A survey conducted by Harris Interactive showed that a surprisingly large amount of American consumers are interested in purchasing an iPhone.

According to the survey 47 percent of the people questioned knew of the iPhone and 17 percent were interested in purchasing one. That’s not to say that all of them intend upon purchasing it as soon as it launches, 9 percent plan on buying one at launch and 8 percent were willing to cut short contracts with other carriers to get one sooner.

The largest thing that is still holding consumers back is the $499 pricetag. 40 percent of those interested said they would purchase one after the price came down a bit. One of the most interesting facts is that 37 percent of those interested cited the large amount of storage space as the reason for wanting one.

Survey: 17 percent want iPhones [via macnn]