16% of U.S. teens said they would pay $350 for an 'iWatch'

The percentage of well-heeled American teens who said they would pay $350 for an ‘iWatch’ actually fell a point –from 17% in the spring to 16% in the fall — according to Piper Jaffray’s bi-annual teen survey.

PJC’s Gene Munster characterized that response as “tepid” — a word that Dawn Chmielewski used twice in her Re/Code story: Teens “Tepid” on Apple Watch.

Sam Colt’s write-up for Business Insider went further.

Headline: “Teens Aren’t Interested In The Apple Watch”
Photo caption: “Apple Teens have shown little interest in the Apple Watch.”
Lede: “The Apple Watch probably won’t be a hit with teenagers, according to Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster.”
Analysis: “That’s a staggeringly low level of interest for an Apple product.”

What Colt doesn’t mention is that the survey of 7,200 American teenagers was begun on Aug. 25 — two weeks before the Apple Watch was unveiled. (The polling, conducted in schools and online, continued until Sept. 30. But at least half of the respondents, Munster estimates, weighed in without knowing what the device was called or what it did.)

How well-heeled were the study subjects? According to this survey, 67% own an iPhone, 63% own a tablet (66% iPads) and 7% already own a smartwatch.

Below: The results.