iPhone would be "very or somewhat likely" to buy an Apple TV set.
The survey, which took place in March, was limited to the U.S. and Europe, and consisted of about 6,000 individuals, most of whom were located in Europe.
According to Jia Wu, a Director at Strategy Analytics and the report's author, less than a quarter of those polled (read: not just iPhone owners) said they'd end up buying the device in its first year out. About 5 percent they'd be "very likely" to buy, and less than 20 percent said they were "somewhat likely."
Worth noting is that the poll didn't specify an actual feature set for the device, just a price range and the fact that it would be sold by Apple. In the U.S., 35 percent of those polled said they'd pay $1,000 or more for the set, a number that falls to 14 percent at a price above $1,600, the firm said.
All told, Wu says that could lead to first year sales of 5 to 17 million units in North America and Western Europe.
"It's more based on the assumption that the TV will be sold at $1,000 or $1,500, and also we don't know many details of the product, only the consumer interest and willingness to pay," Wu said in an interview.
Apple's TV-set ambitions remain a rumor, but one that's rooted in some suggestive fact. Late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs told biographer Walter Isaacson that he wanted "to create an integrated television set that is completely easy to use," and that he "finally cracked it." Since then there has been no shortage of rumors that suggest Apple is still at work on such a product. (See CNET's full rundown here.)