Since the iPhone 5 went on sale last Friday, a look back at the search activity shows that the iPhone 5 announcement on September 12th caused US searches on the term “iPhone 5” to rank as the 8th most popular search query on the Internet that day. Last week, searches for iPhone 5 increased 362% the week ending September 15th compared to the previous week. This past week saw searches dip compared to the previous week but searches remained higher than for the iPhone 4s launch.
Search activity around this announcement was different than in years past as news and “leaks” about the new iPhone 5 have been ongoing for more than a year and a half – well ahead of the 4s launch. As we noted last fall, it was widely (and incorrectly) speculated that the iPhone 5 would be released when instead the iPhone 4s was launched. As you can see below, searches on the term iPhone 5 were higher than searches for iPhone 4 in September of last year.
Weekly data shows that the week of the 4s announcement in October 2011 was the peak of search activity to-date for searches around the iPhone 5. Three weeks ago when the iPhone 5 announcement date was made, searches spiked what 239% for the iPhone 5. Perhaps this week’s data will surpass all of those in volume.
The search terms around the iPhone 4s announcement last fall included many iPhone 5 searches as the search “iPhone 5” ranked as 22nd most popular search on Oct. 4, 2011 – the day the 4s announced.
The top sites to receive downstream traffic on the day of the pre-announcement from iPhone 5 searches included Yahoo News, Apple iPhone, and CNET Reviews and News sites. The Apple iPhone page received the most traffic for last week along with YouTube and AT&T, Facebook and Verizon Wireless. Looking at just the downstream traffic to mobile carriers – AT&T ranked as the top carrier for last week while Verizon Wireless ranked at the top carrier the day the iPhone 5 went on sale.
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Learn more about the author, Matt Tatham