“A significant number of buyers–21 percent (3,100 respondents)–would be interested in purchasing a Mac tablet priced at $500-700,” RBC analyst Mike Abramsky wrote in a message to clients this morning. He noted as well that this is far above the nine percent who professed to be interested in the original iPhone in an April 2007 survey. The promising early interest illustrates the market opportunity for a Mac-based tablet, Abramsky said.

Assuming, of course, Apple (AAPL) plans to bring one to market.

“We expect Apple to add new iPhone carriers in the U.S. within the next year (likely with a new product launch next summer), Munster writes. “By way of example, for various reasons the company moved from an exclusive relationship with French wireless carrier Orange to a multi-carrier model. In France, the company now enjoys dramatically higher market share (in the 40% range vs. about 15% in ROW) than in countries with exclusive carrier agreements (such as AT&T in the U.S. where the iPhone has market share in the mid-teens). We believe Apple is seeing the increased unit sell-through more than offset the slightly (~10%) deteriorated economics per unit involved in non-exclusive agreements.”

If Munster’s prediction proves true, it will undoubtedly be welcomed by iPhone owners–nearly a third of whom listed AT&T as the feature they dislike most in the iPhone in a recent ChangeWave survey. But it will be ugly news for AT&T (T), which could suffer some serious subscriber defections if the company loses its iPhone-exclusivity deal–particularly if Apple signs on Verizon (VZ) as a second carrier. As Pali Research recently noted:

“As the iPhone exclusivity period rolls off between AT&T Wireless and Apple, a material number of AT&T customers will flock to Verizon’s superior network. We estimate that nearly a third of AT&T’s post-paid customers are being retained by AT&T primarily because of the iPhone exclusivity.”

Nearly a third, 32 percent, said AT&T.

And another 23 percent said the quality, coverage and speed of AT&T’s network. (Click image below to enlarge.)

Now, that isn’t all that surprising given the swell of bad press that occurred when AT&T admitted at Macworld 2009 that unlike dozens of other carriers that it wasn’t ready to support iPhone tethering or MMS support. But it’s interesting that AT&T (T) is responsible for two of the top three complaints about an Apple (AAPL) product. I can’t imagine that’s going over too well in Cupertino.

Says ChangeWave: “There are no indications that Apple’s AT&T problem is going away. On the contrary, the better customers feel about their iPhones the worse they feel about AT&T–with nearly one-in-two 3GS owners citing AT&T-related issues as their biggest dislike. These survey results suggest Apple will be forced to deal with the issue sooner than many analysts expect.”

“There will be a day when we are not exclusive with the iPhone,” AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said recently. And apparently, iPhone users are hoping that day comes sooner rather than later.

According to retail checks conducted by Piper Jaffray analyst T. Michael Walkley, the BlackBerry slowed as the summer kicked off and AT&T (T) and Sprint (S) began peddling new smartphone offerings from Apple (AAPL) and Palm (PALM).

“Our checks indicated BlackBerry sales declined in June at AT&T and Sprint due to increasing smartphone competition, as BlackBerry sales appeared to lose share to the Palm Pre at Sprint and the new 3GS iPhone and older $99 iPhone at AT&T,” Walkey wrote in a research note to clients. “BlackBerry sales at T-Mobile remained solid, but Verizon sales were slightly weaker following the termination of the buy one, get one promotion.”

Unfortunate news for RIM (RIMM), but perhaps to be expected given the lackadaisical evolution of the company’s product line. New devices with advanced features, not incremental improvements, are what it’s going to take to compete the with iPhone and Pre, and soon, with the G2, the latest phone based on Google’s (GOOG) Android OS.

Consider this: A recent ChangeWave survey of over 4,000 respondents found that more than 14 percent plan to purchase a smartphone in the next 90 days. Of those, 44 percent said they plan to buy an iPhone, compared to 23 percent who said they’ll opt for a BlackBerry (click on chart below to enlarge).

As ChangeWave research director Paul Carton notes, “as we approach the 1st quarter, the ball has shifted back into BlackBerry’s court.” And that would seem to be the case. Sadly for RIM, middling customer satisfaction ratings for the Storm may undermine its broader adoption.

“The overall satisfaction rating given by new owners of the Blackberry Storm can, at best, be characterized as lukewarm,” says Carton. “One in three Storm owners (33 percent) said they were Very Satisfied with their new model, well below the 52 percent Very Satisfied rating given by all current owners of BlackBerry smart phones.” And that’s worth noting, because the first-generation iPhone’s Very Satisfied rating–77 percent–was more than double the Storm’s. Furthermore, the Storm’s Unsatisfied rating (14 percent) is three times that of the iPhone (five percent). So while the Storm would seem to have quite a bit of near-term potential, it’s long-term success could be hamstrung by poor reviews and unsatisfied customers.

