I am always interested, and often amused, by the results of surveys of mobile tech and the interpretations of these surveys. A recent survey report from Interpret (PDF summary here) has lead to a number of blogs and articles with a fascination for the finding that the Palm Pre is second only to the iPhone in being seen as "cool, hip and productive"...

New study says Palm Pre second only to iPhone 3GS in mindshare (Engadget)

Does This Handset Make Me Look Smart? (All Things D)

What Interpret actually reported in the chart that drew so much interest is how much people think various smartphones are worth (vs. what they actually cost). The report surveyed an unreported number of people (no sample size provided in the summary - I'll guess it is available in the full report) about the following phones:

- Google Android G1
- BlackBerry Storm
- BlackBerry Curve
- iPhone 3GS
- iPhone 3G
- Palm Pre

The iPhone 3GS and Palm Pre are reported to have an "Appropriate Cost Average" (what people think they are worth) that is significantly higher than the other phones mentioned. OK, that makes sense based on what I see in the chart. But, here's what the people who reported on this data missed.

- The Interpret report was issued in August. We have to assume the data was collected after the iPhone 3GS was released since it is in the survey. Here's something really interesting: While most of the phones were "valued" by people at less than their actualy retail cost, the older iPhone 3G had a "appropriate cost average" of around $165. Note that the retail price for the 3G dropped to $99 after the 3GS was released. So, the iPhone 3G is valued at much more than its actual retail cost. Amazing!

- I'll assume that the survey was conducted before the T-Mobile HTC myTouch 3G (Android) was released. But, it is still interesting that the Android G1 has, according to the survey, the same "appropriate cost average" as the iPhone 3G. Now, that is interesting!

- Another interesting item to note is what is missing. No Windows Mobile smartphone was included in the survey. Once again, Windows Mobile gets no respect.