AlphaWise and Morgan Stanley recently conducted a survey of more than 1,500 heads of households and found that there is a high interest in Apple’s unofficial television set. Consumers are also willing to go as high as 20 percent above industry standards when it comes to the cost of a television set made by Apple.

The survey found that 18 percent of homes have a smart TV and 13 percent didn’t know whether theirs was a smart TV or not. Additionally, the survey showed that, “those who own smart TVs connected to the Internet actually spend less time accessing Internet content through their TV than those who do not own a smart TV.”

This basically means that smart TVs on the market today aren’t easy to use or have a streamlined user interface for integrating Internet content into the user’s television experience.

Analyst Katy Huberty believes this report shows that Apple is well positioned to make significant changes to the smart TV market. It wouldn’t be different than the way Apple make mobile Web browsing commonplace with the iPhone, or turned tablets into mini computers.

The survey also found that 11 percent of respondents are “extremely interested” in purchasing an Apple built television set and 36 percent are “somewhat interested.” That is 47 percent interest from those surveyed. Huberty noted that 23 percent of consumers were interested in purchasing an iPhone and 21 percent were interested in an iPad.

“With 11 percent ‘extremely interested’ in an Apple television, that would translate to over 13 million potential units sold in the U.S. And another 36 percent ‘somewhat interested’ would be an incremental 43 million units.”

Additionally, 46 percent of respondents interested in purchasing an Apple built TV said they are willing to pay more than $1,00 for the unit. Ten percent are willing to go as high as $2,000. The average price interested consumers are willing to pay is $1,060, which is a 20 percent increase over the average cost ($884) of a smart television right now. Respondents between 18 and 29 were the group most willing to pay a premium for an Apple television set with as much as a 32 percent markup above the average cost of a smart TV.

What is the most desirable feature of an Apple built TV? Retina display. According to the survey, respondents are most interested in “high screen quality” from an Apple television set. Hopefully, the company doesn’t make the same mistake it did with the iPad mini and leave out the Retina display.

[Via: AppleInsider]