Forty-five percent of respondents to ChangeWave’s November survey of corporate IT spending expect their companies to spend less money or nothing at all on IT during the next 90 days.

And given the tech sector’s continued desanguination, who can blame them? If your stock’s trading at a 12- or 13-year low, you’re probably not thinking a lot about future IT purchases. “U.S. corporate IT spending is in the midst of a huge nose-dive, the likes of which hasn’t been seen before in a ChangeWave survey dating back to 2001,” said ChangeWave research director Paul Carton. “In short, the current ChangeWave survey findings virtually guarantee that we’ll be seeing the technology sector get hammered with pre-announcements before the January earnings season gets underway.”

Wonderful. Something to look forward to.

One last point worth noting here: According to ChangeWave, Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone is now the No. 2 smartphone in enterprise. And while RIM’s (RIMM) BlackBerry continues to be the focus of planned corporate smartphone purchases, the iPhone is gaining traction. Twenty-two percent of future enterprise smartphone buyers say they plan to iPhones; 78 percent say they plan to buy BlackBerrys.

The success of Windows is our number one job. With SP1 and the work we’ve done with PC manufacturers and our software ecosystem, we’ve addressed device and application compatibility issues in Windows Vista. Now it’s time to tell our story. In the weeks ahead, we’ll launch a campaign to address any lingering doubts our customers may have about Windows Vista. And later this year, you’ll see a more comprehensive effort to redefine the meaning and value of Windows for our customers.”

– Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, July 23, 2008

Microsoft’s new ad campaign–the one designed to “address any lingering doubts the company’s customers may have about Windows Vista”– doesn’t seem to be doing the company much good. According to that ChangeWave survey I mentioned in an earlier post, 48 percent of respondents said they prefer Windows XP to Vista. Just 33 percent said they prefer Vista.

A dismal showing for Microsoft’s (MSFT) next-generation OS, more so when you consider that fewer respondents prefer Vista this year than last. ChangeWave’s 2007 survey showed 42 percent favoring Windows Vista and 40 percent favoring XP.

What was it Apple (AAPL) COO Tim Cook said at the company’s recent MacBook event?

I think it’s fair to say that Vista hasn’t lived up to everything that Microsoft hoped it would. And consequently, it’s opened doors for a lot of people to consider switching to the Mac. And Apple has been the beneficiary of this.”

A third of all consumers (33 percent) who said that they were planning on buying a laptop in the next three months intend to buy one of Apple’s MacBooks, and nearly a third of those in the market for a desktop (27 percent) plan to purchase one of its Mac Pros, according to new data from ChangeWave. This, despite an ugly dip in spending that threatens to turn the upcoming holidays into lean ones for all. A solid majority, 59 percent of ChangeWave study respondents, say they will spend less in the next 90 days despite the holidays. Just 10 percent say they will spend more. “There’s been a massive breakdown in consumer spending plans going forward,” said ChangeWave research director Paul Carton. “We’ve never seen anything like it. It’s going to be a very tough holiday season.”

Tougher for some than others, though. Well, one other: Apple (AAPL). “We do see Apple’s numbers looking better going forward, over the next 90 days,” said Carton. “Apple will clearly come out of this as the biggest tree in the forest. They’ll be in extraordinary shape compared to everyone else when things improve. I don’t think that Apple can escape the enormity of this downturn in the short run, but in the big picture, I think [these numbers] are wonderful news for Apple. It’s not easy to increase market share in one of the worst spending environments in years.”

No, it’s not. Though Apple’s steady and significant growth suggests otherwise. As Apple COO Tim Cook noted at the company’s October notebook event, “If you look at the history, the Mac has outgrown the market for the last 14 of 15 quarters.”

Economic softness in the states is widespread, but apparently it stops short at 1 Infinite Loop. Though consumer spending on electronics is generally trending lower, it’s trending higher for Apple products. According to a new survey by Changewave, eight percent of consumers plan to buy a laptop in the next 90 days, and five percent, a desktop. Of these, 34 percent are considering a MacBook and 30 percent an Apple (AAPL) desktop–up two percent and three percent respectively from the year prior.

This as consumer interest in machines from PC rivals like Dell (DELL) and HP (HPQ) wanes. Planned purchases of Dell laptops have fallen 4 to 20 percent while planned purchases of HP desktops have fallen 3 to 17 percent. “Consumer electronics spending will remain weak over the next 90 days,” said Changewave Executive Director Paul Carton. “The one bright spot is Apple, whose Mac sales are outperforming and are poised to once again reach new all-time highs.”

Odd to hear when Apple products are typically more spendy than those of the company’s rivals. Apple Financial Services must be doing great business these days.