Aussies hot to trot for iPhone info - new search data

Stephen Withers
Thursday, 26 June 2008 13:23

Your IT - Mobility

If Internet searches are anything to go by, then the iPhone 3G is going to be a smash hit when it goes on sale in Australia on July 11. New search data shows that Australian searches for the word 'iphone' have skyrocketed over the second quarter of 2008.

Searches for 'iphone' by Australian Internet users increased by 95 percent between the weeks ending April 5, 2008 and June 7, 2008, according to Hitwise Australia. No wonder the media has been giving Apple's latest handset so much attention.

An amazing 5000-plus variations on the search expression were seen during the four weeks leading up to 11 June, including 'iphone australia', '3g iphone', 'iphone review', 'vodafone iphone' and 'iphone optus'.

No mention of 'iphone telstra', though...

Many of the searches were apparently aimed at finding information about the iPhone's specifications, applications and games.

Sites in Hitwise's news and media category were major beneficiaries of this search traffic, with over 11 percent of 'iphone' search traffic going their way. (And you can't say that iTWire has failed to respond to this interest.)

But Hitwise predicts that as the iPhone 3G's July 11 launch date nears, the traffic will increasingly flow to telecommunications and electronics retail web sites.

Apple announced the iPhone 3G at its Worldwide Developers Conference on June 10. Previously, only grey-market, unofficially unlocked iPhones were available in Australia.

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