Online market research firm Compete Inc. surveyed 379 people in the U.S., most of whom had heard of the iPhone and have shopped for an iPod, to find out how interested they are in the device to produce the uncommissioned report, the article adds. Among the 26 percent of respondents who said they're likely to buy an iPhone, only one percent said they'd pay US$500 for it. When Apple introduced the iPhone in January, it said it would be available in the US in June, Europe in late 2007, and Asia in 2008, in a 4GB model for US$499 and an 8GB model for $599.

Forty-two percent of those who said they're likely to buy the phone said they'd pay $200 to $299. The iPhone will be available only to subscribers of Cingular Wireless. In a "blow to the operator's competitors," 60 percent of those in the survey who said they were likely to buy the phone said they'd switch their mobile operator in order to get it, reports InfoWorld.

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