Reuters Poll: Approximately 40% of U.S. iPhone Owners are Interested in Apple Watch

According to a new Reuters poll, approximately 40 percent of iPhone owners in the United States are interesting in purchasing the Apple Watch.

The new wearable device from Apple will range in price from $350 (US) to $17,000 (US) and will be the company’s first new major product category in five years. The demand for the device will be watched very closely by investors and competitors.

“BTIG analyst Walter Piecyk said that with more than 100 million active iPhone users in the United States and closer to half a billion globally, the survey was “pretty encouraging” for a product that has not been seen in shops, even if was unclear how much of the interest would translate into purchases.

Pacific Crest Securities analyst Andrew Hargreaves said it was not clear how many people wanted or needed a smartwatch. But he expected Apple’s cache and marketing might to deliver strong initial sales of the Apple Watch.

“Winning Apple customers is more realistic at this point,” said Hargreaves.”

Ipsos surveyed 2,469 adult U.S. citizens between March 9 and March 17 and found that 24 percent expressed interest in buying the Apple Watch. Among the people who were surveyed, 39 percent of iPhone owners were interested in purchasing the device, including 17 percent saying that they were very interested.

“Social media chatter about the Apple watch was 15 percent positive and 5 percent negative in the week following Apple’s event, according to an analysis that the firm Networked Insights conducted for Reuters. The remaining 80 percent was neutral. By contrast, the social conversation for Apple’s iPhone 6 during the same week was 5 percent positive and 0 percent negative, according to the analysis.

Among the conversations relating to the Apple watch during the one-week period, 5.8 percent of the comments showed an intent to purchase, according to Networked Insights, which analyzes tweets, public Facebook posts and other sources. Social comments about the iPhone 6, which has been on sale since September, showed a 2.9 percent purchase intent during the same week.”

On Saturday, Reuters reported that 69 percent of Americans were not interested in purchasing an Apple Watch. The poll, which includes data from March 9 to March 13, said that 13 percent of Americans would consider purchasing an Apple Watch. That means, with an additional thousand people and an extra five days, the amount of interested Apple Watch buyers doubled. Interest in the Apple Watch is definitely increasing as the product’s launch date nears.

Apple will begin taking pre-orders for the Apple Watch on April 10, at which point the device will be on display in retail stores. The Apple Watch will begin shipping on April 24 in several countries, including Canada and the United States. The device starts at $449 (CAD) for the smaller (38mm) aluminium Sport model, and the stainless steel version starts at $699 (CAD) with several models coming in at over $1000. The high-end 18-karat gold Apple Watch Edition will start at $13,000 (CAD) with some models costing as much as $22,000 (CAD).