Around 1 per cent of US mobile users would be willing to shell out $500 for the forthcoming Apple iPhone, according to the results of a survey published last week.

Online market research firm Compete quizzed 379 US cellphone users over the affordability of the device, which is set to be released by Cingular/AT&T this summer.

Only 26 per cent of respondents said they would buy an iPhone but only 1 per cent would be willing to pay the proposed retail price, which is thought to include any operator subsidy.

Should the price be dropped to between $200 and $299, the number of interested consumers rises to 42 per cent, Compete said.

Although 379 respondents is probably a too small pool to draw any meaningful statistics from, 1 per cent of the mobile phone market is pretty much on the money.

When Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the device in January, he said that Apple would be targeting just 1 per cent of a billion unit market to start with, which is still a hefty 10 million devices.

Analysts then expect Apple to target the mass market by dropping the price on the gadget some time later.