I’ll give you a moment to look back at the title of this post to make sure you read it correctly.
Yes, you did. InMobi released a survey today indicating that out of all current mobile phone users residing in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, a full 41 percent are planning to buy the iPhone 5. Plus, over 50 percent will take the dive within the first six months of its release. It’s an understatement to call that a gigantic number of people, but we’ve seen it before.
Now let’s break down the data InMobi is reporting by handset/operating system. 51 percent of current iPhone owners plan on making the upgrade to the iPhone 5. Considering the large amount of iPhone users, Apple is going to have a lot of new customers already. 27 percent of Android owners will buy the iPhone 5, which is lower but still significant. And — here’s my favorite statistic — a full 52 percent of BlackBerry owners are planning to buy the iPhone 5. 2011 is not the year for RIM. 2012 doesn’t look too promising either.
But what happens if the iPhone 5 turns out to be a measly iPhone 4S? Instead of a major new release, it might be a small incremental upgrade. Well in this case, considerably fewer consumers are willing to make a purchase. Only 11 percent of current iPhone users would buy the iPhone 4S, 11 percent of Android users, and 28 percent of BlackBerry users. The latter means RIM is losing almost one-third of its customers regardless of what Apple announces on Tuesday.
Apple is already the most valuable company on the planet, and the iPhone 5 is only going to skyrocket both profits and market share even further ahead.
[via InMobi]