05/20/2008, 4:40pm, EDT
Tuesday, May 20th
Analyst: 1 in 4 postponing iPhone buy for new tech
Almost a quarter of Americans currently interested in buying an iPhone are waiting on an announcement from Apple, according to a research director from ChangeWave. Paul Carton notes that judging by a March survey of almost 3,600 people, 14 percent are waiting for Apple to release a new version of the device, while another 11 percent want some form of 3G compatibility. "That's really the same thing," Carton observes. Apple has promised for months that a 3G iPhone would ship sometime before the end of 2008.
Conservative spending may be connected to media and analyst reports, which have increasingly pointed to a 3G iPhone announcement at the beginning of Apple's WWDC conference, scheduled for June 9th in San Francisco. The next major issue remains cost however, as 24 percent in the survey identified "waiting for cost to go down" as the key reason for avoiding a purchase.
There is also said to be a feeling among 21 percent of current iPhone owners that AT&T's EDGE network is too slow, at least for the intense data usage the phone is intended for. Another 17 percent in the survey said it was unreasonable to require an AT&T contract, though there have been no immediate signs that Apple will offer unlocked iPhones in the US.
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ummm
it's not really the same thing. Those waiting for an announcement consist of people waiting for some specific feature (like 3G) as well as people who just are waiting because they know a new one is due, and they don't want last year's model (even if the new one is the same, except some increased storage capabilities). 3G waiters are waiting for an announcement (actually, a specific announcement, which, while expected, isn't guaranteed).
And has Apple actually promised for months a new 3G version? Because I thought it was everyone else who's been promising/expecting that.