• The Wall Street Journal (subscription required), Friday, June 15, 2007 11:45 AM

With about 19 million people in the U.S.--or roughly 9% of cell phone users--highly interested in purchasing Apple's iPhone, AT&T is looking at a possible windfall of new customers, two new consumer surveys show.

Two-thirds of mobile-phone users who are interested in purchasing the iPhone would be willing to switch from their current carriers to obtain the device, according to a survey of about 11,000 cell phone users by M:Metrics. 12.5% of T-Mobile USA customers express a high interest in the phone; followed by 8.1% for Sprint Nextel; and 6.7% for Verizon Wireless. T-Mobile is seen as especially vulnerable because it has a high share of users in the 18-to-24 age group.

In a separate online survey of 680 people who were shopping for iPods on the Internet, research firm Compete found that 12% of respondents said they have postponed their wireless-phone purchases to wait for the release of the iPhone. An equal percentage said they had postponed buying an MP3 player.

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