Survey: 19 million mobile phone users badly want an iPhone

Seattle (WA) – Apple better crank up another iPhone factory because a recent survey says that 19 million mobile phone users want the phone. According to Seattle research firm M :Metrics, 9% of those surveyed expressed strong interest in the iPhone. Even more striking is that 67% of those people belong to other networks and are willing to switch to AT&T, the exclusive provider of the phones for five years.

The survey was done in April and polled 11,060 U.S. mobile phone subscribers. People were asked if they were aware of the iPhone and to rank their interest from low, neutral to high. 64% of the Americans surveyed were aware of the phone. M :Metrics says that 47% of American phone subscribers had low interest in the iPhone while 8% had neutral interest.

The firm also discovered that 30% of British mobile phone subscribers expressed strong interest in buying the phone even though Apple has not yet announced a European launch date.

Apple’s iPhone will go on sale on June 29th and will be available in a $499 and $599 versions. Buyers will need to agree to a two-year contract with AT&T.