The Online Market research firm Compete, Inc. found that only one percent of the likely customers for an Apple iPhone would pay US$500 for one. Computerworld cited the results on Friday.

The survey consisted of 379 people in the U.S., most of who had heard of the iPhone and had shopped for an iPod. Of the 26 percent who said they would likely buy an iPhone, only one percent responded that they would pay US$500.00. However, for a range of $200 to $299, the number jumped to 42 percent. The sponsor of the survey has not been revealed.

This result is very different than the one conducted by ChangeWAVE Research and reported here at TMO on Wednesday. In that survey, about 67 percent of those surveyed had no concern over the US$500 price.

Research firms doing this kind of survey understand very well that the customers contacted must be truly random. Yet small differences in methodology or the interpretation of the results can lead to widely varying results.

The analysts discussing both results, however, agreed on one thing. Early adopters will pay a high a price for a terrific new gadget, and Apple knows that. So the real question is not whether the initial price is too high but rather how fast Apple must bring the price down to maintain the momentum of the product and reach their stated goal of 1% of the mobile phone market by mid 2008.